ANNOUNCE: Release of VORTICES Visual Cache Browser

                  Software Release Announcement

     VORTICES - Visualiser of Resources in Shared Web Caches
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VORTICES is a visual browser of details of resources cached in shared
web proxy servers. It helps users discover interesting web content
that other users are accessing.

Visualisations can be viewed under Netscape on Windows 95/98/NT with
the CosmoPlayer2.1 plugin. See our demonstrator Vortices service at

        http://hel.cee.hw.ac.uk/Vortices/pages/QueryForm.html

        http://hel.cee.hw.ac.uk/Vortices/pages/users/

Vortices software sets up an automated facility that stores details of
recent local Squid proxy server accesses in a Z39.50 database & creates
web forms listing their ranges of values. The forms enable users to
select resource accesses & have them compiled into two kinds of
interactive VRML visualisations with applet controls. They can be
browsed to discover interesting content in the shared web cache which
local users can rapidly fetch. Compiled visualisations are archived for
general access.

A Vortices service can be run under many flavours of UNIX using a Zebra
database. For more information and the new VORTICES 1.0 release visit:

        http://hel.cee.hw.ac.uk/Vortices/

VORTICES is free software released under the GNU General Public Licence.

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Vortices Group, Computing & Electrical Eng Dept, Heriot-Watt University
Riccarton, Edinburgh, Scotland EH14 4AS - WWW: http://www.cee.hw.ac.uk/