idea for a much needed application

[mike henley]

"TGOS" <tgos at invalid.invalid> wrote in message
news:pasepuc0r73mh5vlcsu1l7erl4e2b17qvi at 4ax.com...
>
> On 29 Sep 2002 14:26:05 -0700 rsrchstr at hotmail.com (mike henley) wrote
> in comp.lang.java.programmer:
>
> > I remember a while ago reading about tim burners-lee and how his
> > vision of the WorldWideWeb as a medium where all can freely and easily
> > publish information [...]
> > Hosts are either expensive or limit you in terms of what
> > languages, modules, applications, and OSs you can use.
>
> To publish information, all you need is writing it into a HTML file and
> a server that hands out the HTML file when getting asked for it.
> You
> don't need any special languages, modules or applications on the server
> to publish your information, other than the ones already present on a
> web-server.

"other than the ones already present on a web-server", exactly! i want to be
ably to use whatever language, modules or applications i choose, and over
the year use others, freely. if i choose perl, php, or even python, ruby or
tcl, then i want to be able to do that. if i want to use mysql or something
else that i prefer, then i want to have the freedom to do that. i do not
wish to be restricted by the "ones already present on a web-server". i do
not want to end up in a catch 22 situation, should i choose a good deal on a
host, and then choose applications within the limits of what it allows me,
or choose applications, and try to find a host that'll provide a good deal.


>
> Despite that, he has not said that you can publish information without
> having banners on the page placed their by your webhost. It's very easy
> to get free webspace if all you want to do is to keep some text online.

Agree, if that's all you want, but beyond keeping some text online, it's
difficult.

>
> Despite that, my webhost does not limit me in language, module or
> application, as long as it's not a permanent background process and does
> not keep any ports permanently open or permanently stays connect to a
> server (IRC bot and the like). In every other case, as long as I can get
> it running on the server and it doesn't swallow so much CPU time, that
> other customers suffer, I'm free to use it. This means I can even
> compile my own script interpreter on the server and use if I like.
> Therefor it's not free of course.
>
> > They also limit you in terms of space,
>
> He said you can "freely and easily publish information", he didn't say
> "infinite information". Limit yourself to information not already
> provided somewhere else. If it is already provided somewhere else, link
> there. That's how the WWW works, my friend.

my post is not about tim-burners lee or what he said.

>
> How are they going to finance their service, if everyone can eat up all
> space alone, leaving nothing for the rest?

my post is also not about the economics or politics of hosting; this sounds
much like the open source vs proprietary software arguments.

>
> > bandwidth used per period,
>
> Same as above.
>
> > number of executions of CGIs...
>
> Never heard of anything like that.

i never heard of it before i carefully read the terms and conditions of some
popular hosts.

>
> > I wish i can just use my own computer, with whatever technologies I
> > choose, keeping my content that i build up over time safe here on my
> > own machine,
>
> Actually my webhost makes a backup on a weekly basis of all data on the
> server. I have never made any backup of 90% of all my data so far. So
> it's a lot less safe on my own PC. Leaving aside that my own PC runs
> Windows, which is certainly a less safe OS than Solaris IMHO.
>
> Also keep in mind that my PC is for working, and I can't use it for
> working if it permanently has to fulfill HTTP requests of some surfers,
> that not just eat up plenty of my RAM, waste plenty of my CPU time, but
> also eat up nearly all my Internet bandwidth, so I can't even take a
> look at the latest news online anymore.
>
> > but unless you have a broadband connection this is not
> > possible. It may be possible using a dynamic DNS provider,
>
> Later below you wrote that you are on dial-up. How does a dynamic DNS
> provider compensate the fact, that your connection is way too slow,
> because you have no broadband? That makes no sense.
>
> Also I think there are still free DynDNS provider, they only ask you to
> "donate" some money and if nobody donates, they will go off-line again.
> But you are not forced to pay them.
>
> > most importantly, there's no way for others to know when you get
> > online.
>
> IRC, ICQ, AIM... the list is endless.

Yes, that is what my post is about, combining instant messaging presence
with dynamic DNS.

>
>  <snip>
>
> > So instead  of giving others a URL I can just give them an IM
> > username they can add to their client, and when i go online,
> > through my humble dial-up connection that changes IP whenever i
> > log in, they'll be aware of my presence, and be able to connect
> > to a server i host on my machine.
>
> Allow users to see your IP address when you are connected to an IRC
> network or to ICQ for example, then they can enter your IP address into
> their browser address bar and will get a webpage if you run a webserver
> and are not behind a firewall that blocks port 80.
>

Perhaps it can be possible to do a little application to automate this.

>  <snip>
>
> > Perhaps it can use existing open-source platforms, such as
> > jabber or gnutella,
>
> > The more automated it is, and the easier it is, the better.
>
> Use an IRC bot on your system,

I'll try that. I still think it can probably be easy to do an application
that combines dynamic DNS with instant messaging presence, say on popular
networks such asw AIM and MSN, as an add-on to say trillian or jabber, so it
would be much easier than IRC. (IRC is messy)