On Tuesday 23 January 2001 22:15, you wrote:
> I agree with Daniel, at least some of the work must be
> centralized. What stops an user from creating an unofficial "padven"
> package, with the same contents of the official "penadv"?
True, GameID must be centralized.
> Having the game database centralized has another advantage: we
> could build a kind of MSX-Napster. The central database would not store
> any actual .msx file, but it could store URLs from sites where the
> packages could be download.
In the case of Napster, the format MP3 does not depend on the service
Napster. I'd like to see that for the .msx format as well: it's possible to
use a centralized server, but it's not necessary.
By the way, I think the analogy with Napster doesn't work well. Napster
doesn't have an official version of an MP3, it doesn't even have an
equivalent of GameID. I could convert the 2 minute PSG noise sample to MP3,
name it as one of today's hits and people will download it. I think the
system Daniel proposed is more similar to the package manager systems that
Linux distributions have.
> Another advantage of this napster-like
> database is the updating of the .msx archives. If there's a new version
> available (the date ID can be used for this purpose), the msx-napster can
> warn the user or start the new download.
I agree that it is a useful service, but I maintain that it doesn't have to
be part of the standard. It is sufficient for the info file to include the ID
of the packager and the version of the package.
> I must tell you that my head hurts with the incredible amount of
> information we discussed. I think it's time to stop discussing new ideas
> and write a document with the features that already have been approved
> (such as the generic mapper system). After the document is written, we can
> go back to the new ideas.
Yes, it would be a good thing to summarize what we have decided. And the
standard has to be documented anyway, so why not start now?
Bye,
Maarten
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