Linked Notes
Around 1975, Control Data Corporation set up its own PLATO system
in Minneapolis and began turning PLATO into a product. By 1985,
over 100 PLATO systems were operating at sites around the world,
about 60% of them running full-time. Some of them were linked
together with dedicated lines so that files and notes could be
exchanged easily. Both Group Notes and Personal Notes were
modified to support intersystem links in 1978.
A notesfile can be linked between any number of systems. From a user's viewpoint, a linked notesfile is exactly like any other, except that the notice "Linked Notesfile" appears on the index display, and in the headers of some postings a system identifier appears after the author's user ID.
When a note or response is posted in a linked notesfile, it appears immediately in the local copy of the file, and is put in a queue to be broadcast to all systems which share that notesfile. The Notes software does its best to keep the file identical on all systems, although it can't guarantee that responses in a given chain appear in exactly the same order everywhere. There can be a delay of several minutes to an hour before a response is posted on linked systems (or even longer if one of the systems is down for an extended period).
I appreciate comments, suggestions and bug-reports.
Please send these to liz-comments@dijkmat.nl.
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