Even then, he would have a duplicate, which leads to consistency problems between the two instantiations of the database that interactive remote access to a single master copy does not have. So here you can see a practical illustration of the difference between what you can do with the Internet's interactive resource sharing protocols and what you can do if you only have electronic mail. Sure, theoretically Patrick could send pictures by mail and we could send the formatted book back that way, but in practice it ain't gonna happen. And there's no way he could log in by mail onto the computer with the database and directly format the book and interactively examine the source files and the output. Internet access is not just faster than mail-only access to the rest of the Matrix.
Internet access is qualitatively different in large, clear, and important ways.
For example, there is a CompuServe genealogy forum, with participants in asynchronous conferencing from around the world. On that forum Patrick found a researcher in Maryland who helped us follow up a lead on some possible ancestors. He has also gotten software off of CompuServe that has been of use in his enhancements of the photographs, as well as advice on which techniques would be most useful. He says he got the most help from the mail various people send back and forth. We've also found Prodigy useful, because another cousin has a Prodigy account, and he answers his mail.