From: rbs{at}snippets.org
To: c_echo{at}yahoogroups.com

On Tue, 7 Oct 2003 CHARLES ANGELICH wrote:

> I think the w3c likes the term "deprecated". :-)

Precisely!

> What I guess I'm not able to understand is why you think I do have a
> 'compelling reason' to change software and become a point when you have
> no such reason? How are we so different that what is good for me is not
> worthwhile for you?

I have no idea what would or would not constitute a compelling reason for
you or anyone else. All I can do - all I was doing - is to offer some
additional experience. Whether my experience helps form a compelling
reason (or, for that matter, is even relevant) for you is to decide.

> Yes, 20+ years ago most were doctors, lawyers, or college professors
> (and occasionally their children). :-)

I started using the Internet when I started doing some contract work for
Cray and Los Alamos many years ago. The beginning of the end for Fidonet
for me was when I first put the SNIPPETS archive on an ftp site.

SNIPPETS is all about file sharing, and the methods of file transfer under
Fidonet had become cumbersome (that's also how Janis's PDN was born).
Typically, people would either post code to this echo or send me files in
Fido mail. Quite often, in either case, the files were split up using
CSPLIT. It works, but was laborious and sections tended to get lost.

After I made SNIPPETS available via ftp, things began to slowly change.
After a couple of years, I'd begun getting most files either by ftp or as
email attachments. Once it became clear that the vast majority of people
with stuff to contribute to SNIPPETS had access to the Internet, that was
when I made the conscious decision to pull the plug on Fidonet.

To me, it was never about Fidonet, per se, but about the ability to
communicate. Although I valued the sense of community available from
Fidonet, I also had no desire to have to deal with two disparate networks
to accomplish the same task.

> >> IMP is not point software, or is it?
>
> RBS> No... My current client has a really paranoid IT department
> RBS> who won't allow outside mail. telnet, or SSH access. To be
> RBS> able to get to personal mail (much of which is also for
> RBS> business), I installed the IMP package on SNIPPETS. IMP is
> RBS> a mail interface that runs on a secure web server.
>
> They won't offer you email but they allow you to run your own email
> software on their hardware? Seems a bit confused to me.

IMP runs on the SNIPPETS server. The IT folks can't afford to block all
Internet access (although they do block some - such as Slashdot), so the
only way I can get to the SNIPPETS server is through the web interface. By
setting up a secure web server and IMP at SNIPPETS.ORG, I can get to my
email whether they like it or not.

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