Path: utzoo!utgpu!BITNIC!FUTURE-L
Date:	Wed, 28 Feb 90 08:18:22 EST
Reply-To: BITNET Futures List <FUTURE-L@BITNIC.bitnet>
Sender: BITNET Futures List <FUTURE-L@BITNIC.bitnet>
From:	Steve Cavrak <SJC@UVMVM.bitnet>
Subject:      What are interactive messages used for ...
To:	UofToronto LAN redistribution <FUTURE-L@UTORGPU.uucp>
Message-ID: <90Feb28.091429est.58078@ugw.utcs.utoronto.ca>
Newsgroups: list.future-l
Distribution: ut
Approved: devnull@gpu.utcs.toronto.edu

Without trying to fuel the "My network is better than your network"
debate too much, I'd like to list the reasons BITNET folks use inter-
active messages.  (And I'll list the TCP/IP way of doing the similar.)
The point of the exercise is to present this feature from the users
point of view.  Why would anyone in her right mind want to send an
interactive message?

a.  to send a command to listserv machine (or other server).

    This lets me subscribe to mailing lists, to sign off, to
    request files, etc.  Yes, I could also do this with a message
    in mail (if I can remember whether it is the subjec of the mail
    message, the first line of the mail message, the first line after
    a blank line, or the first line after a blank line after a line
    sacrificed to the infamous line eater of Bargelfloof.

b.  to query a remote database.

    Such as isaac or any of the list servers that maintain archives
    of the lists they service (a very nice feature!).  Yes, I could
    do this with a remote login if I had interactive login capability
    and if the remote host didn't limit the number of logins it would
    allow.  (And I would very much like to do a catalog search on some
    remote libraries!)

c.  query whether a host is up.

    Yes, ping would work if my system manager would let me use it, but
    the interactive "who" tells me where the link fails.  (Oh no!  Yale
    is down again!  Drat!  ((Honest, no offense intended.  I just went
    to the wrong football games!)))


d.  do a remote name lookup to get the mailing address of William Faulkner.

    Yes, I could use the finger program.

 .
f.  find out who is logged in.

    Yes, I could also use the finger program here.


g.  Send messages to another user (and brush up on my Spanish in the
    process.)

    Yes, I could use phone or chat if my system administrator has the
    time and courage to port it to my workstation for me.


h.  There are probably more.  But these are the uses I make and teach in
    my bitnet short course.


What makes these particularly useful is that one command does it all.
I can use TELL on the IBM, SEND on the VAX, and something equivalent
on REP (isn't that what the Unix BITNET interface is called?  Does it
support interactive messages?)

The TELL/SEND becomes a useful tool (though JNET confuses the issue!)
that can be used over and over.

True, the content of the message changes, but the mechanism is the same.


Steve

Stay tuned for the next installment "What is SENDFILE used for ..."