Re: [Bug-gne]Distributed design

[Bob Dodd]

--- Tom Chance <address@hidden> wrote:

> > I think that a few fast computers might be less
> > efficient than a lot of 
> > older computers, as long as the maintenance and
> > administration of those 
> > machines is also distributed (meaning I don't have
> > to do it).
> 
> Most certainly would!

Side-stepping the processing arguments for a moment, it's also
important to take into account the pricing structure for internet
traffic.  

We should be looking to minimise both the cost of hosting/mirroring 
GNE itself, and the cost of individual browsing of content.

To do this requires us to consider how to minimise the traffic between
client and server, and in doing so, aim to reduce the costs imposed by
ISPs who may charge per packet/hit for client and/or server. A typical
example of this is (I think...) New Zealand.

This suggests, to me anyway, that we need to think about our front
ends, especially to any classifiers we may write, and also to how much
info we can pack into "API" queries e.g. there may be a cost reduction
in compressing query results. 

In terms of our front-ends, I would suggest we want to minimse the
number (and size) of HTML pages that are navigated to by hyperlinks
which cause fresh hits on GNE. And all of that leads to some form of
"intelligent" front-end, with at least menu navigation handled at the
client-side of our architecture. Not for efficiency reasons, but to
minimise traffic/cost.

/bob


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