🚀 go-pugleaf

In the referenced article, Matthew Nelson <nelsn@houxj.UUCP> writes:
>
>Is there a way to send from UUCP (or from any other net which
>connects to UUCP) to Compuserve?
>Are there any other commercial BBoard operations which have
>connections/access to the net?

To the best of my knowledge, the only commercial computer conferencing
systems that connect to the USENET and UUCP networks are

	The Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link (WELL), Sausalito, CA
	Portal Communications Corp., Cupertino, CA

The major ones (CompuServe, The Source, BIX, GEnie, etc.) either don't
know we exist, or don't want to connect to us. I poked a marketroid
from BIX about this at the West Coast Computer Faire last month, and
got what appears to be the standard response: they don't want to talk
to us, 'cause they can't figure out how to charge for it, or what to
do about Email and netnews access. BIX copyrights all the materials
that the users submit to it, and will not allow redistribution.

Note, however, that The Source was recently sold by Reader's Digest to
someone else (I have forgotten who bought it at the moment), and with
the potential change of management that this brings, perhaps they can
be persuaded to join the bigger world out here...

	Erik E. Fair	ucbvax!fair	fair@ucbarpa.berkeley.edu

Upon asking CompuServe "Customer Service Representatives" in their
"Feedback" section I learned Compuserve has no connections to the
outside world and has no plans to now, but they are "considering the
matter."  The reply sounded like a "canned" answer.

#
# Henry Mensch / <henry@garp.mit.edu> / E40-358C MIT, Cambridge, MA
#          {ames,cca,rochester,mit-eddie}!garp!henry

In article <196@houxj.UUCP> nelsn@houxj.UUCP (M.NELSON) writes:
>Is there a way to send from UUCP (or from any other net which
>connects to UUCP) to Compuserve?

NCR has a CompuServe/UUCP bi-directional gateway for internal use only.
It is used to connect between the two separate mail systems, both
of which are in widespread use within NCR.  I developed it to
communicate with the InfoPlex service of CompuServe, although
mail to and from normal Compuserve users (EasyPlex) also works.

The gateway software requires SysV and Honey Danber UUCP to
run.  Unfortunately the software is owned by NCR and I cannot
give it away.  I had enough problems with our mail router
and the lawyers that I eventually called it a rewrite of smail 1.3
and ripped out all the copyright notices (with approval from
management).

>Are there any other commercial BBoard operations which have
>connections/access to the net?

CompuServe charges on a per-message basis for the InfoPlex service.
I believe it costs $.45 to send a message from EasyPlex to InfoPlex;
I don't know about the other direction since I don't pay the bills.
There is no way that NCR (or any other entity) is going to pay
for a wide-open CompuServe/UUCP gateway as it would cost too much to
subsidize.

>I think this was asked by someone else a couple of months back,
>but I never saw an answer on the net.

I didn't post a response then because the news is not very good.
If you really want it bad, figure out a way for me to justify releasing
it to mod.sources.  The lawyers don't really care about not making
any money on it, since NCR has no plans to sell it.  They are worried
about NCR's image and possible lawsuits, lovely intangibles that
cannot be refuted.

-- 
Matt Costello	<matt.costello@SanDiego.NCR.COM>
		{sdcsvax,cbatt,dcdwest,nosc.ARPA,ihnp4}!ncr-sd!matt

In article <18371@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> fair@ucbarpa.Berkeley.EDU (Erik E. Fair) writes:
> <...>
>To the best of my knowledge, the only commercial computer conferencing
>systems that connect to the USENET and UUCP networks are
>
>	The Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link (WELL), Sausalito, CA
>	Portal Communications Corp., Cupertino, CA
>
>	Erik E. Fair	ucbvax!fair	fair@ucbarpa.berkeley.edu

We're currently organizing a net-accessible conferencing system here
in New York City on dasys1.  It's known as the 'Big Electric Cat',
and we do charge for access, although our rates are VERY low.  Our
charges pretty much cover the costs of maintaining the machine and
little else.  In the near future, we plan to add several other services
to the Cat.


-- 
Robert Sweeney           {allegra,cmcl2,philabs}!phri!\
Datamerica Systems        {harpo,bellcore,cmcl2}!cucard!dasys1!rsweeney
New York, NY.  USA                      {philabs}!tg!/
                    "NO SLEEP 'TILL BROOKLYN!!"

In response to Eric Fair's comments on this subject, I would submit
to you that we at Portal are interested in talking about connections
to other commercial services such as CIS.  We have had some discussions
about this with "other vendors" (I can't say which) but it appears not
to be one of their priorities at this point because of other "internal"
matters.  We are continuing to try and make a connection, however.
If you have helpful information to this end, I invite your comments.

If you are interested in seeing links between UUCP, Bitnet, ARPA and
the various commercial services, I would like to hear from you.  Could
you let me know:

1) Which services would you like to see connected (CIS, GEnie, STC, etc)
2) What connections you would like to see (mail, Usenet, whatever)
3) What your immediate applications would be
4) What future/potential applications you would forsee.

Right now, Portal provides access to 60+ mail domains including UUCP,
ARPA, and BITNET along with Usenet access.  Portal also supports 
information providers (not through the nets) for information distribution,
sharing, etc., we have a real-time online meetings facility, matching,
and local access numbers around the US.  Those interested may call
the direct number for online information (408/725-0561) or send me email.

If we end up providing some kind of link, I'll let everyone know about 
it by posting an announcement.  It's our hope that eventually we can 
connect everyone.

In article <18371@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> fair@ucbarpa.Berkeley.EDU (Erik E. Fair) writes:
>To the best of my knowledge, the only commercial computer conferencing
>systems that connect to the USENET and UUCP networks are

Add 

	Chariot Communications, Old Colorado City, Colorado

to your list.  They do all kinds of online conferencing stuff.

I have no connection with Chariot other than providing one of their two uucp
links to the rest of the world, and occasionally reading the NAPLPS conference
they run...
-- 

Bdale Garbee, N3EUA		phone: 303/593-9828 h, 303/590-2868 w
uucp: {bellcore,crash,hp-lsd,hpcsma,ncc,pitt,usafa,vixie}!winfree!bdale
fido: sysop of 128/19		packet: n3eua @ k0hoa, Colorado Springs