JSOTTILE%LOYVAX.BITNET@cunyvm.cuny.edu (03/10/88)
From: ateng!chip@uunet.UU.NET (Chip Salzenberg) >If there is so much "very sound" code on BITNET, why the heck can't the >BITNET people fix their $&^* mailers?! >--- >Chip Salzenberg UUCP: "{codas,uunet}!ateng!chip" >A T Engineering My employer's opinions are a trade secret. > "Anything that works is better than anything that doesn't." > well, Bitnet is an IBM network (EDCDIC) and is not made up solely of VAX nodes. Most of the mailers that I have come in contact with are on IBM machines. VAX has to conform to IBM's RSCS standards. RSCS mailers assume that domain names have an alpha-numeric as their node name, so nodes like 16bits won't parse. If you ask me, it was a poor design consideration. Gateways between networks use these mailers and this makes the gateway between ARPA and BITNET, etc, only about 95% correct. Also, since BITNET is not take as seriously as ARPAnet (BITNET is between colleges and universities) and it does show. That is not to say that BITNET is not a network to be considered, but it is not so complex as ARPA, etc. - john sottile (jsottile@loyvax.bitnet) * Cross Posted to Unix Wizards Discussion