Letters to the Editor

From Pete Snidal, 1:354/910 - Grand Forks, BC Canada

Excellent ideas expressed in the last FNEWS over redundancy in technobabble which most of us never read, and also in this great new letters-to-ed idea.

I write in query to whether anyone else has noticed a disturbing trend I've been watching going down on CBC (Canadian Broadcasting System) TV from Montreal. (I get it on my sat dish, and consequently get to watch CBC Montreal and Toronto as well as Vancouver, even though I live out West.)

Since I live out west, all I've seen of this trend is a few commercials on Montreal TV, but it looks like it could be sticky. What I'm referring to is what appears to be a CelTel provider calling itself, of all things, FIDO!

That's right! FIDO! The ads started late last summer, just little shorties, saying nothing but stuff like: "FIDO IS COMING!" Now, though, they're right into it, announcing how they provide a multitude of Communications services, of all things! CelTel, voicemail, ISP perhaps, what's next - AOL-style bulletin board? Hey, that'd be nice! A little confusing, perhaps, what with their coverage area - whatever it is (Montreal? Quebec? Canada? North America?) - sure to have a whole mess of existing FIDO bulletin boards already. (In fact, I think I saw the word NET in there somewhere in the last FIDO ad or two.)

So what's happening here? I thought there was a copyright/trademark/whatever on the FIDO name. Apparently not; they seem to have gotten past whomever you apply to for corporate monikers. Do they even know about Fidonet? I don't imagine so. What are they going to have to say when they discover this upstart network of computer hobbyists using "their" name? They've obviously spent too much money already and are too committed to the name to change themselves.

How did this happen? Where's it going to lead? Has anyone else noticed this? What the (*&(% is going on?

Sincerely,

Confused.