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From: UZ32112%SG2.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU
Newsgroups: net.micro
Subject: NOTE from UZ32112
Message-ID: <2907@brl-smoke.ARPA>
Date: Sun, 10-Aug-86 16:49:54 EDT
Article-I.D.: brl-smok.2907
Posted: Sun Aug 10 16:49:54 1986
Date-Received: Tue, 12-Aug-86 11:27:14 EDT
Sender: news@brl-smoke.ARPA
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Date: 8 August 1986, 16:49:37 ULG
From: Andre PIRARD              +32 (41) 520180(449) UZ32112  at SG2
      SEGI - Universite de Liege
      15, av. des Tilleuls
      B4000 LIEGE
      Belgique
To:   INFO-MIC at BRL

Hi!

We, BITNET users, have no interactive access to Arpanet and related nets.
Our only possibility is mailing. Consequently, no FTP.
Imagine our frustration when reading all that fuss about which
free software is the best when we can't even get a single one.
From several sources, I was recommended to find a key pal to which I
would ask mailing things. But everyone imagines this is no long range
solution as it would bother otherwise very busy people.

It would however be conceivable to easily retrieve data by mail.
The server solution is inadequate because a server has to be installed
in each site owning a database.
On the other hand, there are other ways to achieve the same results by
installing server-like interfaces on one or several sites offering the
service. They could, in the simplest case, take the incoming mail and
feed it as input to interactive sessions. The session output would just
be mailed back.  A macro system could turn the systen to be responsive
to simple case commands.

I forcedly have no experience of the details of those particular interactive
systems and can't evaluate the feasability of my sayings, but I imagine
it would not be less usable that some mail based databases I could try.

Now my questions are:
 1) does anyone know of such already existing system?
 2) if not, are there other forums or any person that would be interested
    by the idea? (Arpanet might also benefit from the system by
    having the possibility to delay heavy transfers during the weak hours).
[sorry no joke]           A. Pirard