[11244] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: Options (was Re: What is an "Internet reseller"?)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Miles R Fidelman)
Sat Mar 26 22:41:43 1994
Date: Fri, 25 Mar 1994 17:26:07 -0500 (EST)
From: Miles R Fidelman <fidelman@civicnet.org>
To: com-priv@psi.com
In-Reply-To: <Pine.3.05.9403241338.C5352-b100000@antelope.wcc.edu>
On Thu, 24 Mar 1994, Bruce Gingery wrote:
> Maybe the trade-off for increased usability (at least at this point) is
> ease in setup. SLIP and PPP setups can be moderately difficult to
> darn-near-impossible for the network neophyte. Logins are little
> different from a local BBS, or even the workstation on the desk.
I'm not so sure it is so much more difficult, based on the following
observations:
i. I helped set up someone's copy of Microphone to autologin to a public
access Unix machine -- this was a nontrivial exercise, and once they were
logged in teaching them to use something as simple as Pine was
excrutiatingly painful
ii. I just set myself up with PPP access to a local SLIP/PPP vendor -
other than having to know which files to download, the step by step setup
was pretty simple and other than a nameserver problem at their end
[they're a new vendor and still wringing out their bugs], everything was
trouble free
iii. the simplest setups I've seen are AOL and 1stClass BBSs, which are
simply insert the disk, then point and shoot
Now.... if I received a disk with all my Internet software on it, and a
step-by-step instruction sheet, 5 or 10 minutes on the phone would
suffice to get a suite of Eudora, Fetch, Mosaic, TurboGopher, and NCSA
Telnet up and running -- and this could probably be automated with an
installer program.
Note: I am, of course talking about the Mac environment. If you're
running Windows, things would probably be a lot harder.
Miles
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Miles R. Fidelman mfidelman@civicnet.org
Executive Director 91 Baldwin St. Charlestown MA 02129
The Center for Civic Networking 617-241-9205 fax: 617-241-5064
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Information Infrastructure: Public Spaces for the 21st Century
Let's Start With: Internet Wall-Plugs Everywhere
Then We Can Worry About: "Switched, Interactive, Broadband Services"
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