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Technology Stocks : Novell (NOVL) dirt cheap, good buy? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Paul Fiondella who wrote (34663)	11/5/2000 11:08:20 AM
From: PJ Strifas	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42771

Quite simple Paul - right now, Novell ships a product that allows you to create/manage/store/share digital certificates. This could fit into your "token" idea. Again, these certificates can "live" within NDS (the system can be represented by objects) and users can "mint" as many certs as they need. The product is called Certificate Server and comes standard with NetWare 5.1. If need be, you could always "extend" the NDS schema to include a new object called Token (or whatever you'd like) which would handle this for you....perhaps it would be better as a file system attribute. In this fashion, the token attribute is set when someone downloads (borrows) a file contained in that "public" folder. The system would then need to track the token information (perhaps in a log file or even in NDS of who, when where etc). As for the "public" and "private" file spaces - that's already possible within the NetWare file system. Every user could have a "home directory" where they have complete control of that storage space. From there, they can create a "public" folder where they can move those files they wish to share publicly. The Just-On system could be used to an even better degree... Once a file has been moved into that public space, someone wanting to "borrow" it would need to obtain a "token" (or certificate) that would allow then to access that file (or files) and download them. Once that token is "claimed" those files would be marked "unavailable" by the system until returned. So we have the technology - what's needed is a Napster-like client piece with a simplified management piece for users. The one concern I would have is when someone borrows the file - how does the system monitor that it has been returned without being copied? For if someone borrows my CD and makes a copy, doesn't that void the spirit of the "loophole" you talk about? Or do you think the music industry would allow exploitation of that loophole? Regards, Peter J Strifas

To: Paul Fiondella who wrote (34663)	11/5/2000 1:31:59 PM
From: kilo_watt	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42771

With Napster, there is NO centralized database. File transfers are from PC to PC, they do not "pass through" Napster at all. The Napster software actuates these transfers. Hence, you can only "share" music from/to users who have the software agent up and running and are logged into the website. I believe the site does have a database of which users have which files, but not the actual files themselves. This is the basis of Napster's defense. Napster remains unaware of how its users are using it's software, and Napster itself doesn't ever come into possession of any illegal files.

To: Paul Fiondella who wrote (34663)	11/6/2000 10:30:53 PM
From: Scott C. Lemon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42771

Hello Paul, So in short, a Personal Directory can store any type of information that you want it to. Public and Private encryption keys, etc. There is nothing that I can see, however, that will provide any kind of perfect protection for the record or movie companies. Personal Directory does not, in itself, have some magic bullet to "solve" the issues of people creating digital copies of music, etc. and sharing them ... This whole area is a minefield, and will, IMHO, be impossible to solve until someone figures out how to jack the multimedia directly into our brains. Instead, just like every other time that people screamed like chicken-little that the sky was falling ... it won't fall. And the masses will purchase content that is cheap enough and convenient enough. Just an opinion ... Scott C. Lemon