Or, in modern terms, never underestimate the bandwidth of a few dozen DVDs delivered overnight.
The bandwidth of the station wagon compares more favorably for shorter hauls, not longer ones, but I don't think it adds anything to the proverb to mention distance.
And I think "magnetic tape" makes an iota more sense than "backup tape".
jm2c.
Re: Bandwidth
ziggy on 2002-06-11T21:19:28
Yep. I didn't have my copy of "A Quarter Century of UNIX" nearby, so that quote was rather easily misremembered.I don't know if the distance of the haul is really important. For a suitably large station wagon (about the size of 1-3 UPS trucks), and a suitably dense set of mag tapes (like DVDs or DLT instead of 9-track), shipping bits on tape is still faster than a reasonable data connection (like a T1). Sure OC48s exist, but how often are you going to run or lease an OC48 to move a few terabytes just this once?
:-) On the flip side, a big fat fiber network has a really interesting property that the bits don't get lost when you drive through a big giant magnet.
:-) :-) Re: Bandwidth
jdporter on 2002-06-12T19:52:37
Right... and they don't come to a screaming halt at rush hour!Or, put another way -- traffic jams look like censorship.
:-)
