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Yes - I have used NNTP as an eventually-reliable pub/sub message bus in an unstable mesh environment. The specific use being transport of per-device usage/bill

Yes - I have used NNTP as an eventually-reliable pub/sub message bus in an unstable mesh environment. The specific use being transport of per-device usage/billing & monitoring data. The implied Gossip algorithm of the server-to-server subprotocol was well suited to the intermittent availability of links in that particular network. Messages (articles) were PGP verified. NNTP is channelized by design, and servers like Diablo have built-in expiry management. It's also easy to monitor with a lightweight news reader. This was only a few years ago. I was pleased with it, at the time - simple to build from readily available parts.

walterbell 12y ago
Thanks for that encouraging data point. We need a neutral, replicable client-side data store with standardized interfaces for automated analysis/filtering/reading. This could be an offline archive of docs, web browser history or online/cloud bookmarks, along with _private_ annotations about content and authors (e.g. killfiles, quality ratings). If the datastore is open (standard & source), there could be healthy competition among proprietary apps to use the datastore, but not control it. NNTP could predictively replicate (via home wifi) a subset of this cache to mobile based on personal calendar, reducing public network usage. What's good about this approach is that it would surpass the usability of mobile apps + public cloud, thanks to the private cache reducing the impact of public network latency. With neverending hijinks on net neutrality and web standards, it may be worth exploring NNTP pub/sub between home server/laptop and mobile devices.
- rakoo 12y ago
  So basically, CouchDB + PouchdB/TouchDB/Cloudant ? I'd love to see something really emerge in this domain (CouchDB is already mature).
  - janl 12y ago
    We are ways off, but my personal goal for http://hood.ie http://hood.ie is to be able to allow people to build gmail/gdocs competitors without having to do any heavy lifting. We could use your help, though :)

walterbell 12y ago

Thanks for that encouraging data point. We need a neutral, replicable client-side data store with standardized interfaces for automated analysis/filtering/reading. This could be an offline archive of docs, web browser history or online/cloud bookmarks, along with _private_ annotations about content and authors (e.g. killfiles, quality ratings). If the datastore is open (standard & source), there could be healthy competition among proprietary apps to use the datastore, but not control it. NNTP could predictively replicate (via home wifi) a subset of this cache to mobile based on personal calendar, reducing public network usage. What's good about this approach is that it would surpass the usability of mobile apps + public cloud, thanks to the private cache reducing the impact of public network latency. With neverending hijinks on net neutrality and web standards, it may be worth exploring NNTP pub/sub between home server/laptop and mobile devices.

rakoo 12y ago
So basically, CouchDB + PouchdB/TouchDB/Cloudant ? I'd love to see something really emerge in this domain (CouchDB is already mature).
- janl 12y ago
  We are ways off, but my personal goal for http://hood.ie http://hood.ie is to be able to allow people to build gmail/gdocs competitors without having to do any heavy lifting. We could use your help, though :)