lauren@vortex.UUCP (Lauren Weinstein) (06/14/86)
I'm just back from Atlanta, where meetings with Usenix Board of Directors members, the satellite carrier, and others took place. There was also a discussion of Stargate issues at the Usenet BOF on Friday morning. The reason you're not getting "monthly reports" is that we're in the midst of complex non-technical discussions, negotiations, organizing, etc. that simply cannot proceed under a public spotlight. As I stated yesterday in Atlanta, however, we should be able to make a very significant announcement, one way or another, at the next meeting in 6 months. My personal feeling is that the announcement will be of very good news and will represent the start of initial service availability--keep your fingers crossed. During this interval both technical and non-technical development is continuing, of course--and at an accelerating rate. There are a large number of technical considerations--the Stargate bandwidth is decidedly not infinite and we will ultimately be paying for that bandwidth (the free ride won't go on forever, but we're looking at quite favorable rates). There are complex organizatonal and cost issues, hardware manufacturing, distribution and support considerations, and a myriad number of other factors which make this a very complex project. Issues regarding the exact form and costs of services, membership/subscription methodologies and structure, etc. are also involved. What we're doing is working on the creation of an information service of national scope using nationwide broadcast facilities--this sort of thing just doesn't happen overnight and it must proceed carefully and with due concern for many, many issues and entities. On the technical front, testing and development are proceeding and the outlook for quantity production of the necessary equipment is quite good and in fact part of the required equipment is already in quantity production. Work on establishing the cost factors (purchase/rental fees) for the hardware is also underway. Once again, I emphasize that this is a very complex project which involves an increasing number of people. As developments gel which can be appropriately announced publicly, we will certainly continue to do so. Your understanding of the real-world issues that enter into a project like this is greatly appreciated. --Lauren--