In order  to test the  Win95 version of  LISTSERV, L-Soft is  offering to
host a limited  number of lists for free on  its Win95 development system
(WIN95.DC.LSOFT.COM).   The  Win95   version  currently   has  the   same
functionality as the NT, VMS and  unix versions. The final product may or
may  not be  available in  "Lite", "Regular"  and/or "Pro"  versions with
different  feature sets  and  memory requirements.  This  is a  marketing
decision that  we will  not be able  to make until  the final  version of
Win95 is released and  we can find out how much  memory exactly one would
need to run LISTSERV while at the same time using the computer normally.
 
The free mailing lists are being offered with the following caveats:
 
1. This  offer may  be withdrawn  or amended  without notice.  L-Soft may
   refuse to host a particular list with or without cause. In particular,
   L-Soft may decide that it has  enough lists to proceed with the tests,
   or that a particular list is too large for the test machine.
 
2. The lists will be hosted at  no charge until the date of final release
   of Win95 plus one month, or until  the date of release of LISTSERV for
   Win95, whichever comes last.
 
3. L-Soft will make reasonable efforts to operate the lists to "industry"
   standard levels  of service for  free recreational lists.  However the
   beneficiary agrees and understands that the list will be operated on a
   test/beta environment  where problems are possible.  In particular, we
   may need  to take the machine  or server down for  debugging purposes,
   possibly for extended periods of time. In general, the machine will be
   treated like a development machine (which is what it is), and not like
   a production machine.
 
4. The lists  will otherwise be operated as per  the terms and conditions
   for  L-Soft's "EASE  Basic"  service, with  the  exception of  clauses
   relating to payment of fees, of  which there will be none, and quality
   of  service,  backups  or  availability, for  which  L-Soft  makes  no
   guarantee whatsoever for the reasons enumerated above. Concretely this
   means that we run  the machine and you run the list,  and if you start
   selling drugs over the list we turn you in to the Feds :-)
 
All right, so as  mentioned in point 1 we're not going  to be taking over
all the orphaned lists in the network. The idea is that this a way for us
to test the software  with real traffic, and a way for you  to get a free
host until you can find a better  machine, maybe run the list on your own
PC once Win95 comes out. We'll give discounts to the participants :-) But
what we absolutely don't want to have is 10,000 people sending mail to us
when the  machine is down. This  in fact is  the main reason why  we will
probably stop at  20-30 lists. We want  to be able to fire  up a debugger
without having  the phone ringing. I  know it's mentioned in  point 3 and
that the list owners will agree to  that, but will 100% of the users know
it? :-)
 
Aside from this development bit, the  machine should be a good host since
it doesn't do anything else. It's a  486/66 with 16M RAM and 540M of disk
space. Note  again that at  some point it will  have to be  downgraded to
make performance measurements, but in  principle we'll put the SIMMs back
after the tests.
 
To  apply, write  to [log in to unmask]  and tell  us what
your list  is about, how many  subscribers you have, etc.  We're ready to
set up lists  as soon as you get  us the LIST file. If  anyone applies by
posting to the list, the answer is NO :-)
 
  Eric