web oages don't open

[e.mkeene]

Since Safari is normally so much faster than all the previous browsers 
we've had and since many of us are migrating to faster net service and 
broadband, I think we tend to forget that the ultimate factor that 
controls access to a specific page or site is not us, not our software 
or isp but the equipment and traffic on the site itself.

If the site is well written, uses an isp with adequate resources, and 
purchases adequate bandwidth for the amount of traffic it expects or 
wants to generate, everything works great and we forget we are dealing 
with the enormous conglomeration  and assortment of bits and pieces 
that creates the entire network. Your speed and results will only be as 
fast and accurate as the slowest element in this unwieldy chain. 
Ultimately, your equipment, software and isp are not the deciding 
factor in your results. It simply gives you the best edge possible.

The reason you find hitting the return key works, it simply because you 
have initiated a second attempt to reach the page and this time there 
was an empty slot you beat someone else to. The busier the site is, the 
more often you have to do this and the more you must rely on the luck 
of the draw to get your turn.

I think as our end of the process (Mac end) gets faster and better, our 
computers beat out the slower ones so often, we tend to forget about 
all the little mom and pop isps, the antiquated hardware (including 
phone lines that are about 100 years old in some rural places), the 
horrible code, the ancient servers  a young person may be using for his 
first web site, the third world countries, etc that create the web. 
Then of course, there are also the act of god element, weather related 
events that take out chunks of the web, solar and magnetic events from 
space that determine whether our computer is connecting to the server 2 
doors away from us but line of site or whether it has had to be routed 
around the south pole to get there, etc.

Accessing web pages is still largely a shaky roll of the dice each 
time. We simply have gotten much luckier due to our superior options. 
BTW, remember the old days when we used to use our 14.4 modems at night 
so we could be more likelier to successfully download a 1MB file?

Today, we have to throw in the fact that when it is nightime for us, it 
is daytime somewhere else. With the additional number of computers on 
the net and more being added each minute, it's rush hour 24/7 at the 
world's largest and busiest racetrack/bumper car ride/parkinglot. The 
fact we get as far as fast as we do with so few problems and crashes is 
the true miracle we tend to forget since we now feel "entitled" instead 
of lucky.

Enjoy the drive.

____________________________________________
There are people who have money and people who are rich.
--Coco Chanel