Explain and Friends (and Neighbours)

Hi all,

some weeks back, there was rather an extensive debate here about both 
possible schemes to replace/rejuvenate Explain, but also the "Friends & 
Neighbours" mechanism for the discovery of new Z39.50 servers.

Having a direct interest in a resolution to these issues, I selfishly 
suggested that interested parties join in an unofficial working group to 
seek out a solution to -- hopefully -- both of these problems.

The result was more than pleasing. There's been around 430 messages on the 
mailing list of the working group; at times  it's been a little daunting 
just to keep up. But thanks to some very dedicated individuals (for myself, 
I have mostly just followed the proceedings with astonishment), I feel that 
things have progressed quickly and surely toward some very good results.

Robert Sanderson will be at the ZIG meeting in Ohio to discuss the results 
of the work, but in the meantime, I'd just like to point people at the page 
at http://explain.z3950.org/, where the specification and related notes can 
be found. For the truly brave, there is also access to the mailing list 
archive.

All the best,

--Sebastian
--
Sebastian Hammer, Index Data <http://www.indexdata.dk/>
Ph: +45 3341 0100, Fax: +45 3341 0101

Received on Thursday, 28 March 2002 12:22:01 UTC