Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxn!ihnp4!cuae2!heiby
From: heiby@cuae2.UUCP (Heiby)
Newsgroups: net.micro.amiga,net.news.group
Subject: Re: net.sources.amiga
Message-ID: <1662@cuae2.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 18-Nov-85 16:21:45 EST
Article-I.D.: cuae2.1662
Posted: Mon Nov 18 16:21:45 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 20-Nov-85 00:17:48 EST
References: <434@caip.RUTGERS.EDU> <248@amiga.amiga.UUCP>
Reply-To: heiby@cuae2.UUCP (Heiby)
Organization: AT&T - /app/eng, Lisle, IL
Lines: 32
Xref: watmath net.micro.amiga:777 net.news.group:4611

In article <248@amiga.amiga.UUCP> neil@rocky.UUCP (Neil Katin) writes:
>
>There has been some discussion in net.micro.amiga about creating
>a new newsgroup for amiga source.  net.sources.amiga has been suggested.

There have been various micro-computers in the marketplace for many
years.  For some time, CP/M-80 systems reigned supreme.  There are still
quite a few of them out there.  (I have a CP/M-80 system, myself.)
You don't see much CP/M software getting posted to the net, though, do you?
You see, there is this thing called a "user group" that has meetings every
now and then and provides a means by which software can be distributed
to its members.  I belonged to such a group when I lived in Minneapolis.
It cost me about $15/yr to belong and included a monthly newsletter telling
what was going to happen at the monthly meeting.  I could bring floppy
disks to the meeting with about $1/each (for the club treasury) and get
a copy of any of the 150+ floppies full of public domain software in the
club library (up to 10/month).  This is what should be done with amiga
source.  This is what should be done with mac source.  I use the word
"source" loosely here.  I have 1477 blocks in net.sources.mac on my
machine.  I am not (yet) expiring it early.  I did a "tail -20" on the
entire contents of the newsgroup and found *seven* (7) out of 47 files
containing what looked like SOURCE.  The rest contained encoded binary
or discussion or requests of one kind or another.

In summary, if it must exist, let's limit it to *source*.  I believe
that the concept of a "user group" is the best way to distribute such
material.  I believe that machine-dependent binaries do not belong
on this medium.
-- 
Ron Heiby {NAC|ihnp4}!cuae2!heiby   Moderator: mod.newprod & mod.unix
AT&T-IS, /app/eng, Lisle, IL	(312) 810-6109
"I am not a number!  I am a free man!" (#6)