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Date:Mon Dec 3 10:41:25 1995 
Subject:Re: Pop and the Web 
From:Steve Knight 
Volume-ID:951203.01 

Jocelyn wrote:
> However, I'm interested in more than that. I've been wondering about
> using the Web as a way of delivering AI programs such as my "Eden"
> microworld thing, demos of planning, search, etc. As people are
> beginning to realise generally, there should be (once the technology
> advances a bit) the potential to avoid a lot of system-dependent GUI
> hacking, since the browser does the hard work of display and layout.

There are two delivery routes.  Firstly we can deliver using CGI
and, as Jocelyn points out, that becomes practical once Java
is more widespread.  At the moment the interaction is restricted
by the limitations of HTTP and HTML which are considerable.  
Secondly, we can make the PLUG archive available via the WWW.
I plan to do this shortly (I'm waiting on some discs.)  And this,
of course, generalises to all other forms of Poplog code.

I don't think that there's much point in defining special purpose
viewers.  The problem is that we still cannot deliver onto
Windows platforms which is where much of the WWW lives.  

However, the WWW lacks real interactivity at the moment.  There's
still an opportunity for a good graphical interactive system --
let's call it the PWM!  Yes, the PWM has all the capability we
require for running over the network and does not expose your
workstation to space invaders, unlike X-windows.  So, if there is
an enthusiast out there who wants to hack up a PWM client on
Macs, Windows, etc I think we could find some real use for it!

Steve