Re: Forms support in clients

Darren New (dnew@sgf.fv.com)
Thu, 29 Sep 1994 03:04:25 +0100

> "watcher" into a server. Some mechanism, not yet existing, would have
> to be invented to let the watcher tell my viewer that something new
> and interesting (as defined by my script) is out there. Then my
> viewer could have the new document fetched, my coffee brewed, and my
> slippers handy when I got up in the morning.

How about.... email?

Why not send an email to the client's account. When the email arrives, it
starts up a viewer on the selected information.

The thing you have to ask yourself is what happens if 1) you're not logged
in, 2) you're not running a viewer, 3) your machine is turned off, .... when
this new document arrives.

Why not just extend your email viewer to handle external references that can
include URLs in addition to anon-ftp and all that stuff?

>
> Using the Shepards model -- suppose I'm researching a-b-hydrolithium
> as a cure for aging. I'd want to put a script into the servers for a
> number of of journals to inform me of any document that is added that
> refers to a-b-hydrolithium or any document that had a citation to Dr.
> Foo's groundbreaking paper on the use of lithium "A" compounds.

But what's the mechanism for telling you? I think that's what the question
is to be answered. -- Darren