[rec.mag] Byte mgz. speaks of BIX for e-mail to staff. Who is BIX?

shuford@cs.utk.edu (Richard Shuford) (01/13/91)

>  Date: 4 Jan 91 08:31:16 GMT

>  I would like to e-mail the folks at Byte.  Can you tell me how to
>  send mail to BIX from Internet?  Thanks.

>           (___)      |  Michael E. Adams
>           (o o)      |  Custom Computer Programming
>    /-------\ /       |  P.O. Box 5027
>   / |     ||O        |  Chico,  California  95927-5025    U.S.A.
>  *  ||,---||         |
>     ~~    ~~         |  internet: madams@cscihp.ecst.csuchico.edu
>  No BULL bandwidth   |


(Somebody asks this question every few months somewhere within Usenet.)

I'm a former employee of BYTE and serve as moderator for a couple of
conferences on BIX.  Other than reflecting what the situation is,
however, my writings here are *not* official statements.

BIX is the BYTE Information eXchange, the computer-conferencing system
operated by McGraw-Hill's BYTE magazine.  (BIX uses a variant of the
CoSy software developed at the University of Guelph and currently runs
on a Pyramid computer.)  Access is via Tymnet or via McGraw-Hill's
private network.  Subscribers to BIX pay a single quarterly flat fee 
of $39 for all BIX use (with one exception, mentioned below).  Telecom-
munication charges are not included, but an off-peak unlimited Tymnet
account can be arranged for $20 per month by subscribers in the 48
contiguous states.  For information on BIX, within the U.S. you can
call 800/227-2983 (for voice help).  Otherwise, contact BIX at

     BYTE Information eXchange
     1001 Phoenix Mill Lane
     Peterborough, NH  03458 USA

     +1 603/924-7681

The international NUI for BIX is 310690157800.  Talk to your local PTT.

 --------------------------------

Regarding electronic mail to BIX and BYTE:

At present, there is *no* direct connection between BIX and the Internet
(or between BIX and other interorganization networks, IONs, that you may
know of).  This has been due to legal and political concerns, although
the idea has been under consideration for some time.  Maybe someday it
will happen, but don't hold your breath.

It is possible to transceive traffic between BIX and other IONs using
the facilities of DASnet, a commercial relay service, but you need an
account with DASnet (about which see below).

Because the BYTE editors use BIX every day, the best way to communicate
with BYTE is to get a subscription to BIX. 

On the other hand, there is a UNIX-based computer in the Peterborough
BYTE offices that has a connection to the networking world via UUNET.
This computer is *not* connected to BIX, and is not yet connected to the
editorial LAN, but if you desperately need to send a message to a BYTE
editor, and you can't use BIX, you can send it in care of:

     ben@bytepb.byte.com

and Ben Smith will print a hardcopy and place it in the recipient's
physical mailbox.  Don't overburden him with traffic, though.

Senders who have to use bangpath addresses can construct one from:

    ...!uunet!bytepb!ben

And, Mr. Adams, if you include your "signature" in your message, the
recipient will likely be very amused, because the building in which
BYTE and BIX are headquartered is still engraved with the name of the
organization which constructed it, the American Guernsey Cattle Club.

 --------------------------------

Now, about DASnet:

Operating as a profit-making concern, DASnet provides

1.  Electronic mail exchange between several dozen e-mail communities.
    DASnet uses UUNET as the relay point for Internet e-mail.  DASnet
    handles *only* messages originating from or destined to one of its
    subscribers.  
2.  Delivery of e-mail (ASCII text only) to a G3 FAX (facsimile) machine.
3.  Paper mail, dispatched from printing centers in the United States,
    Belgium, and Australia.
4.  Electronic publishing (essentially a mailing-list service).
5.  Telex service.

There are a registration fee and deposit which amount to around $40 (U.S.),
when last I checked.  Billing can be via credit cards.  There is a fixed
subscription charge of $4.75 per month (in U.S., more elsewhere), and for
each message processed DASnet charges a use fee to the subscriber.  The
fee structure is too complicated to post here.

As you might expect, each e-mail community has a distinct method for its
users to invoke a DASnet mail transmission.  For a BIX user, DASnet
e-mail is the only service incurring charges beyond the BIX quarterly
fee.  For more information, contact:

    DA Systems, Inc.
    1503 E. Campbell Ave.
    Campbell, CA  95008 USA

    +1 408/559-7434

I'm not affiliated with DASnet, but I'm posting this description as a
possible solution to general case of the problem stated in the earlier
posting.

.....Richard S. Shuford
.....Internet: shuford@cs.utk.edu
.....     BIX: richard
-- 
....Richard S. Shuford  | These opinions here are held neither by the
....shuford@cs.utk.edu  | University of Tennessee nor by the National
....BIX: richard        | Football League.