bstewart@bnlux1.bnl.gov (Bruce Stewart) (05/17/91)
In article <1991May15.200159.19891@cs.dal.ca> silvert%biome@cs.dal.ca writes: > >Your final comment about using email is valid, but apparently that >violates the noncommercial constraints. Pity. >-- Many forward-thinking vendors, including SGI, will use email communication with their customers on a selective basis. It would probably not be a good idea to attempt to codify when this is acceptable practice, because codification would probably encourage a restrictive view. Certainly the submission by email of moderate-sized test cases for bug reports is one example of accepted practice. Certain vendors, including the world's largest, seem to virtually exclude use of the Internet from their operations. I find this approach very surprising. IMHO this approach is more a matter of corporate culture than rational decision.
shenkin@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu (Peter S. Shenkin) (05/17/91)
In article <1991May16.172610.27281@bnlux1.bnl.gov! bstewart@bnlux1.bnl.gov (Bruce Stewart) writes: >In article <1991May15.200159.19891@cs.dal.ca> silvert%biome@cs.dal.ca writes: >> >>Your final comment about using email is valid, but apparently that >>violates the noncommercial constraints. Pity. The following posting by the moderator of bionet.general just appeared in that newsgroup. It appears to be relevant to these discussions. Though it pertains mostly to "surveys," it may have further implications. ! From: kristoff@GENBANK.BIO.NET (Dave Kristofferson) ! Newsgroups: bionet.general ! Subject: Use of BIOSCI/bionet newsgroups by commercial firms on NSFnet ! Date: 16 May 91 18:29:44 GMT ! Sender: kristoff@genbank.bio.net ! Lines: 54 ! ! I was approached by a publishing firm which wanted to know if it would ! be appropriate to use the BIOSCI/bionet newsgroups for surveying its ! readers about possible improvements to its journals. Although I ! recently became aware of a change in policy on NSFnet which now ! permits commercial concerns to provide support for research and ! educational customers over NSFnet, it was not clear whether or not ! surveys of our readers by commercial concerns was appropriate. ! Because of this, I contacted NSF and was told that commercial concerns ! can conduct these kinds of surveys over NSFnet if the surveys are: ! ! 1) posted to newsgroups specifically targeted to their ! research and educational clientele as are the BIOSCI/bionet ! groups. Posting such surveys to a general interest ! newsgroup, e.g., rec.general 8-), would not be appropriate. ! ! 2) for the purpose of improving services provided to ! research and educational customers. New product announcements ! and similar advertisements do not fall under this heading, ! but surveys asking for feedback on existing products or ! features that might be desirable in new products are ! permissible. ************************f*u*cn*rd*ths*u*cn*gt*a*gd*jb************************** Peter S. Shenkin, Department of Chemistry, Barnard College, New York, NY 10027 (212)854-1418 shenkin@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu(Internet) shenkin@cunixf(Bitnet) ***"In scenic New York... where the third world is only a subway ride away."***