Yo! Scott:
Saturday May 31 1997 06:02, Scott Christensen wrote to Bill Cheek:
 BC>> A Web and FTP site does ANYTHING a BBS could ever do.......except
 BC>> better....much better.... and cheaper!
 SC> Bullfeathers.  Prove it.
Bulls don't have feathers.  Horses do.  :-)
As for proof, like what do you consider proof?  As with most puddings, the 
proof lay in the eating.
I have run a BBS since 1991 and a Web/FTP site since 1995.  One would think 
me to be reasonably qualified to render such a statement.  But for now, 
consider:
1.  A BBS lets one person per line use the resources.
2.  The resources cost money....including the phone. Total costs divided
    by the number of users is high per user.  BBS Users are fewer; costs are
    high.....both to the user and to the SysOp.
3.  My Web and FTP sites do not use a phone line at my end; and not
    necessarily at the user's end (optional).  User phone costs do not
    involve long distance, and Internet costs are "fixed".
4.  Setup and maintenance of a BBS required ghasty amounts of time (and 
ost).
    Setup and maintenance of Web/FTP sites require little time and much
    less or no cost.  The Web/FTP server and client softwares are FREE or
    nearly so.
5.  My Web/FTP sites can host a minimum of 25 users at a time. No cost to me.
I could go on and on, but there's no reason.  The technology of a BBS is 
arcane and ancient....rooted in the 70's.  Even the modern ones require loads 
of time to setup and make interactive with all the little "tools" and goodies 
that automate the running of a BBS.  When you log on to a BBS, fer instance, 
and see the wel organized file and message areas....you THINK that was easy 
to set up?
And free?
Ha ha ha ha ha....
I really could go on and on......but there is no need.  BBS's are dying off 
by the droves.  FidoNet has lost 25%-33% of its nodes from the peak in 
November, 1995.  The Nodelist, now sized at just over 2.5-MB, shrinks at a 
weekly rate of 10-kB to 15-kB....and the rate is steepening, at that.
Handwriting's on the wall, my good fellow.  It doesn't take me to point it 
out.
Bill Cheek ~ bcheek@san.rr.com
Windows 95 Juggernaut Team ~ Microsoft MVP
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