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Rush for free books knocks over BOL server

Site buckles as more than 30,000 people dash for freebie

What happens when you promise free books to a literate online population? Well, for a start you might have a few problems with your server. BOL did when it gave away books yesterday. A spokesman for BOL said that they had had between 30,000 and 50,000 people trying to access the site simultaneously, and that at best every other person was able to access the site first try. "We knew it would knock out our site if we held the offer on our main server, so we set up another one to handle it," he said. "But it looks like even that wasn't enough –- we've had a rough ride for the last hour or so. Lets just say, the server was on its knees, but getting up slowly." After the first hour, half of the 20,000 books had been claimed. At full time, they had all gone. In total 40,000 registered for a book. The first 20,000 will get the book of their choice and the rest are going to get a consolation prize. A Jackie Collins novel perhaps? ®

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