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BAH Issue 05
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BAH - Issue #005
ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
³ Title: hype, lies, and myths Author: Stone ³
³ Date: 05-13-95 ³
³ *BAH* ³
ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
All text included in BAH issues is for educational purposes only. In no
way do we at BAH endorse whatever actions described in our text files. If
you blow up the Alfred. P. Murrah federal building after reading this,
don't come crying to us.
[BAH]
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The "information superhighway" has been used so much that even we don't
know where it started. I've heard rumors that it was coined by Al Gore, but
I'm not sure. It's been used by newspapers and local TV stations worldwide,
and many magazines, espically Newsweek.
Most people mean the Internet when they talk about the "information
superhighway". Some people don't. Most people don't know that there's
anything beyond Prodigy or America Online. I mention the Internet at my
school, and this is what I get:
Me: "I'm on the internet as well, it's no big deal."
stoOpid kid: "What do you use?"
Me: "Use?"
stoOpid kid: "You know, Prodigy or America Online?"
Me: "Neither."
stoOpid kid: "How can you be on the internet?"
Me: "The internet exists beyond online services like Prodigy and America
Online, you know."
stoOpid kid: "Yeah, but that's only for hackers."
bah. look at that. Well, there wasn't any public access live-internet
servers around this area at that time, but that's not the point. More
example comes with the hype surrounding the new public access UNIX. This is
an article from the Rockford Register Star, date March 26, 1995.
HIGHWAY ACCESS
--------------
The Sinnissippi Valley Freenet Project will give local computer users a
route to the Internet
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
ROCKFORD - A little twist on tradition May 3 will help usher in
an on line system for northern Illinois.
A "ribbon tying" is planned to inaugurate the Sinnissippi Valley
Freenet Project. Initially, the service will provide users access to
Winnebago County Records and listings from 800 university, college, and
public libraries across the state.
The Register Star also will offer letters to the editor, an index
to the newspaper from 1993 to present (excluding obituaries), forums, and
marketing information of interest to local businesses.
"We see this as a connecting," Carol Fox, the project director,
said of the ribbon-tying idea. Fox is developing instructions for
connecting to the system, a process she said "can be a little bit tedious"
for newcomers.
"SinnFree" also will give users access to Internet e-mail. It will
be free to anyone who can dial the number without paying a toll. The
service may be accessed from anywhere, but outside, the immediate area, the
user will need to pay for the call just as if it were a toll call.
In short, users will:
* Need a computer, a modem of any baud rate, a telecommunications
package and a telephone line. It needn't be a seperate line.
* Set their dialing directory in the telecommunications package to
dial into SVFA at 962-2902. Standard protocols will be used.
* See a "login" prompt. enter "guest" and choose menu items that
explain the system and user guidelines.
* Use the print command or turn on capture in the
telecommunications software to get the agreement form, which also is
available at the reference desk at the downtown branch of the Rockford
Public Library.
* Users need to register online and mail in a signed copy of the
agreement along with proof of age and residence. Make a photocopy of a
driver's license or other identification and mail it to SVFA, PO Box 4402,
Rockford, IL, 61110. Users must be Illinois residents to have free access
to the system, and minors need parental permission.
Participants must remember their "user name" and password when they
go on line. E-mail accounts and addresses are assigned under
USERNAME@sinnfree.sinnfree.org.
A $120,000 federal grant awarded through the Illinois Secretary of
State has funded the program so far.
A $35 membership is being considered, which would give individuals
more time in their accounts. Users initially will be able to use the system
an hour a day, Fox said.
Links with large agencies, such as the city of Rockford, also are
being considered. The city would pay for a "home page" that would offer
information such as agendas and munites of city council meetings.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
$35 for an hour a day? I don't think so. As of now, they still have not
fixed all the bugs in the Internet newsgroups, they're using Lynx, which is
not meant to be a guest menu, for a guest menu, and the system is STILL
full of holes. In this, they don't even mention the Internet, but the
article, which is much longer, is on the next page. It discusses ways to
"get online with the information superhighway" via America Online, Prodigy,
Delphi, Compuserve, and World.
On the local news last night, I saw an "Internet Expert" talking about the
sheer evil that goes on in the realms of the Internet. Everyone is an
anarchist, loaded up with 50 pounds of bombs just in their closet, this guy
made it sound like. This "expert" had a computer with America Online in the
background. The same TV station is starting a series on "getting online".
This will be covered in future BAH tfiles.
America Online's IRC client starts June 1, 1995. What fun!
[BAH]
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In spite of its apparent claim to usefulness, the Net has never been a
particularly good source of anything, save persiflage and pictures of
naked women.
-Alex Lopez-Ortiz
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