pozar@hoptoad.uucp (Tim Pozar) (09/21/87)
Volume 4, Number 35 14 September 1987
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| / \ |
| /|oo \ |
| - FidoNews - (_| /_) |
| _`@/_ \ _ |
| International | | \ \\ |
| FidoNet Association | (*) | \ )) |
| Newsletter ______ |__U__| / \// |
| / FIDO \ _//|| _\ / |
| (________) (_/(_|(____/ |
| (jm) |
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Editor in Chief: Thom Henderson
Chief Procrastinator Emeritus: Tom Jennings
FidoNews is published weekly by the International FidoNet
Association as its official newsletter. You are encouraged to
submit articles for publication in FidoNews. Article submission
standards are contained in the file ARTSPEC.DOC, available from
node 1:1/1.
Copyright 1987 by the International FidoNet Association. All
rights reserved. Duplication and/or distribution permitted for
noncommercial purposes only. For use in other circumstances,
please contact IFNA at (314) 576-4067.
Table of Contents
1. EDITORIAL ................................................ 1
What's IFNA Done for Me? ................................. 1
2. ARTICLES ................................................. 3
A Call for Volunteers .................................... 3
FCC EchoMail Conference .................................. 4
MegaList: A Sysop's Answer To Finding Utilities .......... 5
Research in Shareware -- A Questionnaire ................. 6
3. COLUMNS .................................................. 20
The Regular Irregular Column ............................. 20
Origin: Angevin Empire ................................... 24
4. NOTICES .................................................. 25
The Interrupt Stack ...................................... 25
Latest Software Versions ................................. 25
IFNA Order Form .......................................... 26
IFNA Membership Application .............................. 27
FidoNews 4-35 Page 1 14 Sep 1987
=================================================================
EDITORIAL
=================================================================
What's IFNA Done for Me?
IFNA (the International FidoNet Association) has been in
existance for over a year now. In that time, what has it
accomplished that's worth anything? Offhand it doesn't look like
much has happened. Oh, there's been lots of talk about what IFNA
could do someday, or what it might do if we want, but what has it
actually done so far? Not much, by all appearances.
But there's more than meets the eye. Here are few things that
IFNA does for us right now:
1) Non-profit status. This was the main impetus for forming
IFNA in the first place. People sent in money to help with
the expenses, but it showed up on Ken Kaplan's income tax
return as extra income, and the expenses were not deductible.
Yes, I know that our tax-exempt status has not been approved
yet, but in the meanwhile we have a sort of "provisional" tax
exempt status, until the IRS makes up its mind. (This could
actually work against Ken if the IRS turns us down. The IRS
has a nasty habit of deciding that it never was exempt after
all, and then demanding back taxes with penalties and
interest.)
2) Limited liability on nodelist compilation. This is more
important than it sounds. Suppose someone sends in a node
list update that has someone's voice number in it? Before,
the guy who publishes the list (first Tom Jennings, later Ken
Kaplan, and now Ben Baker) could have been held personally
liable for damages. Now it's IFNA that bears the brunt.
IFNA could possibly be destroyed by such a lawsuit, but at
least Ben won't loose his house.
3) Limited liability on FidoNews. This one is near and dear to
my heart. I don't always have time to look over the articles
before they are published, so it's not that unlikely for
something legally actionable to slip through. Twice that I
know of someone sent in an article that contained copyrighted
material. One I caught in time, the other slipped through.
Then there's always the possibility that a submitted article
could result in a lawsuit for libel. I like publishing
FidoNews, but if you don't mind I'd really rather not put my
own neck on a chopping block.
4) Accountability. This is probably the single most important
thing that IFNA does for sysops. Prior to IFNA becoming a
membership organization, there was no accountability. The
people at the top could do whatever they wanted, and nobody
had anything to say about it. But now IFNA provides a
structure where the people at the very top are directly
FidoNews 4-35 Page 2 14 Sep 1987
accountable to the sysops.
5) Orderly changes in management. This especially is something
that is not readily apparent, but is quite important. There
never used to be any mechanism for the people at the top to
be replaced in an orderly fashion. Now there is, and it's
even happened. Ken Kaplan used to be the International
Coordinator and the President of IFNA. One of the first
things the new board did was to replace him in those
positions, making Ben Baker the International Coordinator and
Don Daniels the President of IFNA.
So what has IFNA done for me lately? A few things. Nothing
flashy, nothing broad and obvious, just a few things that really
needed to be done.
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FidoNews 4-35 Page 3 14 Sep 1987
=================================================================
ARTICLES
=================================================================
Need Volunteers For Membership Services Committee
-------------------------------------------------
Phil Ardussi 1:157/1
IFNA By Laws state, "The Membership Services Committee
performs studies and makes recommendations to the Board, and
acts as advisor to the President, with regard to services
provided to individual members, other than publications and
including, but not limited to the ANNUAL MEETING."
We will need several sub committees. One of them is to make
recommendations to the Board of Directors no later than 12/31/87
on the site(s) for the next FidoCon.
Another subcommittee, already established, will be
responsible for keeping the membership roster. This important
job will be done by Norm Henke, 157/200.
Moreover, I believe we should also be responsible and
accountable for the distribution of software sold in connection
with IFNA membership.
Other areas will probably include membership development,
membership communications, and other jobs which might come to
your mind as you read this and think about our responsibility.
I need to hear from you no later than 9/9/87 if you wish to
serve. If your response is positive, please at the same time
set up an EchoMail conference for your board only called MEMSER.
We will use that for communicating and I will serve as the
center of the star topology.
Suggestions, comments, anyone? Volunteers gratefully
accepted.
Phil Ardussi
1:157/1
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FidoNews 4-35 Page 4 14 Sep 1987
Jim Cannell
128/13
FCC ECHOMAIL CONFERENCE
The threat to FidoNet of additional access charges to value added
carriers as proposed by the FCC in Docket No. 87-215 is real. A
large number of us use such services as GTE's PC Pursuit. An
additional $5.00 an hour charge there will price it out of the
range of most FidoNet sysops.
What can we do about this threat? There is the usual method of
writing letters to the FCC Commissioners, as well as Senators and
Representatives. A better solution exists. Let's use the tools
of FidoNet itself to fight our battle. On the COSUG BBS system
(128/13), we have established an FCC EchoMail conference to
discuss how the actions of the FCC and other regulatory agencies
affect the world of data communications.
Any node may participate in the conference as long as the
following ground rules are observed:
1. Keep the discussion topics on the subject of
telecommunications regulation.
2. No flames or personal attacks will be tolerated. Discuss the
issues, not the personalities.
3. All messages entered into this area will be forwarded to the
FCC as well as Representatives and Senators involved in
Telecommunications policy. If you ask that a particular
message not be forwarded to the FCC or that your name be
witheld, that request will be honored.
4. Any node forwarding this conference to other nodes may not
alter the contents of any of the messages. You can do what
you want with the area after you have forwarded it.
We invite all of you to participate in the FCC Echo. Since
FidoNet has telecommunications power distributed among all BBS
sysops and users, we are a very real threat to the bureaucratic
mind that wants to run everything from Washington. Let's keep
the power of communication away from centralized authority, and
use our combined effort to defeat the FCC.
There are several nodes around the country already carrying the
FCC EchoMail Conference, including some of the backbone nodes.
If you are not able to get the conference from your regular
EchoMail connection, send a message to me at 128/13 and we'll get
you connected.
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FidoNews 4-35 Page 5 14 Sep 1987
Gene Coppola
The Big Gulp, 107/246
MegaList: A Sysop's Answer To Finding Utilities
Chris was in one of his more creative moods the other day; he's
finally written a system that I've wanted for quite some time
now: MegaList.
The "MegaList" is an alphabetized file listing that combines the
files from ALL PARTICIPATING Fido/Opus systems.
If you've ever needed a file, but didn't know where to find it,
the MegaList is a good place to look; scan down the list for the
file you need, and listed next to it are the BBSs that have it
online.
The MegaList is available for download or SEAdog file request
from 135/68 or 107/246. The following files are online now:
MEGALIST.ARC/TXT The National (unfiltered) MegaList
MEGA-ARC.ARC/TXT The National ARChive MegaList
ML-UPD.ARC MegaList Update Software (Latest)
YOUR system can be added to the NATIONAL MegaList if you simply
run the update program, ML-UPD. This program will create an
update file based on YOUR system information and FILES.BBS
contents. This data is then ARCed and Net-mailed to 135/68 for
central collection. The NATIONAL MegaList is updated each day at
6:15AM and posted for download or file request.
Placing your system in the MegaList will let the rest of the
world know what's on your system without everyone having to call
and look. The ML-UPD program is easy and only takes about 1-2
minutes to run. All you must do is send a MegaList update to
Miami at least once every 45 days, and you will be in the daily
MegaList update.
This software is great for regions and nets as well. We here in
net 107 have started our own Megalist called (FILES107.ARC from
107/246) which contains all the latest software for OPUS/Fido
sysops. While this is primarily for Net 107 Sysops, we can
incorporate our files into the national MegaList as well.
In the case of Net 107, participating systems send 107/246 there
updates who then uses the ML-COL software to prepare our own
MegaList.
I think this is a GREAT concept which should be put to use by
every Net and or Region. Imagine if you, a complete list of all
the software on every Fido/Opus system !
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FidoNews 4-35 Page 6 14 Sep 1987
Jay Mendell
Fido 135/6
FLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY
Boca Raton, Florida 33431
Dr. Jay S. Mendell, Professor of Public Administration
Office (305) 393-3674, Rotates to Secretary on 5th Ring
Home, YOUR BEST BET, (305) 755-8928, Okay to Try from 9 to 9,
Seven Days
FidoNet 135/6
Usenet jay@ankh.UUCP
David Georgoff, Ph.D., Professor of Marketing
September 5, 1987
We are trying to collect the facts about the shareware
phenomenon, so we have written the attached questionnaire. We
desperately need to hear from as many shareware authors and
publishers as we can.
IF YOU ARE A SHAREWARE AUTHOR OR PUBLISHER, YOU CAN HELP BY
PRINTING THE ENCLOSED QUESTIONNAIRE TO PAPER AND ANSWERING ALL
OUR QUESTIONS AND MAILING US THE RESULTS. WE WILL SEND THE
TABULATED RESULTS TO ANY ADDRESS YOU REQUEST, AND WE WILL PAY
THE POSTAGE.
IF YOU ARE A SHAREWARE USER, YOU CAN HELP BY COPYING THIS FILE
TO AS MANY BULLETIN BOARDS AS YOU CAN. IF YOU SEND US A STAMPED
(2 OZ.), ADDRESSED ENVELOPE, WE WILL SEND YOU THE TABULATED
RESULTS. MARK THE ENVELOPE "SHAREWARE."
After we have received the answers to our questions, we will
send the tabulated results to every shareware author or
publisher we have heard from, and every shareware user who sends
us a stamped (assume 2 oz.), addressed envelope.
We will also offer the results in the FidoNet newsletter, and we
will encourage circulation on bulletin boards.
If we have received at least 200 questionnaires by December 15,
1987, we will use our vacation to tabulate the results and start
mailing them out. But it will never be too late to write us.
As soon as we have collected these facts Jay Mendell will
tabulate the results and send you or anyone you designate a
summary copy Later, Dave Georgoff will add material on
the theory of marketing channels and send our article to
a scholarly journal in the marketing field.
So, if you answer our questionnaire, you will very quickly
receive the direct benefit of comparing yourself with our other
respondents (this should help you make better business
decisions), and you will help marketing professors understand
FidoNews 4-35 Page 7 14 Sep 1987
what shareware means to their field.
A project like this depends on our hearing from as many authors
and publishers of shareware as possible. We really do need your
answers. Remember, you will soon be reading the tabulated
answers others have given to these questions.
Following the ethics of university researchers, We will treat
the information you give us as strictly confidential. We will
never identify you by name or violate your confidences by
writing about you in a way that might permit others to identify
you. In fact, we wil never actually be sure who you are, since
we are not asking for your own name, just the name and address
of someone we can mail the tabulated results to.
Although the questionnaire is long, many of the questions can be
answered with a checkmark.
If you want to communicate with us electronically, direct a
message to JAY MENDELL at FidoNet node 135/6 or jay@ankh.UUCP
on usenet. Jay checks his net mail daily.
PART ONE: PLEASE TELL US HOW YOU SPEND YOUR TIME AND MAKE A
LIVING.
1. We want to know if you are involved fulltime or part-
time in authoring or publishing shareware. Please tell us how
you (the principal author or publisher) divide your time
between the development of shareware and other income producing
activities.
Outside employment _________________ hr/wk
in someone else's
employ
Self-employment
in shareware _________________ hr/wk
Self-employment
other than
in shareware _________________ hr/wk
Activities
that support all
the above but cannot
be allocated __________________ hr/wk
2. During the last year, what percentage of your income
came from each of the items below? These figures should add up
to 100%. They refer to the situation of the principal author or
publisher.
FidoNews 4-35 Page 8 14 Sep 1987
Working with
computers for
someone else _______________ %
Working for someone
else, not with
computers _______________ %
Self-employment, not
in computers _______________ %
Self-employment
in shareware
________________ %
Self-employment,
in computers,
outside shareware ________________ %
Other income
(Investment, etc. Use
your own words) _________________ %
__________________________________________________
3. Is the principal author or publisher involved with
coauthors in the development of shareware?
_________ Yes. Extensively involved
_________ Yes. Involved to a degree.
_________ No.
4. Does the principal author or publisher currently employ
others to assist in the administration of shareware activities?
____________ Yes (GO TO QUESTION 5)
____________ No (GO TO QUESTION 6)
5. If you answered yes to question 4 directly above:
(a) How many individuals are employed by the principal in
the administration of the shareware activities? Allocate their
time (e.g., one half-time employee engaged full-time in
shareware plus one full-time employee engaged half-time on
shareware equal one full-time equivalent employee).
___________ Number of full-time equivalent employees
FidoNews 4-35 Page 9 14 Sep 1987
(Okay to use decimals and fractions.)
(b) What is the current weekly total of salaries and
commissions allocated to your shareware activities? Do not
include money drawn by the principal.
$__________ Total weekly salaries and commissions you
allocate to shareware.
PART TWO: PLEASE TELL US ABOUT YOUR PRODUCTS AND PRICES.
6. Please list here the various shareware products you have
authored or published. Include discontinued programs. Tell us
the price or donation requested from an individual user for each
product. (This would be the price for the fullest support you
provide, such as manual, AND update service, AND phone queries,
and so forth.)
TYPE NUMBER OF PRODUCTS AVERAGE PRICE
OF THIS TYPE
Word Processing_____ _________________ $______________
Spreadsheet_________ _________________ $______________
Database____________ _________________ $______________
Communications______ _________________ $______________
Graphics____________ _________________ $______________
Finance/Real Estate_ _________________ $______________
Accounting__________ _________________ $______________
Statistical_________ _________________ $______________
Utilities and Others
(Describe)__________ _________________ $_______________
____________________ _________________ $______________
____________________ _________________ $______________
You may add a sheet to the end of this questionnaire, if we
haven't provided sufficient room, or if our categories don't fit
your product.
7. Have you discontinued marketing any of the above
software? If you have, please tell us why. Do not bother to
explain versions replaced by improvements.
TYPE OF PRODUCT
DISCONTINUED REASON
____________________ ______________________________________
____________________ ______________________________________
____________________ ______________________________________
____________________ ______________________________________
____________________ ______________________________________
FidoNews 4-35 Page 10 14 Sep 1987
____________________ ______________________________________
____________________ ______________________________________
8. Considering the value to the users, do you feel most
shareware (not just your own) is currently priced:
_______ Very high
_______ High
_______ Somewhat high
_______ About right
_______ Somewhat low
_______ Low
_______ Very low
9. Considering the financial condition of the users, do you
feel most shareware (not just your own) is currently priced:
_______ Very high
_______ High
_______ Somewhat high
_______ About right
_______ Somewhat low
_______ Low
_______ Very low
10. Considering the effort, creativity, and investment of
the authors, do you feel most shareware (not just your own) is
currently priced:
_______ Very high
_______ High
_______ Somewhat high
_______ About right
_______ Somewhat low
_______ Low
_______ Very low
11. Have you ever had to raise or lower the price of a
product?
_____ Yes, priced too high or low for value to users.
_____ Yes, priced too high or low for finances of users.
_____ Yes, priced too high or low in terms of my input of
effort, creativity, and financial investment.
_____ Yes, priced to high or low for other reasons.
FidoNews 4-35 Page 11 14 Sep 1987
Explain: ___________________________________________
____________________________________________________
_____ No, have never raised or lowered our prices.
PART THREE. TELL US ABOUT GETTING STARTED IN SHAREWARE.
12. Which of the following statements best describes your
goal for the shareware you have authored or published. Select
only the best answer.
_______ Developed it solely to make a profit on its sale.
_______ Developed it for other than profit, but expected to
make a profit on its sale.
_______ Developed it for other than profit, but hoped to
make a profit on its sale.
_______ Did not expect to make a profit on its sale.
_______ Other objective (in your words) ____________________
_____________________________________________________
13. How much did you (the principal and any investors)
initially invest to launch your shareware authoring and
publishing venture, based on dollars invested over and above
your other computer activities? DO NOT INCLUDE hardware or
software purchases unless they were specifically required to
support your shareware venture. DO NOT INCLUDE salary or
commissions or other income you gave up or passed up in order to
launch this venture.
$ ______________________
14. How would you rate your ability to calculate the above
figure using sound accounting principles?
________ I based answers on very careful accounting
________ Some accounting principles were understood and
taken into consideration
________ A rough estimate probably resulted in a roughly
accurate answer
________ A very approximate calculation was made.
FidoNews 4-35 Page 12 14 Sep 1987
15. How pleased are you with the return you have so far
received on your shareware venture? In this question, DO take
into account salaries, commissions, and other opportunities that
were foregone to launch the shareware venture.
_______ Very pleased with my return
_______ Somewhat pleased with my return
_______ Somewhat displeased with my return
_______ Very displeased with my return
16. Do you intend to continue to author and publish
software? Check all the answers that apply.
__________ I plan to continue in shareware by disseminating
fully functioning programs and hoping for
donations.
---------- I plan to disseminate demonstration programs and
require a contribution to furnish full
featured versions.
---------- I plan to "graduate" to fully commercial
distribution, with no samples, demos,
or shareware.
__________ Other: ____________________________________________
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
PART FOUR. PLEASE TELL US ABOUT YOUR ATTITUDES, VALUES, AND
BELIEFS
Let us know how strongly you agree or disagree with each
statement, by circling the appropriate answers.
17. I enjoy working for
a large organization,
or I think I would.
Strongly Somewhat Somewhat Strongly
Agree Agree Agree Disagree Disagree Disagree
18. Commercial advertis-
ing,marketing, and product
promotion are, by and
large, misleading and
FidoNews 4-35 Page 13 14 Sep 1987
are intended to confuse
people.
Strongly Somewhat Somewhat Strongly
Agree Agree Agree Disagree Disagree Disagree
19. I would consider myself
more of a "technical"
than a "business" person.
Strongly Somewhat Somewhat Strongly
Agree Agree Agree Disagree Disagree Disagree
20. I can accept close super-
vision of my work.
Strongly Somewhat Somewhat Strongly
Agree Agree Agree Disagree Disagree Disagree
21. I consider myself very
creative.
Strongly Somewhat Somewhat Strongly
Agree Agree Agree Disagree Disagree Disagree
22. I enjoy taking risks and
I admire risktakers.
Strongly Somewhat Somewhat Strongly
Agree Agree Agree Disagree Disagree Disagree
23. Most entrepreneurs are
imprudent risktakers.
Strongly Somewhat Somewhat Strongly
Agree Agree Agree Disagree Disagree Disagree
24. If you commit yourself
to the interests of an
organization, the organization
will take advantage of you.
Strongly Somewhat Somewhat Strongly
Agree Agree Agree Disagree Disagree Disagree
25. Most organizations
recognize and reward merit.
Strongly Somewhat Somewhat Strongly
Agree Agree Agree Disagree Disagree Disagree
26. Commercial advertising,
marketing, and product
promotion are, generally,
ineffective.
FidoNews 4-35 Page 14 14 Sep 1987
Strongly Somewhat Somewhat Strongly
Agree Agree Agree Disagree Disagree Disagree
27. A really good product
doesn't need advertising
and marketing to succeed.
Strongly Somewhat Somewhat Strongly
Agree Agree Agree Disagree Disagree Disagree
28. What percentage of people do you think pay for shareware
that they use?
___________ %
29. What percentage of people do you think pay for the
commercially distributed software that they use?
__________ %
30. Has your authoring and publishing changed your sentiment
toward people?
_________ I am more cynical about people
_________ I feel about the same toward people
_________ I am less cynical about people
31. Do you pay for shareware that you use regularly?
_________ Always
_________ Sometimes
_________ Seldom
________ Never
PART FIVE. PLEASE TELL US WHAT YOU KNOW ABOUT MARKETING AND
WHAT YOU HAVE DONE IN MARKETING
Have you had education and experience in marketing?
None Some Considerable
____________________________________
32. Marketing Education ____ _____ ____
FidoNews 4-35 Page 15 14 Sep 1987
33. Marketing Experience ____ _____ ____
34. Do you collect any of the following information on
commercially distributed products that compete with your own?
_________ Collect and study sales figures, market share
________ Study product reviews
_________ Obtain the product and test it
35. Do you collect any of the following information on
shareware products that compete with your own?
_________ Collect and study sales figures, market share
________ Study product reviews
_________ Obtain the product and test it
36. Before developing a new product, have you ever conducted
a systematic survey of what users might need? Check all the
applicable answers
_____________ Conduct systematic surveys of prospective users.
_____________ Conduct an informal survey of prospective users.
_____________ Extensively discuss product availabilities and/or
user needs with other people in computers.
_____________ Collect information on sales and market trends and
developments.
_____________ Systematically evaluate new hardware.
______________ Do little or none of the above, but depend on
intuition and "gut feel" for the business.
37. What is needed most in shareware? Check UP TO THREE
ITEMS.
____________ Daring new approaches
____________ Extensions or refinements of existing commercial
products.
FidoNews 4-35 Page 16 14 Sep 1987
____________ Integration or combination of existing commercial
products.
____________ Inexpensive versions of successful commercial
products.
____________ Simplified versions of successful commercial
products.
____________ Other.
Please describe: _____________________________
______________________________________________
____________ Shareware is in a class by itself and should not
imitate commercial products.
38. And how would you describe your products?
_________ Daring new approaches
_________ Extensions or refinements of existing commercial
products.
_________ Integration or combination of existing commercial
products.
________ Inexpensive versions of successful commercial
products.
________ Simplified versions of successful commercial
products.
_________ Other.
Please describe: _________________________
_________________________________________
_________ Shareware is in a class by itself and should not
imitate commercial products.
PART SIX; PLEASE TELL US HOW YOU LAUNCH AND SUPPORT YOUR
PRODUCTS
39. How do you launch your products? Please check all
applicable answers. Don't tell us where you hope your shareware
will end up. Tell us where you put it yourself.
_____________ Post them on my own bulletin board
FidoNews 4-35 Page 17 14 Sep 1987
_____________ Post them on local bulletin boards
_____________ Post them on bulletin boards nationally
_____________ Post them on CompuServe, The Source, etc.
Please list here the national services
__________________________
__________________________
____________ Distribute them to users groups
____________ Give copies to friends
____________ Advertise
____________ Other
40. Do you maintain your own bulletin board?
____________ (Y or N)
41. How do you support your product? Check all applicable
answers
________ Dedicated bulletin board
________ Telephone voice calls during business hours
________ Telephone voice calls evenings and/or weekends
________ Electronic messages via bulletin boards
________ Electronic messages via Compuserve, etc.
41. Would you say your products require of the user more or
less computer expertise than commercial products?
______________ Require more computer expertise
______________ Require same expertise
______________ Require less expertise
PART FIVE. THE $64,000 QUESTION
42. How do you think you stand in gross volume, compared
with others in shareware?
________ Top 10%. Doing better than 90% of competition.
FidoNews 4-35 Page 18 14 Sep 1987
________ Top 25%. Doing better than 75% of competition.
________ Top 50%. Doing better than 50% of competition.
________ Bottom 50%
PART SIX. A FEW MORE IMPERTINENT QUESTIONS, FOR THE STATISTICIANS
43. Your age in years _______________
44. Your sex ________________________ (Male or female)
45. Extent of formal education
_______ Did not complete high school
_______ Completed high school
_______ Some college, no degree.
_______ Graduated junior college. Major ___________
_______ Graduate four-year program. Major _________
_______ Masters degree. Major ______________
_______ Ph.D., Ed.D., J.D., etc. Major __________
46. How many years of work experience and/or supporting
self?
__________ years.
47. In what industry are you currently employed? _________
48. What is your current position in that industry? ______
49. Where did you encounter this questionnaire (name
of bulletin board, areacode, phone, city and state.)
__________________________________________________________
On what date did you encounter it? ______________________
My U. S. Mail address is Dr. Jay S. Mendell
College of Business and Public
Administration
FLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY
Boca Raton, Florida 33431
My FidoNet address is Jay Mendell, Node 135/6
Usenet jay@ankh.UUCP
I answer my net-mail daily.
FidoNews 4-35 Page 19 14 Sep 1987
May we please have the name and address to which you want the
tabulated results sent? We will not assume that they are YOUR
name and address.
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
Thanks for your help.
Integration or combination of existing commercial
products.
____________ Inexpensive versions of successful commercial
products.
____________ Simplified versions of successful commercial
products.
____________ Other.
Please describe: _____________________________
______________________________________________
____________ Shareware is in a class by itself and should not
imitate commercial products.
38. And how would you describe your products?
_________ Daring new approaches
_________ Extensions or refinem
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FidoNews 4-35 Page 20 14 Sep 1987
=================================================================
COLUMNS
=================================================================
-- The Regular Irregular Column --
Dale Lovell
157/504
I'm going to use this first paragraph to bring my initial
FidoCon report to a close. Sorry it took so long, but I've been
busy catching up at work for the two days I missed while I was at
the convention. But, even if it had taken a month to get things
back to "normal" it would have been worth it! For those of you
who were unable to attend, I know I missed meeting you. While in
some ways this electronic medium is superior to meetings and get
togethers, being able to associate a face with a name makes
everything seem a little bit more real. The electronic medium is
also missing much that is present in face-to-face conversations.
Differences and problems seem to quickly fade once you physically
meet and talk to someone. For those of you I missed at FidoCon
and those who couldn't make it, I hope to have a chance to meet
you at next year's FidoCon. Enough with that for now, and on with
the column.
-- Fast Forward (Mark Williams Co., List $69.95) --
In a past issue someone else examined several of the disk
cache programs available today. After reading the article, I
decided to start looking at a few and see for myself how well
they worked. I'm starting off with Fast Forward because on my
weekly trip to my local dealer, I came across it (he had just
gotten his first shipment in a few days earlier). While this is
not the most scientific of methods, it was the most convenient.
For those of you who missed the article on caches I'll briefly
describe how they work. Normally every time you read information
off a drive; the program tells the computer to go get this
information, the computer proceeds to turn on the drive and move
the heads to the proper position and read the information off the
disk. If a little while later you go and get the same data, the
computer follows the identical procedure. In many cases the
computer has to get several pieces of information, most programs
and data files use more than one section of the disk and the
computer then has to move the heads around as it finds all the
individual parts of a program or file. Many FidoNet sysops have
discovered that a directory is treated as a file and at 800 plus
messages being normal in some of the echomail conferences (with
each message being a separate file), the directory can become a
"little" fragmented. Before the computer can read a message it
has to search through the directory and find out where the file
starts (with the computer taking several tries just to find out
where the file starts). The end result with the larger echomail
conferences is that the disk drive starts to sound like a
drowning cat.
A cache is a memory resident program that can help remove
this problem. A cache keeps the most recent disk data in RAM (in
FidoNews 4-35 Page 21 14 Sep 1987
my case a little over the last 100K of data). When the program
tells the computer to get this data, a cache checks and sees if
it already has the data in RAM. If it does, there is no delay.
The computer never deals with the physically slow drive. Instead
it merely retrieves the data out of the cache memory. Most cache
programs allow you to control how much memory is used for the
cache and you can "customize" it for your particular purposes.
For instance whether you want the floppy drives to be cached, do
you want the program to use expanded memory, and of course how
much RAM to use.
Fast Forward has done very well in the performance
department. I know it's cut at least 20% off my echomail
processing time (I echo over 25 different conferences to half of
my local net). My only disappointment has been that it can't use
my AT extended memory, only Lotus/Intel/Microsoft expanded
memory. It installed in minutes just by copying the files and
running an install program to tell it about my higher logical
drives (E:). I also didn't want it caching the floppy drives and
wanted to use Alt-F as the hot key for the on-line menu. Fast
Forward also gave me three different options on what to do with
data being written to the hard drive. The first option is the
safest and it always writes the data to the hard drive (as well
as saving it in the cache). Option two was to store everything in
the cache until the cache filled up and than dump to the disk. I
wasn't quite ready to trust this option because if there's a
power failure or a system crash, you literally lose all the
information that was in the cache. The last option is a comprise
between the two, it will dump the cache to disk every couple of
minutes and you control length of time. I was willing to try this
out and it did work very well. My problem is that I'm not willing
to trust everything to a cache that wasn't a write through cache
(option 1). I'm not sure what would happen if something went
wrong before it had a chance to update a FAT table or a new
directory entry, and I don't want to find out.
Any sysops out there would be well advised to find a good
cache program. As echomail traffic increases you'll have more and
more message files in every conference. A good cache program can
save your hard drive a lot of wear and tear. The small investment
could help keep an expensive piece of equipment working, and I
know what it feels like to lose a hard drive (suffice to say it
wasn't a pretty sight). Fast Forward was more than up to the
tasks I tried it on (echomail processing, indexing databases,
etc.) and I'm very satisfied with it. My only complaints are that
it doesn't use AT extended RAM and won't work with RLL
controllers. Both of these drawbacks are going to be corrected in
an upcoming version.
-- The Norton On-Line Programmer's Guides (prices vary) --
Peter Norton Computing has brought us another great utility.
This time it's aimed primarily at programmers, although it could
be used for a variety of purposes. They're online guides for
languages and such. They're currently available for BASIC,
Pascal, C, and Assembler. I purchased a twin pack of the C and
FidoNews 4-35 Page 22 14 Sep 1987
Assembler guides and got four disks. One disk was the Norton
Instant Access program, you'll find this disk in all of the
packages and can even buy it separately from Norton Computing. My
other disks included one disk with the Assembler database and two
more disks with C databases, one for Microsoft C and another for
Turbo C. The individual databases are available for $50 (the same
price as the Instant Access program). Dealer's are being shipped
packages which contain the retrieval program and one database and
there are two twin packs like I purchased (C and Assembler, and
Pascal and Assembler). The guides I've got are very complete. The
manuals on my shelf are finally being given a rest. The assembler
guide is more complete in some ways than the appendices in
"Advanced MS-DOS" by Ray Duncan for Bios and DOS function calls.
In short I'm very impressed with Norton's On-Line Guides.
There are several options available to you in the Guides.
Among them a choice between a half-screen and full screen mode.
In the half screen mode the guide will pop-up on the section the
cursor isn't, or if the cursor's near the top then the guides
will pop up near the bottom. This helps to assure that you can
work around the guide. Hot key selection is another choice that
I'm glad to see in Norton's Guides. Too many of today's Terminate
and Stay Resident programs don't allow you to select their hot
key and as a result you're forced to choose between two useful
utilities. You're also able to select the database you wish to
use, so you can keep several on-line at any point in time. The
database itself is stored on your hard drive with only the
retrieval program being resident in memory. You also have the
capability of creating your own databases (I'm working on a
reference for SEAdog so I can finally leave the manual on my
shelf). There's also a search capability for the database, so if
you know what something does you should be able to get all the
information on it.
The C reference has been useful since I usually remember the
function, but not the calling procedures. In addition to a full
description of each function, you also get a small sample piece
of code. While most of the descriptions aren't as complete as the
original C manuals, it's been a lot easier to keep the Norton
Guides on-line rather than having manuals stacked all over my
desk. The assembler guides are also very nice. While they only
cover the 8088 instruction set, I haven't even mastered 8088
assembly language yet so it should be some time before I need the
instruction sets for the 80286 and 80386. In addition to the
databases supplied, you can create your own databases. Norton
Computing makes it relatively easy to do by including the same
utilities they used to create the databases. Let me know how you
feel about that SEAdog reference and I'll let everyone know when
it's done. Overall I am very impressed with Norton's On-Line
Guides and heartily recommend it to anyone who programs (just
make sure to get the databases for the languages you use).
-- Winding down... --
I came across a good book this past week that actually fits
in well with the rest of this column. It's "Supercharging C with
FidoNews 4-35 Page 23 14 Sep 1987
Assembly Language" by Harry R. Chesley and Mitchell Waite (The
Waite Group/Addison-Wesley, list $22.95). This book can help many
of you bridge the gap between being a passable C programmer and a
professional quality C/Assembler programmer. C and Assembly
language really do fit together very well and Supercharging C
helps explain how to optimize your C programs using assembly
language. Chesley and Waite go over how to access all of the
peripherals we so depend on from both the ROM BIOS and direct
hardware manipulation of the devices. They even "develop" a
histogram program to help find out where the bottlenecks are in a
program. Even if you've never learned about assembly language,
but are programming in C for MS-DOS machines, read this book.
After trying some of the problems and exercises in the book, I
can realize how much I was limiting (and slowing down) my
programs by using some generic functions instead of creating a
few well written, specific assembly functions. For those C
programmer's out there who are just a little curious about
assembly language, there's an appendix in the back titled
"Appendix A C Programmers' Assembly Language Introduction." Just
what some of my friends are going to need, won't they be happy
and surprised at me!
Sorry for my little vacation here. It feels strange in a
way, I finally lived up to the Irregular part of the title! As
always I welcome your comments and suggestions. Below you'll find
several different addresses for me. For those of you sending
FidoNet Netmail, all my inbound mail has to be routed through
157/1 (157/0) as I'm a private node in the nodelist. Next week's
column should start catching up on the great stuff I brought back
from FidoCon as well as a new game.
Dale Lovell
3266 Vezber Drive
Seven Hills, OH 44131
FidoNet 1:157/504.1
uucp:
decvax\
>!cwruecmp!hal\
cbosgd/ \
>!ncoast!lovell
ames\ /
talcott \ /
>!necntc/
harvard /
sri-nic/
-----------------------------------------------------------------
FidoNews 4-35 Page 24 14 Sep 1987
O r i g i n : A n g e v i n E m p i r e
Issue #2: Users? What Users?
Aaron Priven (1:161/1154)
Sometimes I feel like I'm living in the movie TRON. Remember
that? 'Programs' in the system were told that there weren't
really any users, that there was never really anything like a
user, and not to worry about them. That reminds me of FidoNet.
Now, I'm not saying that nobody cares about the users. But at
no level in the structure are the users consulted. There's no
place for us to get our views heard, except through our sysop(s).
We're not allowed on the INFA echomail, or the sysop echomail, or
the private Net echomails. Now I realize there ought to be some
private sysopy things ("How to Kill a System" comes to mind) but
*surely* there is no reason why the majority of these conferences
should be hidden from the ordinary users (unless you're trying to
conceal the fact that sysops have tempers!). I myself have had
access to many of these areas (thanks to a temporary condition,
and very nice sysops) and have not once found anything that had
to remain secret. It was never once considered that any user
might have an interesting idea or a better way to do things.
Maybe they won't -- but you could ask, you know?
And node-to-node mail -- talk about sysop-only. I have never
heard yet of a sysop who actually made an honest attempt to
figure the costs of mail and attempted to deal with the
completely unused 'credit' and 'debit' parts of Fido/Opus. Many
boards won't even let a user *try* to enter a message -- even to
send to a local (no-cost) board! (Reasoning for us doing so: lost
passwords, "why are you down".) And file requests and file
attaches? Don't even think about it! Enough to make a novice
weep.
Users are accorded no place in the scheme of things. There's
not a user-accessible Netinfo Echomail; there's not an IFNA body;
not a drop of mention in POLICY3.DOC (except that it's none of
the FidoNet's business what the sysops do locally, which is not
relevant here), nothing. There's no room for the rest of us. We
don't even belong to Fidonet -- we're just the users!
I really don't know what to do about it, since in a material
sense the network really *does* belong to the sysops. And even
in other senses, too: many of the participants in the echomails
are sysops, of course (the Old Frog comes to mind). But not all
are. I'm not (yet), for one, although my participation is not
all that important (except to me). I don't think any of the
professional sf writers on SF and SFFAN conferences are sysops.
Most of the professional programmers in ECPROG and the other
programming echomails are not sysops. There's a lot of users out
there! Don't lock us out!
(Another column on a similar subject follows next week.)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
FidoNews 4-35 Page 25 14 Sep 1987
=================================================================
NOTICES
=================================================================
The Interrupt Stack
24 Aug 1989
Voyager 2 passes Neptune.
If you have something which you would like to see on this
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FidoNews 4-35 Page 26 14 Sep 1987
INTERNATIONAL FIDONET ASSOCIATION
ORDER FORM
Publications
The IFNA publications can be obtained by downloading from Fido
1/10 or other FidoNet compatible systems, or by purchasing them
directly from IFNA. We ask that all our IFNA Committee Chairmen
provide us with the latest versions of each publication, but we
can make no written guarantees.
IFNA Fido BBS listing $15.00 _____
IFNA Administrative Policy DOCs $10.00 _____
IFNA FidoNet Standards Committee DOCs $10.00 _____
Special offers for IFNA members ONLY:
System Enhancement Associates SEAdog $60.00 _____
ONLY 1 copy SEAdog per IFNA Member.
Fido Software's Fido/FidoNet $65.00 _____
ONLY 1 copy Fido/FidoNet per IFNA Member.
As of November 1, 1987 price will increase to
$100. Orders including checks for $65 will be
returned after October 31, 1987.
SUBTOTAL _____
Missouri Residents add 5.725 % Sales tax _____
International orders include $5.00 for
surface shipping or $15.00 for air shipping _____
TOTAL _____
SEND CHECK OR MONEY ORDER TO:
IFNA
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FidoNews 4-35 Page 27 14 Sep 1987
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Membership for the International FidoNet Association
Membership in IFNA is open to any individual or organization that
pays an annual specified membership fee. IFNA serves the
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increase worldwide communications. **
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Send your membership form and a check or money order for $25 to:
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Thank you for your membership! Your participation will help to
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** Please NOTE that IFNA is a general not-for-profit organization
and Articles of Association and By-Laws were adopted by the
membership in January 1987. The first elected Board of
Directors was filled in August 1987. The IFNA Echomail
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
--
Tim Pozar
UUCP pozar@hoptoad.UUCP
Fido 1:125/406
USNail KKSF
77 Maiden Lane
San Francisco CA 94108
PaBell (415) 788-3904