Re: Proposal: Internet Archive (a potential patent work around?)

Jake Robb wrote:

> Download a compressed archive of files containing executable code?  
> Sounds
> like a JAR file to me.
>  
>
It is similar to a jar...  The entry point of the archive is the first 
file, so that there is no resolution necessary.  The difference is that 
not the entire jar file is downloaded.  Only what is necessary is 
downloaded.  Imagine putting shockwave into every archive, when the 
content to play is only 5KB.  That would be an incredible download hit.  
Ok an HTTP 1.0 server would have to download the Internet Archive each 
and every time.  But by using HTTP 1.1, only the necessary bits are 
downloaded, hence saving bandwidth.

> I'd be very interested to see the web entirely based on a
> platform-independent programming language instead of a text markup 
> language,
> but I don't think it would actually be a good approach.
>  
>
We already have it...  It is called Java, and .NET.

How could this Internet Archive work.

Lets say I am using IE or Mozilla and I want to download an applet.  The 
Internet Archive file would contain the Java Applets, and the runtime.  
The runtime would execute the Java Application.  While the size of the 
Internet Archive will be in the megabytes, it is irrelevant because the 
size of the file is virtual.  The HTTP 1.1 protocol would use ranges to 
download the bits it needs.  The trick is that the archive would be 
created dynamically on the server side using MIME encoding.  You would 
create a file, reference the runtime bits and let the HTTP server take 
care of the rest.  So the resolution still happens, but the Internet 
Archive delegates the resolution to the server, unknown entirely to the 
client and to the HTTP protocol.  It is an implementation detail...

Christian Gross

Received on Friday, 12 September 2003 08:17:33 UTC