Jonathon,
 
On June 29, I  sent you the following message (to  protect the privacy of
the other people I sent it to, I will remove the corresponding parts):
 
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Date:        Wed, 29 Jun 1994 18:48:05 +0200
From:        Eric Thomas <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:     LISTSERV
To:          [log in to unmask], (...)
 
BITNIC just sent me  a list of LISTSERV nodes they  will be deleting from
9407,  and  this  includes  TRINITY   and  (...)  Once  you  lose  BITNET
connectivity, many LISTSERV functions will stop working, and in fact your
free licenses  for LISTSERV and LMail  will expire. L-Soft can  offer two
solutions: LISTSERV-TCP/IP, which  is the same VM LISTSERV  you have been
using, but with the ability to  operate properly without NJE, and unix or
VMS  versions  of  LISTSERV,  if  you  wish  to  migrate  away  from  VM.
LISTSERV-TCP/IP causes little or no disruption to your users, beyond that
experienced from the  loss of SENDFILE, and from  a technical perspective
it is the best short-term solution. You  can later migrate to VMS or unix
when  the  corresponding  LISTSERV  versions  reach  the  same  level  of
functionality as the VM version, in about 12-18 months, and thus minimize
overall disruption.  It may, of course,  be your official policy  to free
all VM investments now. In that case, the least disruptive solution is to
migrate to the VMS or unix version  of LISTSERV. I assume you are leaving
CREN  as well  as BITNET.  In that  case you  can purchase  an indefinite
license for the SunOS,  AIX or BSDi version of LISTSERV  plus one year of
service for  $2,000.00. This  will allow  you to  migrate your  lists and
archive file  with a simple  FTP command, and the  users may not  see the
difference, as long  as they don't try to use  the database functions, or
AFD/FUI  (which  are  not  available  with  competing  products  either).
Switching to Majordomo  or another free list manager will  cost you a lot
more than $2k in migration  effort, troubleshooting, helpdesk calls, user
re-training, and so  on. You can get  a free evaluation copy  of the unix
(and soon VMS) versions of LISTSERV by anonymous FTP from FTP.SPC.EDU, CD
LISTSERV.
 
  Eric
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Trinity chose  not to purchase any  of the products in  question. This is
your prerogative and  I have no problem with that.  You are, however, now
using LISTSERV illegally,  past the expiration of your  free license. You
have been explicitly  warned that your license would  expire upon leaving
BITNET, and  it is of  course stated in  the license agreement  that came
with the software.  Please terminate any and all use  of LISTSERV on your
VM system immediately, or  we will have no option but  to invoice you for
the license you are using, and taking all necessary steps to collect this
money from your organization. Thank you.
 
  Eric