Re: Replacement policies

On more reflection, I just realized what that what we are discussing here
is classic inventory managment. I haven't tracked progress in the field
since I wrote such applications 30 years ago but I assume there has
been some. It seems to me that the only protocol issue would be
to identify data which would be useful to modern inventory demand
forecasting algorithms, design a way to exchange such data if
required and we're done.

In the olden days, forecasts were based on the sales experience of
the seller.  Initial orders might be as the result of a good sales
job by the vendor but even without scientific inventory management,
it seem likely that a retailer would retain or acquire additional
inventory based on manufacturer reports that on the other side of 
the world, this product is well received.

So lets agree that some very smart algorithms may be available to make
caching more effective.  The first order solution is certainly 
self contained within an individual cache. Perhaps we can thus agree
do defer discussion until things reasonable for 1.1 have been dealt
with.

Dave Morris

Received on Monday, 8 January 1996 22:48:29 UTC