permacomputing

commit 7fdefff7bdd5ba60ee2c2f5a8f0074a81612a2d9
parent beab501dd1281a9d0554e26a2dac57b46a611e8a
Author: Ville-Matias Heikkila <viznut@low.fi>
Date:   Tue, 14 Jun 2022 16:49:25 +0300

add page

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file_collection.mdwn
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+A **file collection** is a set of computer files deliberately maintained by
+someone. In today's computing, most non-personal files can be considered
+temporary: they have been downloaded from somewhere and can always be
+redownloaded if needed again. The practice of actual file collection is
+becoming ever more marginal, but it has a place in permacomputing for
+increasing resiliency and reducing network dependency.
+
+Before the ubiquity of the broadband Internet, users of personal computers
+usually had files of all the software they used (and usually a lot of
+software they never used), often on physical floppies or CDs. These
+collections were cared for, and even the decision to delete a rarely played
+PD game could be painful. While people had their private file collections,
+there were also public file collections, such as [[BBS]]es, which often
+served as repositories of commonly needed PD software and much more.
+
+While broadband networking is probably the most important reason for the
+marginalization of file collection, another reason may be "[[obsolescence]]
+thinking" that assumes files to [[get bad|software rot]] if they are not
+constantly "updated". Keeping a computer offline for a long period of time
+often brings up large batches of automatic updates; experiences like this
+may contribute to the illusion of "file rot".
+
+Today, many people have small personal servers or websites, but they are
+rarely used to share any files other than those directly related to the
+maintainer. However, they could also easily serve larger collections of
+files, including copies of all kinds of online resources the maintainer
+considers important. A lot of resources are released on licences that allow
+unlimited redistribution, but this right to redistribution seems to be quite
+underused.
+
+In a permacomputing world, servers that host file collections would be just
+as common as public libraries. People would primarily use the servers that
+are geographically close to them. They would contain all the commonly used
+software and documentation (along with their complete
+[[dependency|dependencies]]) along with large amounts of other freely
+distributable media (books, entertainment, reference databases such as
+Wikipedia, etc.)