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A Search Engine For The Slower Net

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the most-everyone-most-everywhere dept.

Makarand writes "According to this BBC News article researchers at MIT are developing a search engine for people using the web on slower net connections. The software will e-mail queries to a central server and receive the most relevant webpages from the search results by e-mail in a compressed form. Since the program is too big to download over a poor net connection it will be mailed on CDs to libraries for people to borrow and install. They are also considering trying to persuade computer sellers in developing countries to install the program on machines."

6 of 309 comments (clear)

  1. Still in use today in the US. by _Sambo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    TODAY
    I am reminded of the Prepaid Legal system of doing business. You call up and ask a question, and the next day, an attorney familiar with the area you are asking about calls you back to answer your questions and advise you. So maybe this isn't all that outdated of an idea after

    IN REGARD TO THE SYSTEM IN THE ARTICLE:
    To have this capability back in 1973 would have been unbelievable. In 1983, to have this available to every library in the US would have been an unbelievable achievement. To have it now is so slow that I start to go google eyed even thinking about it.
    BUT
    This is great for countries that are 20-30 years behind in technology. It will revolutionize the search for information for areas that are not as connected as the US.

  2. What it's really about by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    is not slow connections, but connections that are unreliable

    Using the phone in a country like Malawi can be a real adventure. It's not like the US at all.

  3. Also good to circumvent censorship by pbox · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Coincidentally (?) it is also very usefult to circumvent the Great Firewall. Way to go, but it would also be nice to optionally have the cached content (ala google) e-mailed as well. That would send the last standing wall crumbling.

    --
    Code poet, espresso fiend, starter upper.
  4. Re:Because... by fliplap · · Score: 5, Insightful

    RTFA.

    Why don't you just scream "HI I'M FROM 'WESTERN' CIVILIZATION AND HAVE NO IDEA HOW THESE THINGS WORK IN LESS PRIVLEGED PLACES"

    Google is too slow when your school has one phone line that is used for _everything_, including net access. Not to mention the cost of using the phone anyway. This allows all the students to submit thier searches to a teacher one day, the teacher then submits the all searches with only a couple minutes of dialing up. He can retrieve the compressed results a few days later with only a minutes of dialing up. Now go read the article. Someone needs to mod that post down, hopefully the poster can redeem themselves later in the thread with something insightful.

  5. Wouldn't be needed if... by DeltaSigma · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ...only webdesigners had not collaborated to turn the web into the graphics orgy it is today. I mean, have these kids coming out of graphics school even browsed the relevant w3c specifications?

    News Flash !

    • The internet is for information, not television!
    • Web sites can look pretty and function better without being a giant photoshop mural!
    • Creating a clean design that's easily searchable, retrievable, and most of all, usable is a work of art!
  6. Re:Other needs by kwerle · · Score: 3, Insightful

    First, for those of you saying 'Google is fast enough even on a 14.4K' - think school with one phone line, perhaps not even available during the day. Or how about connections via satelite phone at $$/min? Suddenly you want super efficient, when you only earn 5 bucks a day.

    No, google is fast enough at 300Baud. Damn, but folks are young around here.

    As to what else this needs, the search engine needs to strip out all the crap before emailing a web page to you (Java, Flash, etc) - should focus on mostly text, small pictures only.

    Either configure your browser or proxy to do that. Easy.

    Particulary since 486's would be a common platform for people using this, so the search engine better work well on one.

    Give me a break. 486's are plenty powerful enough for web browsing. Even with pictures.

    You also should be able to strip out all pictures as an option to maximise text info download - remember turning off pictures in Netscape 2.x to speed up your browsing? If you need something it striped out, you should be able to query just for the bits you need later.

    [sarcasm on] Really? [/sarcasm]

    Also the ability to share your cache between computers would be huge if they can't have a server to do that for them. At any rate, means of transferring those precious pages you downloaded to another computer - on a floppy, unless you have local email

    Give me a frickin' break. PPP over null modem serial.

    This has got to be one of the worst ideas I've ever heard of. Hell, I knew of WWW via UUCP (that's email, kids) in the 90's - and that didn't require ANY "special search software."