Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!cs.utexas.edu!milano!cactus.org!rdd
From: rdd@cactus.org (Robert Dorsett)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.system
Subject: Re: Apple should let us e-mail System 7
Message-ID: <6944@cactus.org>
Date: 15 May 91 06:03:50 GMT
References: <1991May15.012545.18398@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu>
Organization: Capital Area Central Texas Unix Society, Austin, TX
Lines: 40

In article <1991May15.012545.18398@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu>, ta-dw30@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu (David Worenklein) writes:
>   If someone at Apple says "fine, just leave us alone" I'll e-mail System 7 to
> the first four people to ask for it, provided that they promise to send it to
> five other people who ask for it.

(!!!!)

Two things to remember are that (a) the net is not homogeneous--it's comprised 
of a number of sub-nets; and (b) not all of these sub-nets have bandwidth in 
the megabit range.  I'd hate to see how your 8-megabyte messages are handled
in their first hop at 2400 or 9600 baud.  To give you an idea of the magnitude 
of the problem, 8 megs would take just over seven hours to transmit at 2400 
baud.   Just under two hours at 9600 baud--and let's not forget all the sub-
nets that connect to the backbone at 9600.  And we thought alt.sex.pictures 
was bad!  All this assumes one gets clean lines and advertised performance out
of the modems.

To wit: what we DON'T need are people emailing massive amounts of garbage
all over the place.  Get a bit of exercise and walk down to your friendly
local computer store and con a salesman into letting you copy it.  Barring
that, call local universities and users groups and see if they have any
arrangements.  Make arrangements with THEM to distribute four copies to other
people, if someone will make one copy for you.  THEN use email productively
to advertise your generosity.  I would wager that EVEN standing in lines,
and making five copies of System 7, you'll still come in with a lower overall
time investment than downloading it at 2400 baud. :-)

Based on the Compatibility Checker I just ran, the odds are good that 
System 7.0 will break your favorite piece of software; unless you are a 
developer, there's not much benefit in being the very first one on your block 
to have it, until you get the associated product upgrades.  


       

 
---
Robert Dorsett
Internet: rdd@cactus.org
UUCP: ...cs.utexas.edu!cactus.org!rdd