ksh@cbosgd.UUCP (08/04/83)
The UUCP mail routing problem is coming to a head. People are using our Usenet map to route mail, although it was not intended for anything more than to show news connections. No UUCP routing map is being kept up to date, and finding a working mail path through the various networks is rapidly becoming quite a challenge. I am considering offering, as a service, a UUCP routing map. This would be run as a business, with a charge made to customers receiving the routing information. Each customer would receive, on a regular basis, a customized file containing a good, working route from their machine to every other machine on the UUCP network. (Here "UUCP" means all sites reachable with the "!" syntax, no matter what the underlying transport mechanism is.) A sample (abridged) map might look like this: cbosgd %s decvax decvax!%s ucbvax ucbvax!%s ucsfcgl ucbvax!ucsfcgl!%s This is the same format being used by many public domain path aliasing programs currently in use. The problem is that these programs do not have up-to-date information to use to generate paths. The UUCP mail routing map would be of the same quality as the current Usenet map, which I put out (with assistance from my husband, Mark Horton.) The mail routing map would be done entirely by me. The prices would be (tentatively) as follows: First map: $150 Each additional map, when requested by customer: $100 Regular customers, a new map automatically sent each month: $20/month The customer would also be responsible for telephone charges to transfer the map to their machine. The map would probably take 5 minutes at 1200 baud. The customers machine could poll my machine, or we could call you and bill you for the charges. This message is a trial balloon to see how much interest there is in such a service. I would appreciate receiving comments via mail about whether you think this is a good idea, and whether you think your organization would be likely to subscribe to this service. Please note that this service is for the routing of electronic mail. It would not change the nature of Usenet (the network news), except to make internet style addressing more widely available. This has nothing to do with the "Usenet Inc" that has been discussed recently. Karen Summers-Horton ucbvax!cbosgd!ksh