1237d5110238
c_echo



Hello Bob - 

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

BS> Precisely! 

I knew you'd like that one. ;-) 

>> 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? 

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

OK, I've decided its one of those "Do as I say, not as I do"
type things. 

You _do_ realize how easy it is for me to miss your replies
since you have no compelling reason to arrange to address them
using my name? 

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

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

I was online before the Internet was publicly available. I was
on "The Source", Compuserve, and Dow Jones News Retrieval (all
at the same time). 

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

My suggestion to modify Agora code was a hint that would bypass
some of those short comings for the majority of people. 

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

Not long ago, when command line FTP was the only game in town I
found many who did not understand FTP and didn't want to.
Zmodem had always been a no-brainer for the most part. 

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

Years ago multiple apps with various 'commands' was
entertaining. Now I tend to stay with what I already know. 

>>>> IMP is not point software, or is it? 

RBS>>> > No... My current client has a really paranoid IT
RBS>>> > department 

RBS>>> who won't allow outside mail. telnet, or SSH access. To
RBS>>> be able to get to personal mail (much of which is also
RBS>>> for business), I installed the IMP package on SNIPPETS.
RBS>>> IMP is 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.

BS> IMP runs on the SNIPPETS server. The IT folks can't afford
BS> to block all Internet access (although they do block some -
BS> such as Slashdot), 

I give, why block Slashdot? 

BS> so the only way I can get to the SNIPPETS server is through
BS> the web interface. By setting up a secure web server and
BS> IMP at SNIPPETS.ORG, I can get to my email whether they
BS> like it or not. 

I hate web access to servers. It works OK but I really don't
like using it. 

>
>        ,                          ,
>      o/      Charles.Angelich      \o       ,
>       __o/
>     / >          USA, MI           < \   __\__
 

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