For example, information about component properties, events, and methods can be retrieved from Agora. However, it is also possible that capabilities such as the Agora search engine will occupy a value-added market niche in the overall World Wide Web. A traditional approach has been to develop large-scale software repositories as large central databases containing information about components and, often, the components themselves. Examples of such systems include the Center for Computer Systems Engineering s Defense System Repository, the JavaBeans Directory, and the Gamelan Java directory. Such efforts have historically failed, principally as a result of their conception as centralized systems .
Agora replaces old-fashioned and costly software repositories.
Agora automatically compiles indexes by going out over the Internet and discovering and collecting information about software components. Agora does this in a nonjudgmental manner, so the problem of having a sole arbiter decide what does and does not belong in the repository is eliminated. Quality assurance in the Agora model is not guaranteed we believe that component databases need to be, at first, free and inclusive. Value-added industries such as consumer reports and underwriter labs can add value by providing independent quality assurance of popular components. This will help ensure that candidate components are identified and not simply eliminated based on the criteria of the company maintaining the repository.