Conference 7.286::digital

5165.0. "Web Home Pages for "The rest of them"" by SKIBUM::GASSMAN () Tue Mar 04 1997 22:21

    With the DIGITAL NT domains fairly operational, we have the technology
    to provide a web home page for "the rest of them".  Domain accounts
    come with an "M drive", with something like 25 megabytes included in
    the account.  You can have a nice web site with 100Kb and 1meg is
    plenty for most.  Here's the plan...
    
    To start the process, a /web-root subdirectory is created in every
    domain subscriber's "M drive" on the facility's server.  A web server
    is then installed in a site domain linked to everyone's root directory.  
    Every subscriber is then given their personal URL in the form of 
    http://www.<site>.dec.com/<subscriber>/  
    
    For example - my home page URL would be http://www.zko.dec.com/gassmanb 
    <-- using my "exchange address".  You would use the exchange address book 
    to find my web site, or use WEB ELF or VTX ELF (as long as it works).
    
    Those using this MWEB process could "drag-n-drop" single files or entire 
    web environments including directory trees, directly into their active
    web server.  To the subscriber, it would go into M:\web-root and
    instantly be "on the web".  The phrase "Put a file up for me" would become 
    a common saying during a telephone call.  HTML editing may still be a 
    problem, but with OFFICE97 tools and drag-n-drop ease of use - a lot more 
    home pages will appear.
    
    An added synergy to the new environment would be the addition of more
    information to DIGITAL's Intranet AltaVISTA search-my-enterprise
    database.  The mode of working becomes one of "putting up" the work you
    do that you are most proud of - and if someone needs it, they will find
    it.  We will learn more about writing in "search engine" language to
    promote our material.  In theory, personal productivity goes way up.
    
    The beauty of it is that TODAY - all the pieces are in place to work
    that way - could be up in days!  The COMPANY becomes Internet engergized, 
    to match the servers being sold.  
    
    Those that aren't using Windows or can't for some reason use the "M
    Drive" technique can do what has been done up to now (don't know the
    count, but it's well over 500 web servers on line today).  If you have
    a fixed IP address and manage a system you can put up a web server.  
    There are web servers available with corporate wide licenses for 
    UNIX, OpenVMS, Windows NT and 95.
    
    Each facility "M Drive" web server can handle hundreds of subscribers 
    easily.  The bottleneck in handling thousands is a management problem, 
    not one of server or I/O performance.  DIGITAL has sold to customers 
    using a pair of AlphServer 4100 systems to support 40,000 email 
    subscribers - each is offered a web home page to go with it.  Usually 
    UNIX, and the M-drive technique is built on NT, but most site domains are 
    much smaller than 40,000.
    
    Floating the idea around so far has been met with enough feedback to
    suggest that maybe it's too soon, or maybe there are still too many 
    problems with security, ethics, privacy, etc - My reply is that most are 
    solved, or are being addressed.
    
    It would be nice to check out BP's home page.  In my DEC fantasy,
    VP's would be required to publish a home page, and everyone's review 
    would in some form, consider the reviewee's web page as a component 
    of the rating.  
    
    bill 
    email: [email protected]
    
    
    
    

    I have no problem with the idea as prsented, except for a problem I
    come across regularly both here and with customers. 
    
    That problem is the issue of information that is of corporate value being 
    held in personal locations. For instance, I received a pointer to a file 
    of use to me from an Intranet search today, guess what, the person has 
    gone and so has the location associated with them. There was a sense of 
    urgency quite recently because a group was folding and the code was going 
    to be blown away when the group disbanded.
    
    I have, in the past, tried to track down useful material, only to find
    that it dissolved when the author dissolved.
    
    I realise this is possible whether the location is web linked or not,
    but the problem will be exascerbated by your proposal, since material
    of corporate value but held in volatile personal stores will now be more 
    easily discovered (and hence more easily relied upon), yet the volatility 
    of its storage will be the same. 
    
    If some information is of importance to the corporation, it is an
    asset. It needs to be trated as such. Personal locations simply wont
    get that focus. Could we have a hierarchy of the kind of information 
    locations like you suggest,  personal, workgroup, enterprise? 
    Enterprise locations have information of corporate importance and are 
    treated as such (regularly backed up, reviewed etc?). Workgroup may be 
    development docs, code??, etc., again reviewed and assessed but capable 
    of being escalated to Enterprise importance if things like the group
    being sold etc occur.
    
    
    Regards,
    John
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    

    re .1, "corporate info under individual control"
    
    I think this phenomena is a symptom of a problem: namely, that once
    information goes under corporate control, it becomes dead, static, and
    irrelevant.  In order to avoid this, groups/individuals attempt to keep
    local control. Case in point:  the corporate web ...ahhh... "presence"
    (for want of a better and un-deragatory word). I am constantly amazed
    at how a corporation with a marketing line of "hot internet
    yahdi-yahdi" can have a web site that contains so much outdated and
    stale information, is basically textually oriented, and badly
    organized.  Our AV search page fits into this schema perfectly:
    data from a firehose, basically information-free.
    
    Mark

re .2:

Amen