Path: utzoo!censor!geac!torsqnt!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!clarkson!grape.ecs.clarkson.edu!nelson From: nelson@sun.soe.clarkson.edu (Russ Nelson) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.lans Subject: Little Big Lan ($75 network) Message-ID: Date: 6 Dec 90 16:34:47 GMT Sender: @grape.ecs.clarkson.edu Reply-To: nelson@clutx.clarkson.edu (aka NELSON@CLUTX.BITNET) Organization: Clarkson University, Potsdam NY Lines: 32 Hi, all. I've been talking with Don Jindra of Information Modes. They're working on a network that will cost $75 for all the software needed for the whole network. That's for the *whole* network, not per-node. Anyway, it's first going to run over serial ports and ARCNET, and then he's going to work on an Ethernet version. So I asked him if he asked Datapoint for an ARCNET type code, or the IEEE for an Ethernet type code, and he says "Nawwww, I don't bother much with those standards. They're all designed by committee, and they've got these huge headers that just slow you down." He *did*, however, say that he would consider using a type code, but he didn't think it was going to be a problem because he didn't think "the big guys" were part of his market. He (rightly) points out that Artisoft (LANtastic) and Novell don't pay much attention to standards either. That's more of the the-world's-an-ibm-pc-running-netbios syndrome that Otto pointed out recently. I think that if a sufficient quantity of people call him and scream at him about the necessity for interoperability and the user of type codes, that he might get the message. Their phone number is 817-387-3339, address is Information Modes P.O. Drawer F Denton, TX 76202 -- --russ (nelson@clutx [.bitnet | .clarkson.edu]) FAX 315-268-7600 It's better to get mugged than to live a life of fear -- Freeman Dyson I joined the League for Programming Freedom, and I hope you'll join too.