Re: [9fans] Plan9 - the next 20 years

["J.R. Mauro" <jrm8005@gmail.com>]

On Fri, Apr 17, 2009 at 11:56 PM, erik quanstrom <quanstro@quanstro.net> wrote:
>> Vidi also seems to be an attempt to make Venti work in such a dynamic
>> environment. IMHO, the assumption that computers are always connected
>> to the network was a fundamental mistake in Plan 9
>
> on the other hand, without this assumption, we would not have 9p.
> it was a real innovation to dispense with underpowered workstations
> with full adminstrative burdens.
>
> i think it is anachronistic to consider the type of mobile devices we
> have today.  in 1990 i knew exactly 0 people with a cell phone.  i had
> a toshiba orange screen laptop from work, but in those days a 9600
> baud vt100 was still a step up.
>
> ah, the good old days.

Of course it's easy to blame people for lack of vision 25 years later,
but with the rate at which computing moves in general, cell phones as
powerful as workstations should have been seen to be on their way
within the authors' lifetimes.

That said, Plan 9 was designed to furnish the needs of an environment
that might not ever have had iPhones and eeePCs attached to it even if
such things existed at the time it was made.

But I'll say that if anyone tries to solve these problems today, they
should not fall into the same trap, and look to the future. I hope
they'll consider how well their solution scales to computers so small
they're running through someone's bloodstream and so far away that
communication in one direction will take several light-minutes and be
subject to massive delay and loss.

It's not that ridiculous... teams are testing DTN, which hopes to
spread the internet to outer space, not only across this solar system,
but also to nearby stars. Now there's thinking forward!

>
> none of this is do detract from the obviously good idea of being
> able to carry around a working set and sync up with the main server
> later without some revision control junk.  in fact, i was excited to
> learn about fossil — i was under the impression from reading the
> paper that that's how it worked.
>
> speaking of vidi, do the vidi authors have an update on their work?
> i'd really like to hear how it is working out.
>
> - erik
>
>