From: David Heinemeier Hansson <david@...>
Date: 2004-06-01T05:39:57+09:00
Subject: Re: Distributed wiki idea (was blank--resending)

> Though I haven't used it, I'm told that this is the idea behind GNU 
> arch for source control.  I want something similar for a wiki.  
> Basically like a distributed version of instiki.

This has actually been a long time dream for Instiki right from the 
get-go. My role model  is SubEthaEdit (a collaborative editor for OS X) 
that'll let each participant keep a copy of the shared document when 
the "server" goes online. Once that happens, any of the other 
participants can re-share the document and works continue on as if 
nothing happened. A very resistant model.

The dream was to pair this with some native OS X technology in form of 
Rendezvous. Imagine being at a conference. One guy starts a wiki to 
collect notes. His machine is now the be all, end all of this 
conferences notes. That's a big liability for the rest of the 
attendents. His machine could go run out of battery, he could loose his 
net connection. Or just take his toys and go home early.

Now, the dream continues, if other participants hooked on like in the 
SubEthaEdit scenario, and shared the wiki with the server, there would 
be a much more resiliant mesh. New pages and changes would get pushed 
around all the participating wikis. They would automatically find each 
other through Rendezvous and use a mutual observer-like (DRb?) 
relationship to push and pull news.

I understand that this isn't quite what you're calling for, but perhaps 
this observer-like relationship doesn't have to be synchronous or near 
that. Perhaps it could be made to work very asynchronously, as in days 
apart.

Anyway, these are my thoughts. Some work has already been done to 
further this as I've build a OS X native version of Instiki 
(double-clik and you're set!), which is scheduled to get Rendezvous 
support in the most childish form (merely broadcasting a notice that a 
webserver is running).
--
David Heinemeier Hansson,
http://www.instiki.org/      -- A No-Step-Three Wiki in Ruby
http://www.basecamphq.com/   -- Web-based Project Management
http://www.loudthinking.com/ -- Broadcasting Brain
http://www.nextangle.com/    -- Development & Consulting Services