FTP archive of WinWorld, please?
Hello, I'd like to know how to get access to the plain "FTP" archive of WinWorld instead of the sorted web interface to download things.
The first time I came to the site, I was able to get into the plain interface of downloading, but now I try again but seems to redirect me to the sorted web interface.
I don't really like the sorted web interface because it seems too "confusing" for me, I like it simple, sorted in folders, text only.
Something like, when you go in here: http://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/misc/freedos/files/
Thx
The first time I came to the site, I was able to get into the plain interface of downloading, but now I try again but seems to redirect me to the sorted web interface.
I don't really like the sorted web interface because it seems too "confusing" for me, I like it simple, sorted in folders, text only.
Something like, when you go in here: http://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/misc/freedos/files/
Thx
Comments
Right now the idea is to get people viewing the actual site that we have spent hundreds of man hours developing. I do understand that there are legitimate reasons for wanting the FTP-style listings and that's a request we have had from others too. It is something i am thinking of how to work into dev however bear in mind we do not support downloading our entire library for the hell of it which is exactly what you wanted to do.
I encourage anybody to download whatever they need from our library. If you plan on using it by all means grab it. However, as we provide a public service, we request that no member download our entire archive without prior permission as I know most of those archives will sit on your hard disk untouched. When people do this it deprives others of available bandwidth for archives they may need more immediately. Bandwidth is a finite resource and you're not the one paying for it, I am.
I know there's desire to have multiple downloads so I am tinkering with a "download basket" in the next iteration of dev and classic FTP style listings for VIP members.
I recognize that there are still some improvements to made to our library, particularly the search and some aspects of organization. WinWorld as it is now is continually a work in progress, and we welcome feedback.
However that being said I feel the overall the new system is the best way to go. As stitch said, aside from those of us staff/VIPs who keep a safe-copy of the library stored more or less for backup purposes, I can think of no real reason anybody needs to have a copy of our entire library. How many sites offering software downloads permit you to just openly download /everything/ they offer, even if it's all for free?
Bandwidth cost money and is finite. Combine that with the increasing speeds being provided to users worldwide, it's easier and easier for a few people to shit all over everything. One person hammering the server for hours with a 100 megabit connection trying to mirror several hundred gigabytes would be consuming a huge chunk of bandwidth that should be shared with other users who are just trying to download a couple files.
This is not directed at the original poster in particular, but a general message.
Quite frankly, I think anybody visiting WinWorld should be happy to have the access to the number of abandonware and beta software titles through fast, direct HTTP downloads, accompanied by descriptions and serial numbers, where possible. I realize many of you may be younger teens, so you don't remember the earlier days of the abandonware 'scene' - I call it that only because I can think of no other term.
Not that long ago, trying to find something as common as Windows 3.1 would involve you sifting through websites with half-broken links to places like Yahoo Briefcases and Rapidshare with multi-part RAR files or slow single megabit home servers hosting entire software collections which were constantly being hammered by people with Download Accelerator Plus et. all. This was WinVision and WinWorld for most of 2002 - 2009.
In the past I have sent copies of the library to users via snail mail on DVD media for the cost of media and shipping; generally because they live in rural regions with dial-up or satellite. However the size of the library now makes that impractical without Blu-Ray discs or hard drives unless you choose a subset of of the collection or a lot of DVDs.
I should make it clear we are not trying to hoard software or prevent others for collecting and sharing what we have in our library, but only to ensure everybody gets fair and equal access to our software library.
As Duff said, back in "our" day, finding even the most common thing could take hours, let alone downloading it (given we were on dialup or verrrry slow DSL et al).
Seeing as BW is effectively limited, I'd rather people download shit they only really "need", so that others can get access too, not have hoards of clowns downloading everything and slowing this place to a crawl.
So for that reason, people would prefer to have a copy of their own and then they can have access to it any time they want for as long as they want.
Now, I'm not saying people should go download the entire archive at once, including tons of shit they'll never use. But I am offering an explanation for why they might want to do such a thing.
Obviously, the pros of the new system outweigh the cons. I would agree the search system in particular could use some work, I think having the ability to search for any term and bring up a list of results would make the system much more effective. Also the ability to 'tag' downloads for search purposes although this already exists in some sense. But keep in mind this is built from scratch, we're not using Google Site Search in the background.
With that said we can probably provide a date sorted list of new processed contributions.