>Please remove me from this list.  I am so tired of reading about Eric ...
 
While it has become difficult to keep up with the lengthy discussions
of the Byzantine machinations of EARN and the travail of Eric Thomas,
we member institutions of BITNET must not overlook the import of all this.
 
I have watched BITNET grow from a handful of insider systems programmers
to a major education and research forum. This growth has been brought
about through the long hours and hard work of a handful of individuals.
A short list of contributions and their impact would include:
     Columbia Mailer  - Increased mail connectivity.
     RICEMAIL         - Increased user productivity
     LISTSERV         - Increased effective bandwidth.
    (JNET, 5798-FAL   - Increased node participation,
                        adding to the excitement.)
 
Consider the state of the network if the above functions were removed;
worse, consider the impact if they were unsupported and unstable.
This would be analagous to the multi-lane highway/suburb symbiosis.
(or, perhaps, analagous to deciding to STOP feeding the park bears.)
 
LISTSERV is, in effect, an extension to inadequate IBM networking strategies.
If we did not have LISTSERV and the other contributions, we would need
their generic equivalent. It would behoove us to prevail upon our
local administrators and the BITNIC to either help solve these kinds of
problems or to find functional replacements.
 
Mike Whitt.  [log in to unmask]
VM Systems.
Computing Center
NC State Univ. (919) 737-2517