[WEB4LIB] dedicated digital library clients. NOT.

[Jerry Kuntz]

...but unlike the web or Z39.50, napster looks like it indexes files on
connected servers on the fly, which is a very intriguing feature to think
about for library applications. No waiting weeks or months for search
engines to crawl sites. No need to configure servers to target (Z39.40). No
404s or domain server not found messages. Admittedly the indexing is
appalling; and exactly what subsets of servers is indexed is a mystery; and
the intervals of the reindexing--which seems continual--is unknown.
Jerry Kuntz
Ramapo Catskill Library System
jkuntz at rcls.org
----- Original Message -----
From: Eric Hellman <eric at openly.com>
To: Multiple recipients of list <web4lib at webjunction.org>
Sent: Thursday, July 06, 2000 9:59 AM
Subject: [WEB4LIB] dedicated digital library clients. NOT.


> New protocols and clients etc are constantly being invented,
> deployed, used, discarded and obsoleted.
>
> Based on the evidence, I suspect that the mass demand for another
> digital library focused client just isn't there. There are Z39.50
> clients which are useful but not wildly popular. A year ago, "The
> Brain" had a lot of hype behind it; that seems to have cooled. The
> current trend is browser companions such as those from Alexa,
> Autonomy, Flyswat, Nano, Navilinks and my current favorite, DeepLeap.
> These are well suited as information clients, but of course they
> focus on e-commerce stuff.
>
> I say "another digital library client" because modern web browsers
> are wildly successful digital library clients.
>
> Eric