Are you referencing user technology or development technology? The
development technology is accessible now, although I agree that the average
PC owner may not have the required technology or bandwidth to use the
environment effectively once it is developed. Downloading the finished
environment would probably be a somewhat lengthy task, especially over
modem, and interactivity might be somewhat taxed by bandwidth issues. Once
the environment is fully loaded, however, it is possible to operate much of
the environment via a 28.8k modem.
An alternative to this would be to periodically distribute a CD-ROM that
contained much of the static content of the World. Then the user would only
have to download the portions that are dynamic or have changed. Ultimately
bandwidth will be the most significant factor. But until everyone has
ISDN/ADSL/Cable connections, we'll have to make do with what we have.
One thing that I envision is having a coffee shop or something with a bunch
of terminals with 10Mbit or 100Mbit access to one of the World servers.
Setup dedicated communication channels between World server hubs via the
Internet. This would allow people to have fast, real-time access to the
world via centralized access. A smart, well-designed architecture would
allow the possibility of building a very large distributed world, but
without massive bandwidth requirements. Admittedly though, modem
connections would suck no matter which way you cut it.
No one said it would be easy, but I definitely think a viable solution is
possible.
-James Rogers
jamesr@best.com