RE: Naming/Format conventions for INDEX files

["George D. Greenwade" <[e-mail]>]

On Thu, 30 Jul 92 12:37:21 EDT, Aydin Edguer <[e-mail]>
posted:
> Finally, I agree that because the filenames for the IAFA files are
> _required_ names, they should be modified to meet the lowest common
> denominator.  While the current names are under 14 characters, case
> insensitive, and descriptive, they are definitely not suitable for an
> MS-DOS FTP site.  On the other hand, how many MS-DOS based FTP sites (e.g.
> masochists) can there be?!

This is an area where the net may see quite a bit of growth, although I
don't think a lot of people realize it at the moment.  Do I think it will
surpass Unix?  No.  Do I think it will surpass all other OS'es?  Quite
possibly.

Okay, okay, quit laughing.  As MS-DOS machines come further and further
down in price, and as more and more networks come on line into the
Internet, quite a few of those nets (especially the .com nets) are already
using things like Ethernet connections in-house.  A cheap 386 with a CD
reader is a pretty good server, BTW -- link it up to a jukebox and it's a
very inexpensive, powerful, and large archive, which can service a very
wide area.  I've already run across a few of these on the net.  Given price
declines in CD writers,... well, maybe you can see the potential.

Groups working on topics such as IAFA standards have to be asking questions
such as "how many MS-DOS based FTP sites could there conceivably be given
the changes in the underlying computer industry and network membership
profiles?" instead of "how many MS-DOS based FTP sites are there at the
moment?" if anything of substance is to arise which can be viewed as
anything other than a "here it is now" draft.  Clearly, you can fill in any
OS in place of MS-DOS in the questions above -- you get the same idea of
what needs to be asked for successful promulgation of anything approaching
a standard.

And a trivial BTW on another topic altogether, BTW:  from my count in
HOSTS.TXT (clearly not the definitive answer, but a close one to start
with) VMS is not on less than 10% of ftp sites as proposed in an earlier
posting by someone else -- it looks like something more than 20%.  Out of
those, which are AFA sites and which are not is anyone's guess; but I would
hazard that the 10% estimate was low.  If anyone can definitively track AFA
sites, per se, by OS, in some other method, please contact me as I'd like
to look at it (privately, as no one else probably wants to follow this
thread).

Regards,   George
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