[NTLK] Museum torrent requests -- What's the point?

[Yeah, I'm being more outspoken lately. Just trying to stir up more meaningful dialogue on the list.]

I don't know that much about bit torrent technology, other than people basically share information bit-by-bit with a whole bunch of other people and everybody is supposed to share the upload/download demand with their computers.

Let's look back at the last few weeks or even months -- we see numerous requests for the Museum torrent over and over and over and...
To which I have to ask, 'What is the point?' So that you can have your very own personal copy of (nearly) every Newton app and support file ever created? Why? It would take you three lifetimes to fully study, test, and use every app available on UNNA. Maybe longer than that!

Maybe I'm missing something in these requests. Is it that you can't use any of the data until you have downloaded the ENTIRE thing? I don't think that's the issue. No, I think the issue is some folks want to have their very own copy of every single Newton app ever created. I don't see that serving any purpose, unless this is to guard against unforeseen nuclear attack of the UNNA repository server -- sort of like Ronald Reagan's shell game plan with trains, missile silos, and ICBMs in the 1980's..?

To me this just seems like a lot of unnecessary overlap. When you wish to try a new Newton app or eBook, visit your friendly UNNA archive or other Newton repository, look around, download a few things and try them. Store your Newton goodies for future use, yes, but don't go overboard. I love the Library of Congress and even my little local library. That doesn't mean I want to possess a mirror image of them for my very own.

I don't get the hunger to "own" everything. Oh well. At least I can sleep at night, knowing that the Newton Museum torrent stands ever vigilant against foreign attack.

more irritated (and irritating) food for thought...

Matt K.
Detroit, Michigan USA

       
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