Date: Thu, 15 Sep 1994 10:59:20 -0500 (CDT)
From: tpg
To: AMS Demo Part 13
Content-Type: X-BE2; 12
If-Type-Unsupported: send
Subject: It's a Big World

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\center{\bold{\bigger{\bigger{The Size of the Message Database}}}}


Because all messages are stored centrally on the Andrew File System, storage 
costs for bulletin boards are fully amortized over the entire user community. 
 What this means is that it is relatively cheap to maintain an enormous 
database of bulletin boards.


One of the major goals of the AMS was to be as compatible as possible with all 
existing mail systems.  Thus you use the same system to exchange formatted, 
animated mail with other AMS workers and to exchange unformatted mail with 
users of other systems.  You do not need to give up any compatiblity with the 
rest of the world in order to reap the full benefits of multi-media mail.


At CMU, that database currently includes approximately 1900 bulletin boards, 
including all of UNIX netnews, the Dow Jones information service, hundreds of 
internet mailing lists, and some syndicated cartoons.  At this point, it might 
be a good idea to use the "expose all" menu and demonstrate the breadth of the 
message database at CMU.  While doing so, it is a good time to demonstrate the 
other things one can do with message folders in a list, notably the "explain 
what it is" feature.  On the other hand, it can take a long time to scroll 
through that list, so for a quicker demo you can just look at the overview of 
the CMU bboard organization, below.


To give you an idea of the system is used at CMU, we have made a table, below, 
describing the rough top-level structure of the bboard system at CMU as of 
May, 1989.

\begindata{table,539701000}
\cols 111 99 308
-	-	-
| ^Top-level Node	| ^# of bboards	| ^Purpose	| 
-	-	-
| ^official	| ^17	| ^Restricted posting	| 
| ^academic	| ^124	| ^Course-related discussions for 12 departments	| 
| ^andrew	| ^123	| ^gripes, hints, comics, miscellany	| 
| ^andy	| ^14	| ^Discussions of experimental software	| 
| ^announce	| ^2	| ^General announcements	| 
| ^cmu	| ^16	| ^Campus-wide & imported campus bboards	| 
| ^hobbies	| ^51	| ^Sports, gambling, cooking, etc.	| 
| ^magazines	| ^34	| ^Topic-oriented bboards with "editors"	| 
| ^opinion, graffiti	| ^72	| ^Foaming at the mouth, garbage	| 
| ^org	| ^415	| ^Private & public forums for 14 organizations	| 
| ^assocs	| ^64	| ^Forums for unofficial organizations	| 
| ^dow-jones	| ^109	| ^News from Dow-Jones information service	| 
| ^ext.in	| ^373	| ^Internet/Bitnet mailing lists & bboards	| 
| ^ext.nn	| ^482	| ^UNIX Netnews, world-wide topical discussions	| 
-	-	-
|  	|  	|  	| 
| ^TOTAL	| ^1898	| ^Wasting lots of time	| 
-	-	-
\enddata{table,539701000}
\view{spread,539701000,1498,0,0}


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