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Advanced Directory: Compare

Why you might really need 'Advanced Directory' .....

This place compares advantages and disadvantages of Advanced Directory with local database based link-indexing (directory) scripts and whether Advanced Directory is right for your purposes.

There are many good reasons for using ODP (Open Directory) data as your directory solution. Unless you have a very strong financial support or revenue stream you would probably want to think over the following 8 comparisons:

	Advanced Directory	Local Database Directory
1.	Advanced Directory does not create any fixed local database. It maintains a local cache instead, where category details, resources are stored temporarily. Local cache is refreshed regularly to ensure that your Advanced Directory always generates valid and up-to-date listings. This is why you do not need a super server with tens of Gigabytes of disk space just to store your directory database.	You will need very large amount of disk space just to store your directory database (assuming that you expect your local Database based directory to hold a respectable number of resources; not just a few thousands). You may additionally need more big storage devices (hard disks, tape storage etc.) for backing-up and other regular database maintenance operations.

2.	No need to deal with regular maintenance tasks. Data fetching, local caching, data refreshing and other procedural tasks are automatically handled by the script. You do not even need to have any programming knowledge. Some elementary HTML knowledge will be more than enough.	Needs expert knowledge on your Database system administration (MS SQL, Oracle, MySQL, mSQL or other Database language) to maintain the database. Involves regular tasks like: adding new entries, creating new categories, checking for invalid URLs, checking content suitability, database rebuilding, Creating Indexes, protection against spamming by link-submitting spiders (mass submissions), backing-up etc. to keep your database and directory data up-to-date.

3.	Advanced Directory generates full directory search results almost instantly even on a virtual server. In most cases faster than most big search engines. It also supports full advanced Boolean syntax (+, -, "", AND, OR, NOT etc.).	Unless you have a super strong server system (multi-processor or cluster) with several Gigabytes of RAM (Memory, not disk space) and you will probably have a VERY SLOW search. Even then, your searching may never offer TRUELY professional searching unless the entire application was designed accordingly. Note: 1 Gigabyte (GB)=1024 Megabytes (MB).

4.	Advanced Directory always produces current, proven and valid data from original ODP which is regularly maintained by real human beings. Note, that you are legally allowed to use ODP data on your site. You can read this Free use license for the Open Directory data.	You will need to deal with all database maintenance tasks regularly. Checking for invalid links/URLs, deleting them, rebuilding the huge database are tedious, time consuming operations and often incur additional regular expenses (unless you have your own dedicated personnel qualified for this).

5.	No need to backup a huge database. In case of any server crash, you can restore your entire 'Advanced Directory' in less than 5 minutes. Just reinstall and your entire directory is up and running again.	Regular database backup is probably a must. Any crash or data restoration fail can easily cause service interruption for days. (Remember the huge size of your database and overhead maintenance cost)

6.	Advanced Directory adds a huge directory to your site/portal instantly. Currently ODP contains more than 2 million resources; manually checked by real human beings (editors). The number is growing every week, so is your own directory (Advanced Directory).	If you build your local database from scratch, it may take months or even years to grow up to the size of ODP. Even if you employ any spidering technology to create a local index of respectable size you would still be facing the above mentioned challenges (see 1-5).

7.	Future modifications, updates, upgrades are quick, easy and much cheaper. Usually there is NO need to interrupt the service. New features can be added any time without any trouble at all. Add-ons, extensions come as ready to go.	Hence your directory is totally dependent on an already built huge database structure; future changes, major modifications or upgrades are NOT likely to be as easy.

8.	The web is growing too fast. More and more new features are being introduced. Hence you are not burdened with any costly, time-consuming and regular maintenance task, you can easily focus on issues like revenue increase, further improvements, new alliances, new services etc. Advanced Directory gives you full control and flexibility with your directory content, output format, updates, upgrades. You can add new features (as available) in a matter of minutes.	Building-up a directory index is always tempting regardless of all the hard work involved. However, given the fast changing nature of the web it may not prove to be a blessing unless you really have a very strong revenue stream to keep up with this fast changing web culture. As money matters are becoming more and more important; today's web businesses are keen to pay more attention on issues like: revenue increase, service improvements etc. You may also want to consider the fact that many major search engines and increasing number of big, new and promising portals are using ODP data.

Obviously there may be situations where a local database based directory would be more appropriate for your purposes.
Otherwise, Advanced Directory is probably the only professional solution available to serious site-builders. Some of todays finest and busiest portals are successfully using our 'Advanced Directory' (standard or Pro or Customized solutions) to serve their visitors.

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