Re: A better name than ISM

[Jon Crowcroft <J.Crowcroft@cs.ucl.ac.uk>]

right - ssm is not multicast. its really a very big departure from
the entire IP world - 

the difference between unicast and deering's multicast at the
fundamental service level was very thin - anyone can send to either,
and anyone can receive what is sent to them,
or choose not -the rest was address allocation and routing

the channel model in SSM explicitly creates an association from
address allocation, source, and receiver set that is much less
flexible (although as everyone keeps saying, appears to cover the
majroity of the _current_ "compelling", or as i prefer, fashionable
applications:-)

i'd prefer we change the name of SSM back to channel

In message <26247.975114786@hazard.aciri.org>, Mark Handley typed:

 >>
 >>>At 12:32 PM 11/24/00, Hugh Holbrook wrote:
 >>>>I agree.  I think we should raise this issue at maddogs.  It feels
 >>>>kind of like a nit, but I think naming is really important -- bad
 >>>>names can cause SO much confusion...
 >>>
 >>>OK, there seems to be consensus that "Internet Standard Multicast"/ISM is 
 >>>not the best name/acronym for the current multicast model.  As for an 
 >>>alternative - IMHO, either "Any-Source Multicast"/ASM or 
 >>>"Source-Independent Multicast"/SIM would be better.  Personally, I prefer 
 >>>"SIM" for (as Mike noted) its symmetry with SSM (given that SSM stands for 
 >>>"Source-Specific Multicast", *not* "Single-Source Multicast".)
 >>
 >>SIM is a rather overloaded abbreviation, and ASM implies the receivers
 >>have no control over which sources they listen to, which is no longer
 >>true with IGMPv3.
 >>
 >>The key difference is that in SSM receivers join a source/channel,
 >>whereas in ISM they join a group (or group of sources).  The ideal
 >>name would probably be Group-Specific Multicast, but that acronym is
 >>taken.  Source-Group Multicast would work too, but (informally at
 >>least) that acronym is also taken.  How about Group-Addressed
 >>Multicast (GAM), Internet Group Multicast (IGM) or just Group
 >>Multicast (GM)?
 >>
 >>Cheers,
 >>	Mark
 >>
 >>

 cheers

   jon