[atlas] Meaning and the future of the project

> I have been involved in this project for over 12 years. For the last
> few weeks I have been wondering what the point of this is. OK, I have
> given out credits to students for research, though sometimes they do
> not even say thank you. The firmware on the probes has not changed for
> years, the front-end except for cosmetic changes also does not go
> through shocking developments (still the same bugs), new features are
> not implemented, just discussed (e-mail notifications) etc.
> 
> So I would actually just like to ask:
> - How many people are working full time on this project at RIPE?
> - What is the priority for RIPE?
> - What is the future? Any realistic plans?

for me, i judge a tool by its utility, not its modification rate.  in
many cases, i am studying things over long periods of time, and change
is not welcome.

note that i was initially a skeptic.  as a pedantic experimentalist, i
asked dfk what the experiment was.  bzzt!  wrong question.

as an operator, i use atlas data daily: traceroutes, who can see what,
does blovlovia see my dns, ...?

as a researcher, i use it frequently, both for immediate measurements
and for long historical tail.

so i would turn your questions around.  what do you want to see from
atlas that you do not have today?

randy