Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!maverick.ksu.ksu.edu!hoss!nolan From: nolan@iti.org (Mike Nolan) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ncr Subject: Re: More active NCR usage of this newsgroup Message-ID: Date: 11 Dec 90 00:25:23 GMT References: <1990Dec10.192409.9159@intsys.no> Sender: news@hoss.unl.edu (Network News Administer) Organization: University of Nebraska - Lincoln Lines: 28 ra@intsys.no (Robert Andersson) writes: >Has technical support people within NCR in the US considered using this >newsgroup more actively to help solve these problems? I was thinking that: >o New product announcements and new release announcements is probably > written into a computer by some NCR person. Why not post it here too? >o When a patch is available to fix a known bug, why not announce it here? >Is this doable? Is it a good idea? 1. Is this doable? I don't want to become the net.police, but my understanding of the Internet guidelines is that commercial use, such as for *official* support channels, is not permitted. HP is currently evaluating using USENET for support, and NCR could certainly do the same. It is my understanding that NCR is evaluating *some* kind of bulletin board system for support, but knowing NCR they're probably interested in something they can CHARGE for, rather than giving away useful knowledge for FREE. At present several NCR offices read this newsgroup, and postings from NCR people show up fairly frequently. This activity is apparently condoned by NCR, although not officially. 2. Is it a good idea? HELL, YES, that's why it isn't being done! Michael Nolan (net.cynic) UUCP: tssi!nolan (if that fails, try sparky!dsndata!tssi!nolan) Internet: nolan@helios.unl.edu (ignore the path in the heading)