Re: CP/M Archive


Dave Dunfield wrote:
On the subject of mirroring, and directed to those who have content
online;


I've snipped alot, but your points are well taken, thanks for the
feedback.

What do you think of the idea of offering backup CD's/DVD's of your
site's content for a nominal fee? This could turn into a annual
offering, or some such. The idea of such a backup puts all of the
content in an organized way into the hands of many in a durable and
convenient form.

Well, more could be said, but I open it up for discussion.

I think it's a good idea, however there are a couple of issues.

It can be a lot of work, especially if your site is popular. One of the
main reasons I created my site is so tthat others can have access
to the material I have preserved without my having to be constantly
providing a "manual service". Even then - maintaining the site is a
lot of work at times, however at least it's only "done once" and
does help distribute/protect the material.

I was supposing folks are backing up their site content to CD/DVD, so
I figured making some number of redundant copies for others,
not_for_free,
would be time efficient. I glossed over copyright issues however, and
the
social issues that you and Herb bring fourth.

(*1 - or even if it's not - look at the flak Herb has taken because he
charges a few cents/page to copy, pack and ship you a manual or
diskette that you often can't get elsewhere).

Ahem, that's what I mean by 'social issues'. :-/

On a related subject, a pet-peeve of mine:

Until very recently, I've had to access the internet through a dial-up
connection, thus It was well worth it to me to purchase a $30 DVD
from Ebay with a collection of manuals or other related material,
because I simply COULD NOT download them...


As Allison notes, there are gaping holes, yet, in the broadband net.
Also
disconcerting is the recent trend of broadband providers going to a
multi-tier bandwidth provisional based on how much the user is willing
to
pay for [In the US market]. From what I gather, the 'economical' tiers
are
not 'large download friendly' either.

When Gene Buckle offered his 'CP/M Archive' CD, I was also on dial-up.
While the direct costs of such a download, in my case, would not have
been
much [a local flat-rate call], my ISP had a 4 hour connect limit that
was
onerous for even overnight large file downloads. I appreciated his CD
offering,
and that was in the back of my mind when I opened this discussion.


My own take on all this is that I don't have the available time to be offering
a "free DVD service", and the hassles and misperceptions arising from a
"small fee" are someplace I don't want to go - I encourage people to
mirror the site and to maintain your own personal archives of the material.
If someone not related to me wants to make DVDs of the site, that would
be fine with me.

Along with the rest of the comments in this thread, the only ad hoc
solution
seems to be for individuals to mirror sites to their private backups.
This doesn't
bode well, for long term survival of this content, nor its future
distribution from
the hands of a few at best.

Steve

.

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