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From: GTHEALL@PENNDRLS.UPENN.EDU (George A. Theall)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec.micro
Subject: RE: FIDONET ON COMPUSERV    Conf: (74) fRAINBOW
Message-ID: <8910071443.AA17648@remote.dccs.upenn.edu>
Date: 7 Oct 89 15:41:00 GMT
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Comments: Rainbow Echomail from BILL MAYHEW    Read: YES

I'm not familiar with OPUS Express (or was it Fido Express?) which you
mentioned.
You're right, if you can get all the echoes dropped on your doorstep,
that's a price that can't be beat.  SOMEbody's paying the phone line costs,
though.  And you're also correct about 9600bps access; CIS doesn't offer
that except on a very limited basis at a very high cost.
As for "what the DECPC SIG has to offer"... I'm reluctant to get into
a
lot of detail here lest this come across as a marketing pitch (which it
isn't, although CIS is a commercial service).  There are about 14
distinct message sections on various topics which can be selected or
deselected by users, so you have _some_ ability to filter out the stuff
you don't want to slog through (and pay for).  The Libraries include
roughly 900 files (that's just a guesstimate), probably 90% of
{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{ things.  I don't know how many (if any) are
unique to us.  We have
regular weekly on-line conferences, and we are the home of Suitable
Solutions' on-line support.  The author of QC, a relatively new
multi-protocol communications program for the Rainbow, "lives" with us
too, and our members contribute to the design of that program and its support.
("Contribute" in the sense of ideas...)  There are in addition
a massive number of other things available elsewhere on CIS, outside the
DECPC Forum, as you know; one of these is a very active VAX Forum.
As I've said (and as you I think agreed), I believe we complement each
other.
-Bill

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