Xref: utzoo comp.sources.d:3180 news.groups:6781 news.software.b:1842
Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!ames!pasteur!ucbvax!hoptoad!gnu
From: gnu@hoptoad.uucp (John Gilmore)
Newsgroups: comp.sources.d,news.groups,news.software.b
Subject: Re: comp.datasets Call For Discussion
Message-ID: <6201@hoptoad.uucp>
Date: 9 Jan 89 00:57:53 GMT
References: <1249@fig.bbn.com> <1280@vsi1.UUCP> <151@cjsa.WA.COM> <394@ispi.UUCP> <4@netsys1.netsys.COM>
Organization: Grasshopper Group in San Francisco
Lines: 37

I wrote:
> #             It's time to say "folks who don't provide 8 bits must
> # encode 8-bit data while in transit" rather than "we'll all live with 7
> # bits forever and uuencode everything".

len@netsys1.netsys.COM (Len Rose) wrote:
>            The argument that the folks who rely on 7 bit data transfer
> schemes,can adapt is or stop receiving news is unrealistic and unfair.
>  Surely we can add provisions for 7 bit encoding so that less fortunate
>  sites can still be a part of the community.

People seem to be misreading my paragraph above, so let me try again.

=> "Folks who don't provide 8 bits must encode 8-bit data while in transit" <=

It doesn't say that "less fortunate" sites must drop off the net, it
says they must encode data!  Currently, *everyone* has to encode data
when they post it, so this can't be a substantial burden.

My impression is that there are not so many "7-bit sites" as there are
"7-bit transport media".  (I could be wrong.)  The point is that if you
send or receive netnews via a 7-bit transport medium, you have to
encode it so that all 8-bit values come through transparently.  This
saves everyone else on the net from having to encode everything to 7
bits, which wastes transmission time, disk space, and people time.
Many BITNET sites are encoding their news transmissions already, to get
around the horrible things their network does to data.  Certainly we
can provide standardized 7-bit encoding programs, like c7sendbatch and
c7unbatch.

Is that an intolerable burden on sites with 7-bit links?  It does fall
under "adapt or stop receiving news", but the adaptation is pretty painless,
and initially it would only apply to a small number of newsgroups.
-- 
John Gilmore    {sun,pacbell,uunet,pyramid,amdahl}!hoptoad!gnu    gnu@toad.com
Love your country but never trust its government.
		     -- from a hand-painted road sign in central Pennsylvania