From: imhw400@indyvax.iupui.edu
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.nodmgt-l
Subject: Re: _possible_ death of BITNET
Date: 21 Jan 93 09:51:49 -0500

In article <NODMGT-L%93012013571987@UGA.CC.UGA.EDU>, Jim Jones <JIMJ@JHUVM.BITNET> writes:
[deletia]
>  when/if we arrive at such InterNirvana is debatable.  If the services
>  provided by Bitnet make it worthwhile, then it will survive.  And if
>  it becomes a network of services using the Internet as the primary
>  transport (possibly the only transport in some areas), then it can
>  still be a viable network.

OK, I'll bite:

1.	There is no such person as "BITNET", hence he cannot provide services.
	There are quite a number of independent entities that provide services
	over the NJE catenet and, in many cases, the Internet as well. 
	BITNET is the subset of those entities that (a) operate a cooperative
	NJE network which (b) they have hired CREN to administer and
	coordinate.

2.	Some people confuse the terms BITNET and CREN.  CREN does provide
	services.  Those services today are almost entirely concerned with the
	operation of the NJE network.

3.	The NJE network provides two facilities that the Internet traditionally
	has not: Nodal Message Records and unsolicited file transfer.  There
	are at least two NMR-over-IP schemes in some stage of development. 
	Unsolicited file transfer is more difficult, but not impossible, and
	I'd be surprised to find that nobody was working on it.  (I'll probably
	tackle it eventually if nobody else does.)

4.	When these last two facilities are widely available in the Internet,
	there is no more need for the NJE network.  The bother and expense of
	tearing it down will prevent its removal for some amount of time,
	but not forever.

5.	When the NJE network is gone, BITNET will be the set of Internet users
	who remember what BITNET used to be.  (Don't believe it?  What is CSnet
	today?)  CREN will be out of the transport business and into
	application-layer stuff like mailing-list software and other
	education/research end-user tools.

>                              The task faced by those that are charged
>  with directing Bitnet is to find the set of services that define such
>  a network.

But *should* we continue to run such a network-within-a-network?  What does it
buy us?

>              The potential demise of Bitnet is related to those efforts
>  and not to the connection issues espoused by Internet zealots.  I must
>  add that I find the gleeful arguments for homogenized computing wholely
>  unpersuasive.  If we, as information technology providers, are so
>  bankrupt that we can't support diverse computing environments, including
>  a choice of operating systems and multiple service-oriented networks,
>  then our users are going to have to live with suboptimal resources.  But
>  so long as it's economically feasible to offer choices to the consumers
>  of our services, I'd argue that it's in consumers best interests to do
>  so.

I thought that the argument was, that the consumers all seem to be buying one
of the choices anyway, and eventually will wonder why they need both.

>       Currently Bitnet offers services not available on the Internet and
>  I don't see that changing in the new year or so.  That gives the Bitnet
>  honchos some lead time to find their niche.  If the manage to do that,
>  then Bitnet will survive.

At that point BITNET will not be a technical network at all anymore; it will be
a social network, and that in the process of being absorbed by a larger one. 
It will be a fading memory, something that old-timers talk about when they
congregate.

> 
[deletia]
>>The current economic climate has put a fair amount of pressure on
>>schools to reduce costs, and "downsizing" in the MIS/computing
>>departments seems to be a pretty hot trend.
> 
>  There's the "we're too bankrupt to support alternatives" argument again.
>  I hope it's an exaggeration.

Okay, what are the advantages of the BITNET alternative, aside from unsolicited
file transfer?
-- 
Mark H. Wood, Lead Analyst/Programmer    +1 317 274 0749   [@disclaimer@]
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