Date   : Wed, 28 Nov 2001 01:19:00 +0000
From   : jgh@... (Jonathan Graham Harston)
Subject: Re: BEEB Stuff

Daniel Luton <DLuton@...> wrote:
> Just out of interest, why would anyone want to browse the web on a BBC
> Micro?
 
Why would you use any computer to browse the web?  To seek and fetch
information.
 
But more seriously, there are many applications where a full-blown
high-graphics PC-type machine are riduclous overkill.  The most immediate
that comes to mind, every time I go to the library, is a library catalogue
terminal.
 
Sheffield University Libraries have their catalogue as a "web browsable"
set of documents that are accessed from quite new high-end PCs scattered
around the library.
 
There is nothing that the catalogue front end does that could not be done
on a 80x25 text terminal.  In fact, before they converted to the Web
system they used STAR which used a 80x25 text frontend.  You could even
access STAR via the 'net.
 
To me it would seem a much more sensible use of resources to free all
those PCs to library users to use for other purposes (typing assignments,
graphical browsing of the Internet, etc), and use a load of cast-off text
terminal systems to access the catalogue.  Whenever assignments are coming
due there's always people scurring around desperately looking for a free
machine.
 
The catalogue PCs are configured so they can't access any of the other
network system, and they can't browse the external Internet, so they are
just very expensive over-powered terminals.
 
And, after all a browser is just a type of terminal.  A text browser (such
as Lynx and BB) is just a text terminal with an ability to understand HTML
to format the document they are displaying.
 
-- 
J.G.Harston (JGH BBC PD Library) 70 Camm Street, Walkley, SHEFFIELD S6 3TR
jgh@...                - Running on BBCs & Masters with SJ MDFS FileServer
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 Never, ever, EVER, *EVER*, *E*V*E*R* use an apostrophe to make a plural