[137] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: FORWARDED from BITNET Policy List
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Dan Schlitt)
Mon Nov 12 17:02:32 1990
Date: Mon, 12 Nov 90 16:48:49 -0500
From: Dan Schlitt <dan@sci.ccny.cuny.edu>
To: com-priv@psi.com, sob@tmc.edu
SOLOMON@UNIVSCVM.BITNET (Marty Solomon) writes:
This is where BITNET (CREN) will save the day. Because CREN is independent
of the feds, and relies on user dues and cooperation among members, it will
continue to thrive when the high costs of the Internet begin to pass back
to the customers and when most of the present subscribers will be forced
to discontinue Internet service and rely on CREN.
CREN is the safety net for higher education in America.
------
Let's be serious. BITNET is the UUCP of the IBM world. It is a store
and forward network based on proprietary protocols. It uses static
routing tables and is currently struggling with the problems of size
and a non-tree topology. They have the functionality of uux but don't
limit it to nearest neighbors like most uucp hosts do. There are no
standards. It is creaky to say the least in a heterogenious network.
Major portions of it encapsulate the RSCS/NJE stuff in TCP/IP
datagrams and run it over the Internet. Are those backbone sites
going to lease T3 lines to maintain the current BITNET capacity?
Have you run nntp over a bitnet link? How about NFS mounting of a
file system? How about telneting and running X like Barry just
described?
CREN is a safety net? I guess I underestimate the extent that the
language has been corrupted by political figures over the last 9
years.
/dan
