HARPER@CSC.FI ("Robert Harper ", Finland) (07/07/89)
The news that BIONET would no longer serve the bio-computing
community came as a shock to me here in Finland, and I am sure
many other EUROPEANS have the same feelings of dismay that such a
decision should be made.
I have not used BIONET for any "hard computing", and if Dan had
not copied the BIONET login to the BIONEWS Bboard then I would not
have known that such a situation existed. Like most Europeans my
main contact with BIONET has been through the Bboard system, and
it would be a great shame and a disservice to the scientific
community if this unique facility were allowed to lapse into
disuse.
It may be that BIONET serves 2000+ scientists in America, who do
"real research", but my concern is for the hundreds of scientists
in Europe and other parts of the world who have been able to use
the BIOSCI network for communicating with each other. Has this
aspect of scientific computing been completely overlooked by the
review committee?
If BIONET disappears then what about all the links that it has
forged with USENET, LISTSERV, SERC in the UK, BMC in Sweden, etc.
The BIOSCI network has been built up over the past year. We have
seen the introduction of PD software for downloading by FTP, the
establishment of new Bboards by voting procedures, the
availability of table of contents from all the major Journals.
What is to happen to all these initiatives?
It would not be a simple matter to just move the resource to some
new place and have to start all over from the beginning again.
Perhaps it has not been said but this decision although primarily
domestic, also has repercussions at the international level.
I would hope that other Europeans would write to Dan Davidson
(DD@beta.lanl.gov) about the present situation... for it would
seem that there is an urgent need for some action if this unique
form of communication is to be preserved.
To quote Douglas McCormick from BIO/TECHNOLOGY "If he whom the
God's would destroy they first make mad, then that which the
politicians would destroy they first refer to a committee."
Robert Harper
Microbiology Department
University of Heslinki
Finland