Chapter 20. Meet the Neighbors

She is a caricature of herself.

Something my mother used to say when she thought her victim wasn't listening

We started off with a brief overview of the history and socio-political structure of the Browse Service. Basic guidebook stuff. Now we will meet some of the local citizens , learn about their roles in society, and find out how they interact with one another on a personal level. We will introduce them to you one at a time so you can get to know them before you see them in action. Hopefully, that will help you feel more comfortable as you explore the backstreets of the Network Neighborhood.

A quick note before we go visiting... The Browse Service is built on top of other CIFS services and protocols. Layered protocols have a habit of causing terminology confusion, particularly when the talk turns to " clients " and "servers." The thing to keep in mind is that everything is relative. In this case, everything is relative to the service being offered and the client making use of it. An SMB filesharing client may also be a Browse Service server, and a Browse Service server may also be a Browse Service client, and a Browse Service client... the permutations and combinations are practically (though not actually) endless.

Don't let yourself get confused .

To help abate the ensuing chaos a few new, context-specific terms will need to be defined as we go along. You may want to take notes.