[exprla-devel] Re: [xpl-fog] To the Back Burner

[reid_spencer <ras...@re...>]

--- In xpl-dev@y..., lucas@g... wrote:
Eric Hanson of shouldexist.org clued me in on the discussion
happening here.  speaking as the author of WorldOS, I think that our 
projects are after the same thing.  I'm happy to discover this group. 
 some thoughts that I hope are relevant:

My main working principle is that very large scale distributed
systems can't be programmed explicitly.  Their behavior is emergent.  
To get them to do useful things you have to look for existing 
behaviors and use them as leverage.  the converse is that you have to 
forget about fixed specs except in well controlled subnets.

One of those behaviors is data clouds, which already exist in the
form of usenet messages, chain mail, viruses, etc.  I believe that 
this will not be a problem once intermediate nodes have detailed 
control over what they pass through and why.  Uncontrolled message 
distribution like in Gnutella leads to big messes, but carefully 
controlled message distribution should lead to clouds that are only
as 
big as they need to be.

Another behavior is the mutation of protocols, because specialized 
vocabularies are inevitable.  Though worldOS nodes prefer their
native transport and message format, they can also have converters
for 
other transports and formats.  one immediate application for this 
principle will be an adapter for 7-bit ascii.  A 7 bit ascii device 
can establish a relationship with a node that understands it, then
use 
it as a gateway to nodes that don't understand 7 bit ascii.

There are a couple ways that WorldOS might be useful to your projects 
here.  One is that it's a flexible app server which is not bound by 
counterrevolutionary WWW thinking.  You can plug in transports, 
protocols, and functions fairly easily and not have to replicate that 
code all over the place.  Another is that it makes it pretty trivial 
to work with xml.  

> Can't WorldOS make it impossible for someone to force me to go to 
their site
> to buy, when I can exchange freely with whomever I wish and not be
> interfered with?  

you bet!  vive la resistance!

If there are any problems using the system for your projects let me 
know.  mailto:lucas@g...
--- End forwarded message ---