URA headsup

Howdy!

Hmmm...   I missed this comment on my initial read of Larry Masinter's
mail "URI Charter..." of [Thu, 25 May 1995 18:22:38 PDT]:

> > Review the Uniform Resource Agents draft and recommend a course of
> > action for it.
> 
> I'd like to hear from folks who want to move forward with this. It was
> an interesting idea, but I'm not sure how it differs from
> 'extended-URLs-with-lots-of-features'.

As author of the paper on it, let me jump in...  It was not _my_ impression
after the last IETF meeting that we at Bunyip were the only people who
saw the URA work as more than "extended-URLs-with-lots-of-features".  

We have been progressing with the work, and in a separate note I will
request time for an update at the next URI meeting -- we expect to at
least revise the draft of the URA object structure (object structure =/=
URL with feature).

We also now have, in alpha test state, a first application that uses
our (very) prototype implementation of URAs.  The client  is designed to
let Internet users search for net resources by the kind of  information
they are looking for -- not the access protocols.  And, you guessed it --
each of these searches is a URA.    These URAs are kept separate from
the client program, so any user can pull together their favourite
collection of them, write new ones, share them with friends, and save
instances of them (e.g., any  user can create an instance of the "Stock Quote"
URA that searches specifically for Sun stock).

Current target dates are such that this client program will be freely available 
for use well before the next IETF meeting.

Cheers!
Leslie.

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"Web space:                                            Leslie Daigle
   You go next door for a cup of sugar,                leslie@bunyip.com
   and wind up in a completely different universe."    Montreal, Canada
                   -- ThinkingCat
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Received on Wednesday, 31 May 1995 23:26:30 UTC