On Tue, 15 Feb 2005 19:31:05 -0500, the inscrutable Tom Watson spake:
--snip--
Uh, Tawm, you've got your Dr. Seuss and Burma Shave mixed up. Dem Burma signs woulda beed:
IWill
Not
Pay
Them,
IQuit Individual.net
Burma Shave
---------------------------------- VIRTUE...is its own punishment
You are right. Online grocery shopping will completely replace buying food in person. Ebooks will replace the printed word. Planing machines will replace hand planes. Segways will replace taking the bus. Mass produced beer will satisfy the masses.
Maybe it is just me, but I think nntp has some life left. The alternative technologies do not measure up yet. Someday it will die, but that time is in the future.
-j
Why? Apparently US taxpayers are footing the bill for German sewers.
Well, either does news.individual.net. If I cared about binaries, I'd look at getting a supernews account, I suppose.
Dammit. OK, just for a reality check, I just ran down a list with the Californai Pinko Commie that sits through my cubicle wall, and we still profoundly disagree on anything philosophical. So, it's not me baby, it's you...
They've been giving away news service since 1989. I figure that's worth some extra consideration, even if the service _wasn't_ as good as it is.
And those alternatives don't meet this user's needs.
Yeah, the death of Usenet has been predicted for about 15 years now. It'll die right after Apple, BSD, and dozens of other things.
In your opinion. Your preferred cheapo solution doesn't perform several of the functions that this pennies-a-day solution does. To me, the decision is trivially simple.
How's the killfile support in google? Can I score articles that I've participated in higher, so I don't miss an ongoing conversation that I'm in? If I want to not be bothered with, say, any post crossposted to 3 or more groups, can I do that with google? Will my posts go out within seconds? Will the incoming newsfeed be reflected also within seconds?
Google doesn't do many of the things that news.individual.net does, which is why I'll _gladly_ pay them what they're asking. The DSL that this machine is on also comes with a ISP-based newsfeed, which would be free, but while it lets me use whatever tool I want (unlike google), the feed is slow, misses posts, doesn't honor antispam cancelbots, and I won't use it, even for free. Google is that much worse than my other free option. I'll pay the 15 bucks.
Dave Hinz
"---one of the more malodorous tax shelters U.S. corporations are now using to cut their tax rates."-----"we confirmed that the Bochum sewer lease was a half-billion dollar deal involving the fifth largest U.S. bank -- Wachovia. (Last year, Wachovia's annual report indicated that it paid no federal taxes on $3.6 billion in profits. A big chunk of its tax savings came from its $3 billion in leasing activities --"
Well, the German government confiscated my great-great-grandfather's land (a Dane) back in the 1860's, so I don't feel too bad about it.
Well, it _is_ a paypal-like thing, but OK. I think we just found something we disagree on!
Dave
How about taking the Indians' land here?
Happened before my ancestors arrived, so... I think I can be consistant and also not feel personal guilt about that.
person.
Online grocery shopping isn't free
Ebooks aren't free. (Stil printed words, just not on paper)
Planing machines aren't free
Segways aren't free
:)
alternative
Interesting examples, but unlike the alternatives I was discussing, they aren't free.
I notice you seem to have ignored _my_ examples of broadcast radio vs. satellite radio and so on?
Dave, feel free to pay these folks all you want. I'm sure what they offer is better today. That however isn't anywhere related to my comment. My comment is that charging for products that are widely available for free is a crappy business plan.
"Yeah, the death of Usenet has been predicted for about 15 years now. It'll die right after Apple, BSD, and dozens of other things."
I never predicted its death. I only predicted that it would change and the model would involve a service that is free to users. Thus the people who decided to charge the users didn't have a good business plan.
Gosh, thanks ever so much for your permission. I feel so much better.
It's not the same service. It's not even close. I outlined several differences, which you continue to ignore. If they are things that aren't important to you, _that's fine_, really, it is, but just because you don't value the differences doesn't mean those differences don't exist nor does it mean they don't have real value. You just don't "get it", that's all.
There has been a free web-based usenet interface since before google existed - dejanews.com. There are still paid NNTP servers out there. Evidence would seem to indicate that the people running and subscribing to those servers know something that you don't. Several of us have tried to clue you in to them, and you continue not to understand. Sometimes the free option is the best, sometimes it's just a partial solution. Since you only understand the parts of Usenet that google provides, it's a perfect fit _for you_.
It was. Ask webvan.
"As time passes, as we have seen with every other new technology, new products will be developed that are compatible with the new technology and incompatible with the old technology, rendering the older technology obsoltete."
Do they have to be free? I'm addressing the topic of obsolete here.
-j
For the most part where I live libraries are free. They can get you almost any book. It has been that way since before I was born. Somehow the bookstores never got the message. Quick, someone tell Amazon.
-j
Yes, I know how to read.
Tax savings for the rich and powerful means additional taxes for the poor and oppressed. Most taxpayers don't fall into the rich and powerful category. Germany benefits because Wachovia is able to do this for less than a German company because of this loophole. Thus US tax payers are subsidizing the German sewers. Yeah it is a bit of a mental stretch, but try and remain flexible.
-j
Where is usenet offered for free outside of n.i.n? Web based services are many many miles from usenet with a news reader. Perhaps, someday, they might get close or even exceed but I think that is quite some distance off.
Outside of usenet, there are web forums I regularly peruse, but they do not have the variety and breadth of people usenet has. If they did, they would no longer work terribly well as a web forum.
Outside of all that, I very much doubt it is a "business plan"; they are just trying to break even. Not everyone is trying to get rich.
PK
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