[331] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: Other Researchers
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Roger Fajman)
Sat Mar 9 21:25:02 1991
To: sean@dsl.pitt.edu
Cc: com-priv@psi.com
From: "Roger Fajman" <RAF@CU.NIH.GOV>
Date: Sat, 09 Mar 91 21:11:04 EST
> re: GOSIP
>
> I think that you misread my statement. What I said was that the Gov't,
> through such steps as GOSIP was, *in theory*, in a position to mandate
> the use of certain technologies. I went on to say (which was *really*
> the point of bringing up), that that mechanism might be use to force
> a top down education of Gov't departments and agencies such that they,
> in turn, support the technologic infrastructure necessary to motivate
> the use of NREN. When the NIH eschews the Internet to use BITNET (I
> know there will be a flame or two here) what you may have is a pragmatic
> decision (more of their intended audience is on BITNET) or you may have
> a lack of awareness as to who can be reached by Internet (or both). A
> GOSIP-like strategy may help to force Federal intramural attention on
> such technologies as those which support the Internet.
>
> Sean McLinden
Here's your flame, just a little late because I have been away. NIH
does not "eschew the Internet to use BITNET." In fact, we have both
and operate a gateway for our own use. Whether we have had BITNET
longer than Internet depends on the view that you take. Different
parts of the NIH community have had access to various networks for
different periods of time. Now both are generally available. TCP/IP
is the most popular protocol on our campus network (the others are
DECnet and XNS, OSI is not supported due to lack of demand).
By the way, we have little interest in being educated by NIST in the
wonders of using OSI as long as the people we need to talk to are using
other protocols.
Roger Fajman Telephone: +1 301 402 1246
National Institutes of Health BITNET: RAF@NIHCU
Bethesda, Maryland, USA Internet: RAF@CU.NIH.GOV
