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From: jimomura@lsuc.UUCP (Jim Omura)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: CES Summary
Message-ID: <1514@lsuc.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 17-Jan-87 16:54:20 EST
Article-I.D.: lsuc.1514
Posted: Sat Jan 17 16:54:20 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 17-Jan-87 19:35:52 EST
References: <870115-133608-1094@Xerox>
Sender: root@lsuc.UUCP
Reply-To: jimomura@lsuc.UUCP (Jim Omura)
Organization: Consultant, Toronto
Lines: 46
Summary: Free v. Paid

In article <870115-133608-1094@Xerox> Bicer.ES@XEROX.COM writes:
>
>Neil,
>
>I, as well as some other people on the net, feel cheated about finding out 
>Atari's latest products some time after the CES announcements. I have 
>always felt that on this net, we exchanged information in a timely and 
>honest manner. As a result of this, we came to trust each other, 
>especially you Neil, since not only you provided timely information, 
>but also you were honest, even on unpopular issues.
>
>Not having prepared for a major CES show and announcement, I can not 
>fully understand the amount of time and work you must have put in it. 
>But, would it have been to much to ask for a message to be sent to the 
>ST fans at about the time the CES announcements took place.
>
>Neil, we appreciate the things you do for us on the net. We have a 
>pretty good thing going, I'd like to see that getting better.
>
>

     Neil prepares and uploads to *many* systems, as is evidenced by his
very long signature file.  Most of the systems he loads to are commercial
systems with paying users.  They mostly have the ability to make information
available as soon as posted, and thus are fairer to all the users of
the systems.  Usenet isn't like that on two counts.  First, most of the
people on the Net do not pay for access and thus are getting their info
much cheaper.  Secondly, there is *no* way to distribute information on the
Net so that it will show up on all sites at the same time.

     Now, taking these points backwards, Neil *cannot* post to the Net
before the official release of the information you want (well, he could, but
then the cat's out of the bag).  If you want Atari information specifically
from the Net, then the only thing you can do is try to get access to a
machine closer to him on the path.  To do so will probably cost you quite
a bit if you happen to live far away from his site.

     The alternative is to use the commercial systems.  As the moderator of
the OS-9 conference on BIX I have a direct interest in seeing BIX attract
new users, but long before I was a moderator on BIX I was a user of CIS,
the Source and Dow Jones.  I was *not* rich.  I just used them sparingly.
I tried (fairly successfully) to keep my online to less than $50.00/month
which I could barely afford, and benefited greatly from my contact with
the people I met there.  The choice is yours.

Cheers! -- Jim O.