> If I use FTP to retrieve a package, I can't do anything with that
> session until the file is retrieved.  If there's a slow TCP/IP link
> between me and the FTP server, that can take a while, leaving me to
> twiddle my thumbs unless I'm using a multi-tasking OS, which excludes
> CMS for now.
 
I guess I've been lucky.  I've never found ftp to take more than a few
seconds, even from Japan or somewhere in Europe.  Although I do have
multi-tasking options (my office computer is on the campus net -- thus,
I can simply open another session if I need to, and I use DESQview on my
home computer), it has never entered my mind that I might need to do
something else during an ftp transfer.  I do most of them at night, of
course, since I don't have much computer time when I'm in my office.
That means that it's the wee hours in Europe and early-to-mid morning
in Asia.  Maybe that helps.
   --Natalie ([log in to unmask])