Hey Nancy!   
      
   Dec 21 23:44 05, Nancy Backus wrote to Maurice Kinal:   
      
    NB> Possibly, on the first point, the caveat being that the differences    
    NB> in   
    NB> HOW things are normally done might make it harder to accomplish...    
    NB> thus   
    NB> agreeing with your second point...  :)   
      
   I thought I was wishy-washy enough to cover all the possible bases.  :-)   
      
   Having said that I still believe that a more universal Fido standard that can   
   meet everyone's needs is achivable and could work in today's complex   
   enviroment as well as with the more hardcore minimalistic people such as   
   myself.  The problem with the current situation is very little is supported by   
   anyone, especially the people who came up with whatever they decided was   
   needed at the time.  Thus we are all stuck with making a flawed system somehow   
   work for very few users.  It can be done but then everytime someone who   
   follows the original scheme, whatever that really is, they tend to introduce a   
   new bug into the network and the hardcore minimalists are left wondering if it   
   is worth compensating for.  Unfortunetly the answer appears to lean towards   
   "it ain't worth diddley-squat!" which just furthers the decline.   
      
    NB> It probably depended on when, and where, one was getting into    
    NB> computers.   
      
   For sure!  Speaking for myself, I haven't had much faith or respect for PC's   
   until I learned how to replicate what a REAL computer does on a PC.  From what   
   I have observed over the years users who started out with PC's - and   
   especially only ever used Windows - tend to be far more trusting then I am of   
   manufactures and software developers then I obviously am.   
      
    NB> As I recall, Radio Shack/Tandy was one of those that pushed BBSs, as   
    NB> there were some that were support for the Tandy computers...  Not    
    NB> sure   
    NB> what timeframe, though, any more...     
      
   Sounds like the 80's.  I've never owned or used one of them.  Some of those   
   people seem really hardcore to me but I don't often bump into those people   
   anymore.   
      
    NB> Each to his/her own taste.... :)   
      
   I agree 100%.  My taste leans towards high quality minimalism which   
   effectively eliminates all software coming from or targetting MS systems.    
   I've never been a fan of MS stuff but am happy it was successful simply   
   because it made it possible for me to avoid it all and obtain what I figured I   
   needed at any given point 'inexpensively' (<- a relative term).   
      
    NB> When was that?  (And as I said above, when and where may have made a   
    NB> difference)   
      
   It was a 386.  Cutting edge stuff at the time.  I think it was the late 80's.    
   Given the lack of good networking software for DOS, which is what I used on   
   there, it required serious hacking.  I forget which compiler I started with on   
   there but it worked okay.  Later when I got a 486 things started falling into   
   place but then I had already started making the changeover to Linux and thus   
   quite a bit of the prior hacking fell by the wayside rather dramatically.  I   
   learned so it wasn't a total loss but it would have been easier and better if   
   Linux had sprung onto the scene earlier then it did.  Anyhow that was about 10   
   years ago, 95-ish, about the time all the silliness associated with Y2K   
   started picking up some steam, or at least it got Hollywoodized.   
      
    NB> I have yet to do anything so drastic as set up a web site.   
      
   You aren't missing anything.   
      
    NB> I've done    
    NB> a   
    NB> wee bit of googling, and surfing, but not all that much...   
      
   Same here.  I am not a huge fan of the web.  I prefer the oldfashioned stuff   
   when internetting and performance wise it still is the best.  I see a direct   
   corelation between the decline of performance and the development of web   
   browsers.  Of course that is all hidden by the increase of speed of home based   
   internet access.   
      
    NB> course, it was all DOS and text-based (with the option of viewing   
    NB> particular graphics as/if/when I wish).  I'm certainly in no hurry to    
    NB> do   
    NB> any more, either...  :)   
      
   Me neither.   
      
    NB> I guess I'm not going so far as to say that it was* intentional...    
    NB> but   
    NB> one does wonder, at times...   
      
   I am convinced that for some it is but I doubt it has much to do with the   
   internet at large.   
      
    NB> Habitual   
    NB> is perhaps more accurate.....?   
      
   For many methinks.   
      
   Life is good,   
   Maurice   
      
   P.S.  Merry Christmas to you and yours.   
      
   --- Msged/LNX 6.1.2   
    * Origin: The Pointy Stick Society XV - Linux Point (1:261/38.9)