[10448] in Public-Access_Computer_Systems_Forum
Re: Grumpy, Old, Realistic Cybrarians
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Michael S. Hart)
Tue Jul 23 21:14:29 1996
Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 18:55:52 -0500 (CDT)
From: "Michael S. Hart" <hart@prairienet.org>
In-Reply-To: <1996Jul21.141745@acad.drake.edu>
To: Multiple recipients of list PACS-L <PACS-L@UHUPVM1.UH.EDU>
Reply-To: "Michael S. Hart" <hart@prairienet.org>
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>>... http, as a protocol, was designed to make file transfer easier
>> and more robust; I doubt that the designers had "document access =
>>document discovery" in mind as their primary goal.
http can certainly deliver a file with a "point and click" approach,
which to some means that makes file transfer easier, while others in
fact would prefer to type the command. ["mput *" can certainly send
you files faster than any point and click approach, even drawing box
fields around what you want to get, add a few wildcards to get a set
of specific files, and then you can do something else while they get
sent to you, and they can include text, graphs, pictures, movies and
even zip libraries.]
As far as "robust" goes. . .here we fall short of the goal in that a
file has more ways not to arrive, or not to arrive in toto, with the
http format.
While pointing and clicking is "simple" it is NOT easy or robust.
Michael S. Hart
The Original Cybrarian
