<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><br><div><div>On Nov 4, 2009, at 3:39 PM, Peter Dyballa wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><div><br>Am 04.11.2009 um 22:44 schrieb David Messerschmitt:<br><br><blockquote type="cite">I think for purpose (b) a short URL is compelling.<br></blockquote><br><br>Who is using an OS which applications that have no idea of URLs? I.e., in which you can't click on the hyper-link in the supplied document?<br><br>--<br></div></blockquote></div><div><br></div><div>Peter,</div><div><br></div>My point is that if you are assuming electronic access to the document, then you are better off hiding the URL behind a verbal description.<div>No URL is visible to the user, and it doesnt matter if the URL is long or short or human readable. That is your assumption, and my case (a). </div><div><br></div><div>My case (b) assumes there is no electronic access. For papers published in journals or conference proceedings or a book,</div><div>many readers will have only paper copy and will have to type the URL into a browser. In that case I think the reader would strongly prefer</div><div>a short URL even if contextual info is lost.</div><div><br></div><div>Maybe case (b) will go away sooner or later. Let's hope so.</div><div><br></div><div>-dave</div><div><br></div><div><div><br><div> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><div>David Messerschmitt</div><div>Roger Strauch Professor Emeritus</div><div>Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences</div><div>University of Californa at Berkeley</div><div> and</div><div>Visiting Professor</div><div>Helsinki University of Technology</div><div>Software Business Laboratory</div><div> and</div><div>Visiting Researcher</div><div>SETI Institute</div><br></div><br></div></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"> </div><br></div></div></body></html>