I manage a number of mailing lists where people contribute an enormous amount of useful information. Unhappily, due to space limitations at my web-host, I can only keep the most recent 3 or 4 months of messages on- line. Since I have kept (off-site) virtually every messages since the list began, I plan on building an archive on my Linux box and burning the whole thing to a CD-Rom. The problem is that I wouldn't be able use use a regular cgi-bin based search engine (like Wilma/Glimpse or MarcSearch) against the archives on the CD-Rom. I have since realized that a Java based applet would fill the bill. Unhappily, an extensive search has shown that the available (commercial/share/free-ware) engines either don't serve my needs or are prohibitively expensive (especially as I might be providing copies of the archive to 100's of people). In looking around for alternatives I ran across a number of sites where one could "request" some software for open development, solicit "proposals" from developers and gather "interest" from other folks who'd like to see the software built. Interested parties commit to putting up some bucks to fund the development. I figure if we could get 20 or 30 people to put up $20.00 (USD) each, we could probably attract a Java developer to do the work. If you'd be interested in helping support(fund) and/or develop specifications for a MHonArc-specific Java based search engine please drop me a note. If there is sufficient interest, I'll set up a mailing list at one of the freebie hosting services where we can hash things out. If you think I'm entirely out in left field, forgive the intrusion, but please *do* drop me a note and tell me why you think this wouldn't work. I look forward to hearing from interested parties. Simeon -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] =-=-=-=-= A rabbit is just an angel with big ears! Send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with Subject: send index to get a listing of files available from my e-mail robot. <*>
