Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!CU.NIH.GOV!RAF
From: RAF@CU.NIH.GOV ("Roger Fajman")
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.tcp-ip
Subject: Re:  New Host-Requirement RFCs
Message-ID: <8910231055.AA04607@alw.nih.gov>
Date: 22 Oct 89 17:56:06 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 35

> A different objection might be that it is difficult in practice, for
> one reason or another, for the off-Internet people to get registered
> with appropriate MX's.  I haven't heard this specific complaint, but if
> it is a problem in practice, maybe the people hurt by it should speak
> up, and perhaps something can be worked out eventually to improve matters.

Much of BITNET does not support domain addressing (and therefore cannot
register with MXs) and is not likely to in the near future.  Many
people, including me, would like to see it happen.  Unfortunately there
are quite significant problems to be overcome and few resources to
overcome them.  Defacto standards on BITNET support domain addressing
for mail, but there's no standard protocols for domain addresses with
file transfer and interactive messages.

Why not, you may say, just do away with BITNET?  Well, BITNET, EARN,
and NETNORTH go to a lot of places that the Internet does not.  It's
easier and cheaper for some machines (mainly, but not entirely, IBM
mainframes) to connect to BITNET.  And BITNET has services, primarily
the sender-initiated file transfer and interactive messages, that
aren't available on the Internet.  LISTSERV makes use of these
functions to offer services that would be difficult to duplicate on the
Internet.  The point is that BITNET and related networks, while not
without their problems, provide a number of useful services that the
Internet currently does not.

That's not to say that the Internet could not provide those functions,
but little interest has been shown so far in doing so.  So, for the
time being, we'll stay connected to BITNET and continue to work on
getting our Internet connection to work better so that our users can
make use of what each network does best.  Perhaps the recent merger of
BITNET and CSNET will help the networks to move closer together.

Roger Fajman
RAF@CU.NIH.GOV  (Internet)
RAF@NIHCU  (BITNET)