From: cblaise@moose.uvm.edu.UUCP (Chris Blaise)
Subject: Re: BBS Standards Committ
Originator: cblaise@moose.uvm.edu
Organization: University of Vermont -- Division of EMBA Computer Facility
Date: Tue, 25 Aug 1992 17:48:36 GMT

From article <2477@aegis.or.jp>, by davidg@aegis.or.jp (Dave McLane):
> Thats funny because I have a lot of teachers, educators and students
> and while they aren't clamoring for WordPerfect/Nethack/etc. (which,
> after all, was only used an example of the various of different
> things you can do with a true multi-line/multi-user/multi-tasking
> system) and they are sure hot to be able to get all their mail and
> news without having to negotiate menus. 

	*chuckle*  Depends on what suits you!  I find negotiating
menus the *easiest* way to work with BBSes.  However, there are programs
that I could use on TBBS (or heck, make my own) that would give it the
"shell" feel of unix.  The trouble is that most of our callers barely have
a clue of what DOS is, let alone Unix.  I don't see where requiring them
to remember "vn -n Vermont-EdNet.Educator.Student" is really helping
to accomplish what the main mission of the system is - that is to get
teachers and educators experienced with telecommunications.

>>	Like I also said, these are the kind of people using our Vermont Ed-Net
>>system.  The system is geared for beginners and people to teach those beginners
>>how to use telecommunications and I feel it does a very good job.  
> 
> I see. Well, you might think about saying that instead of "It simply
> doesn't interest me.  You might as well be telling..."

	But that's how I feel!  *grin*  There is no amount of convincing
that can be done on my to make me feel that a change from TBBS to a Unix
system would be better for me to run and for my users to use, than I
could convince YOU and others otherwise about TBBS over Unix.


> I'm not sure, but I think you missed the point. Which is that I (and
> others) believe it is useful to let different people do different
> things as this way they don't have to navigate user interfaces that
> have to be applied across the board. It doesn't matter which, but
> UNIX is a real-world, not-so-expensive way to get multi-line,
> multi-user and mulit-tasking. 
> If people want a BBS as in interface (even a DOS BBS, under an
> emulator) you can provide it. Other people want a different BBS, you
> can provide it. Different people want a shell, you can provide it.
> By providing a wide range of user interfaces, you can make it both
> easy and useful for whoever choses to access your system. 
> 

	I hear you, and if I were running a BBS full time, I *might*
and *consider* the above carefully.  However there are a few things
that I'm basin my current judgements on.  Some that I've explicitly said
before and others that I may have alluded to but maybe have not spelled
out in so many words:

 1) I'm a student.  I have very little time to maintain a unix machine to
    get it to do what *I* would want it to do.  Of course I believe I
    could get something hatched out of exiting unix BBSes that would
    look like TBBS.  But as a full time student, putting down 21 hours
    of work a week this semester, I simply don't have the time.

 2) I'm at a university.  We have 2 VMS systems and 3 unix machines
    at the division I work at.  At the college of engineering and math, there's
    another 6-7 unix machines.  Do we really need to offer YAUM (Yet Another
    Unix Machine)?

 3) The people this BBS targets are NOT computer literate.  We're trying to
    get them to USE telecommunications.  These people have enough trouble
    understanding the concepts of uploading and downloading, let alone
    the various intricies of unix.    

 4) My project is a *multi line BBS*, not a *multi line OS*.  It seems to
    me that you and Larry are trying to turn this into an OS war, which
    I'm not trying to continue.  Do I think that TBBS can compete with
    unix?  Of course not.  Do I think it can compare with most of the
    BBS packages I see on it?  Sure I do.  It has it's points as well as
    those packages have their own.  The point is, lets stick to the
    BBS debates and not the OS debates.
 
 TTYL
 Chris

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