Path: utzoo!utstat!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!math.lsa.umich.edu!sharkey!umich!yale!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!intercon!news From: amanda@mermaid.intercon.com (Amanda Walker) Newsgroups: news.software.b Subject: Upgrading Usenet (was Re: Who pays the bill?) Message-ID: <26BCDA30.21C@intercon.com> Date: 6 Aug 90 02:47:11 GMT References: <1990Aug1.230858.3264@iwarp.intel.com> <29103@becker.UUCP> <1990Aug04.171540.29439@looking.on.ca> Sender: usenet@intercon.com (USENET The Magnificent) Reply-To: amanda@mermaid.intercon.com (Amanda Walker) Organization: InterCon Systems Corporation, Herndon, VA Lines: 31 In article <1990Aug04.171540.29439@looking.on.ca>, brad@looking.on.ca (Brad Templeton) writes: > The problem is that the net is not a NEW and powerful idea. I've been > on it just shy of a decade myself. In the world of computer networking, > a decade is almost forever. Indeed. This net is new to a great many people, by virtue of its growth, but that very size has given it a huge supply of inertia. I remember the A News to B News changeover in '81-'82, and it was a royal pain, even though Usenet was *much* smaller then, and was still thought of as an experiment. With the state of the net as it is today, I don't think that any major changes are really possible, except by building something better that renders Usenet obsolete. Look at C news--it's ingratiatingly compatible with B news, and the only people that seem to be picking up on it are us performance weenies out here :-). It's only gaining widespread acceptance very slowly, and that only because it's a fairly "invisible" upgrade. I don't think that any kind of format change, even one as small as Brad's Favorite Headers (tm), is going to catch on, however useful it may be. Too many people see Usenet as it is to be "useful enough," and don't see any reason to change until there is already something better in place and working. It's annoying in some respects, but I haven't seen any contrary evidence so far. Anyone have "wish lists" for a kinder, gentler Usenet, assuming backward compatibility isn't an issue? -- Amanda Walker InterCon Systems Corporation