A solution to the federated search engine problem

Hey, here's a pie in the sky idea to address the federated promiscuity problem - cache the databases and search the caches! Just like Google :-) Once a night, or even once a week, the database vendors offer a cache of each of their products that the federated search engines can pound on to their cyber-heart's content. The links to the real results/articles or whatever can then link back to the live database, and once in there, should the user decide to search further s/he'd only be a lone user affecting the database with a lone search again, just like the good old days :-) Ta-da!

You heard it here first (or maybe you've heard it before, but I don't remember reading it anywhere, so I'm claiming that I made it up) - THIS will be the way this problem is solved.

I don't think I've ever made a prediction so bold - I thought I was going to write that I have goosebumps, but I don't. :-\ Hrrrmmmm, well, I do feel quite sure about it all!

This is in response to a thread posted on the SFX MetaLib-L list (probably need to request a login if you want to read it)