free collaborative tools for low BW and losy connections

[paul at nashnetworks.ca (Paul Nash)]

> Exactly. And there's no disconnect: usenet doesn't scale because each object is copied to all core nodes rather than referenced, or copied-as-needed, or other.  This design of distributed messaging platform will eventually break as it grows.  

Usenet scales far more gracefully than the current web.

Each node sends content to a few downstream nodes.  This makes it easy to scale; there is no central mega-node that gets overwhelmed, connectivity is to a nearby upstream where there is a reasonabe amount of bandwidth. Last time I ran a server, the sender could filter based on newsgroup or message size, so avoid swamping links.  Content was mostly text.

It is possible to use offline transmission â?? certain groups dumped onto mag tape and mailed, get pulled in at the destination.  BTDT.

More demand = more client nodes which in turn distribute to other nodes, so each node does not need to talk to a large number of others.

We did this about 30 years ago in South Africa; Rhodes university brought in most groups, I brought in alt.*.  We each distributed to a select number of nodes, who distributed again.  Lather, rinse, repeat.  Usenet for the entire sub-continent (along with email) over 9600 bps dial-up circuits.

	paul