lauren@vortex.UUCP (Lauren Weinstein) (07/09/85)
Just a fairly brief note. Very soon now (hopefully) more of the new style
Stargate decoders will become available, and I hope to be able
to arrange for more test sites at that time. The main limiting
factor right now is the total lack of more old-style (non-ECC) decoders,
which will shortly be obsolete in any case. Around the end of the
summer, I hope to have a prototype of the buffer box--a very inexpensive
68000 box with lots of memory. 68000 experts who would be interested
in participating in the firmware design for the buffer boxes would be
greatly appreciated--please drop me a line!
On the non-technical front, I am interested in hearing from organizations
who would be interested in participating in a non-profit consortium
which might be established to operate Stargate as an actual service.
This consortium, which would be separate from Usenix but probably include
Usenix as a participant, would be able to establish the necessary
framework for what is really a very unique electronic publishing
service. My personal intention is that this consortium will remain
non-profit, though this of course doesn't mean that everyone working
with the project will be expected to devote their time for free indefinitely
if the service becomes a going concern. Stargate, under this model,
would be a service "separate" from Usenet proper, but with a large degree
of cross-fertilization and traffic interchange with the existing
Usenet. Sites would be free to use Usenet, subscribe to Stargate, or
both. Technical arrangements would be made to help avoid duplication
of traffic between Usenet and Stargate feeds for those messages
carried in both environments.
The non-profit consortium concept has appeared as a result of my discussions
with various parties including the satellite carrier and Usenix. It
is only a concept--not a definite plan at this point. I welcome
comments and suggestions. It is becoming increasingly important that
a stable, responsible base for the operation of a service be established
in the fairly near future. There seems to be considerable support
for establishing an independent entity to operate Stargate, and the
consortium model may fit this need quite well.
--Lauren--
{ihnp4, decvax, clyde, seismo, ...}!vortex!lauren