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• ECHO TALK
• Democrats Spike

ECHO TALK

ECHO TALK
Food for thought from Fido's echomail.
Purloined without permission by D Myers

I'd like to share a conversation between Alec Grynspan and August Abolins which appeared recently in the MODERATOR echo. I believe it points squarely in the direction which Fidonet must head.

AG&g; With non-FIDO BBSes cropping up on the Inet daily, we have an
AG&g; enormous, very reachable resource.
AG&g; How we handle those BBSes, who are also looking for CONTENT, is
AG&g; what will make or break FIDO-TNG (The Next Generation). FIDO, as
AG&g; it stands now, won't make it!

AA&g; I see a generation of computer users (and I don't mean sysops)
AA&g; with the narrow mindset to just call up ONE service (and here I
AA&g; mean an ISP service) and do everything from there. I understand
AA&g; the hesitation to muck around with yet-another communications
AA&g; program or dial out to a home-based BBS. Cable modem users
AA&g; will never likely bother with dial-up access of any kind.

Fidonet is conversation, and conversation takes place where it happens, not in any old place we set aside for it. Just as folks no longer gather around the town well to talk any more, folks have long been bypassing a visit to Fidonet. We're just not where they're traveling.

The migration of BBS users to the Internet is hardly news. Fidonet has, so far, been spared obsolescence because the sysops have been amazingly loyal. Long after their users have expressed a preference for Internet connection, the sysops have decided that the echoes are worth having on their own merit - for purely personal conversation.

But how far can we stretch this loyalty? Perhaps the diehards among us will maintain connectivity to the bitter end... but that end is inevitable if we don't have our doors open to new people. It appears that substantial numbers of the new generation won't even have the means to connect to the traditional dial-up BBS in the future. Are cable modem users, who can access the world through their TV cable, likely to add a phone line and install an old terminal program so they can access a BBS? That's about as likely as someone running to the town well for drinking water after they've installed indoor plumbing.

The people of Fidonet have been very clever about connecting through the Internet... but most of our effort has been bent to connecting to each other in support of the traditional dial-up BBS. Now we need to direct our efforts to connecting to the _people_. Fido of the (near) future needs to be just a mouse-click away.

Democrats Spike
Y2K Liability Bill

Near Party-Line Vote In Senate Is Big Blow to High-Tech Industry

Washington (4/29/99): Senate Democrats unanimously voted down a second attempt by Republicans to pass time-critical legislation that would protect high-techology companies from lawsuits arising out of "Y2K" malfunctions.

Democrats sided with trial lawyers who are beginning to view the rapidly growing high-tech sector as a rich new target for litigation, including multibillion-dollar class-action suits.

"This vote blows the cover on the Democrats' con game with Silicon Valley," said Sen. Mitch McConnell, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. "The Democrats show up with their laptops and throw around some buzz-words, and they've completely hoodwinked the industry into believing they actually care about high-tech. Today, every Senate Democrat voted for mega-lawsuits, not microchips."

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For further information, contact Stuart Roy, Communications Director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, at (202) 675-6006