[wg-c] merging naming systems

[Dave Crocker <dcrocker@brandenburg.com>]

At 07:11 AM 8/18/99 , A.M. Rutkowski wrote:
>It's also entirely possible to have the two approaches
>coexist.  For example, the F.401 root exists right now.
>It is a public resource/trust system.  There are gateway
>arrangements between the two.  There is no reason that
>it couldn't be merged directly into the existing or
>a modified DNS.

The technical term,  "gateway", refers to a device or service that connects 
together two (or more) DIFFERENT services.  For interesting gateways, there 
is semantic translation between those services, mapping, adding and 
deleting information.

It is in the nature of a gateway that it loses information.  That's the 
required effect of having semantic differences between the gatewayed services.

The fact that two systems are gatewayed does not mean that they can be 
merged.

In fact, it tends to suggest the opposite conclusion.

Hence, it the absence of a detailed proposal about merging the DNS with any 
other naming system, readers would do well to take the idea of merging as 
being technical nonsense.

Along the way, perhaps we will also hear a proposal for "merging" French 
and Japanese...

d/

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Dave Crocker                                         Tel: +1 408 246 8253
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