Subject: Re: Whatever Happened to BBSs? From: justink@howpubs.com (Justin Kerr) Date: Thu, 8 Jun 1995 09:50:27 -0500

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Richard Layman wrote:

>OTOH, you and Rex both make good arguments.  I guess the thought that
>intrigues me lately is are the more likely users of online information
>services, even with a local focus, more or less likely to be users of more
>advanced equipment.  If they're more likely, than it doesn't make a lot of
>sense trying to be backward compatible if those people aren't likely to be
>users of your service anyway. Of course, I don't have an answer.

I agree that a ton of resources shouldn't be pushed toward the low-tech
user, especially when that kind of user is just a small percentage of
your target market.  However, the Command-Line User Interface module
is cheap and easy to add-on to FirstClass systems, so we're including
it.

Sometimes I get concerned about techno-classism: That many systems
only focus on the wealthy, high-end users, and exclude those 
individuals and groups who might not be able to afford a new computer
or an operating system upgrade.  From a community newspaper
standpoint, it would be a crime not to include these people.

>If you don't want to be ISPs, maybe it's worth calling Infinet.  I was
>impressed at least with the post explaining their system.

It's weird: I kind of feel like we _are_ becoming an ISP, in
a way.  Although we aren't providing SLIP or PPP access, we
still are trying to add as much Internet functionality as we
can to our system.  From Joe Enduser's standpoint, there's 
little or no difference.


- Justin Kerr
Editor, CaluNET Online
kerr@howpubs.com




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