#Avalon CD halted
3 messages in this thread
[>> Continued from previous msg]
this public trust; it's not worth tarnishing our reputation. We've made some
mistakes over the last couple of days that were undeniable proof of this.
Thanks for letting us know. See below for our responses.
2) Will Avalon access always be free? As long as we administer the site, we
will allow anyone to access the public archive without charge.
3) How will Viewpoint improve the Avalon site? We're improving the site by
removing the reverse address registration requirements that the Navy
required, increasing the number of simultaneous access allowed (PS: if any
of you have not been able to get in, e-mail ftpadmin@viewpoint.com),
building an improved index, on-line 3D viewing, and improving documentation
of the models. Many of these improvements in the archive services will be
available through our home page.
4) Will ftp access to the site continue? Yes. At first we thought we would
transition quickly to web only access, but that was based upon 2 erroneous
assumptions. 1) That the vast majority of Avalon users had web browser net
access and 2) That people wouldn't want vanilla ftp access with all the
improvements available through the web page. Well, we were wrong. Ftp
access will continue. Sorry for the false alarm.
5) Will there be mirrors of the site? Why did Viewpoint initially
discontinue mirroring of the site? The wuarchive and POV-Ray sites provided
a much appreciated service in mirroring China Lake's site. Again we made the
incorrect assumption that with our increased bandwidth, these mirrors would
be unnessesary. We also wanted to be sure that this service which would now
be associated with Viewpoint was maintained with our standards. At the root
of this decision was the most profoundly wrong assumption of all: That more
goodwill for Viewpoint would be created if we required people to access the
site through us. Well, we were wrong again and unfortunately gave many of
[>> Continued in next msg]
[>> Continued from previous msg]
you cause to question our intent. So, we've reconsidered the decision and
will authorize a few independent, non-commerical, well-connected sites to
mirror the archive . We've already contacted wuarchive and POV-Ray and are
hoping that they will be willing to continue their valuable service.
6) What about an Avalon CD-ROM? We are preparing a Viewpoint Avalon CD-ROM
which we will make available for a very reasonable price at SIGGRAPH and
after the show by calling Viewpoint. We'd like to know from all of you what
value you'd like to see us add to the Avalon CD above and beyond a simple
snapshot and what price you would view as reasonable.
7) Who "owns" Avalon? The individual models on the Avalon site are owned by
their respective contributors. When you upload a file to Avalon you will
need to state its source and what usage you would like to allow for the
model. A text form will be available soon. This form will be associated
with each model in the future. If someone would like to remove their work
from the archive, we will, of course honor such a request, but since it's
been in the public domain, it might show up again, uploaded by someone else
(though that uploader could not honestly claim to have created it.) The
avalon collection as a whole is not copyrighted, but improvements Viewpoint
makes in terms of indexing and viewing are the property of Viewpoint. We
intend to provide this service free of charge.
8) How do I access Avalon at Viewpoint. 1) http://www.viewpoint.com with
future viewing and indexing and… 2) ftp://avalon.viewpoint.com for the
basic archive 3) mirror sites (URLs to be announced soon) 9) How do we let
Viewpoint know what we think of their Avalon service and let them know what
improvements we'd like to see in the Avalon site? Please send suggestions to
mailto:avalon@viewpoint.com. We really are listening and you are the reason
we're doing this.
[>> Continued in next msg]