[9388] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Cost vs benefit of internet services (fwd)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (John [Francis] Stracke)
Mon Jan 3 11:29:30 1994
Date: Mon, 3 Jan 1994 11:07:48 +0500
From: francis@avalle.insoft.com (John [Francis] Stracke)
To: com-priv@psi.com
In-Reply-To: Dick St.Peters's message of Thu, 30 Dec 93 20:41:31 EST <9312310141.AA05093@spare-parts.crd.Ge.Com>
>Let me rephrase the question: there are thousands of bbs's out there
>pursuing their own variant of networking. I'll posit the thesis that
>a) if they can handle that, they can learn to handle IP,
I'm not sure that follows. In the early days, maybe; but it looks
like many (most?) BBSes these days are running out-of-the-box software
that hides the problems.
> and b) in the
>long run it's better to bring them into the fold as quickly as
>possible.
Perhaps. Or perhaps it's better if they wait for the next generation
of IP; the flag day will be that much less painful. (Also, it sounds
like IP:tNG will have things like CIDR that would make it easier to
put a BBS on the Internet.)
> How can we manage this without posing an excessive support
>burden?
>
>There just has to be something wrong with a support model that says you
>can't have any IP/access until you can have it gilt-edged.
Perhaps. But I really think that lowering the level of support,
though it would cut the *price* of the service, wouldn't cut the
*cost* much, since the customers would have to provide the support
expertise on their end. Overall, the barriers to entry wouldn't come
down very far; certainly not far enough to bring the Unwashed Hordes
of BBSania (insert many smileys) into the fold.
Perhaps, though, there would be a market for a service targeted
specifically at BBSes. Something like Internet-in-a-Box, with a
bitpipe, an IP stack, and BBS software (accepting both dialup & telnet
connections) with IP clients *and servers*, so the BBS can give
something back to the net. The provider would know that their
customers were all using the same software, which would make it easier
to support. Anybody who tried to run something nonstandard with their
bitpipe would hear a "Sorry, we don't support that." And the BBS
server could include a language geared for writing IP clients &
servers, so they could still do anything they wanted.
/===========================================================================\
|John (Francis) Stracke | My opinions are my own. |
|InSoft, Inc. |==================================================|
|Mechanicsburg, PA | What do you mean, *you're* |
|francis@insoft.com | a solipsist? |
\===========================================================================/
