Is it correct to say that the cyber-world is moving to
the World Wide Web?  I read the other day that the vast majority
of people are using the WWW instead of on-line services.
        If this is right (and such surveys are notoriously
unreliable), then what is the future of "community" on-line
services like Grex and M-Net? 
        Will they find a niche?  Will they go out of business
as their users fixate on WWW sites?

12 responses total.

I think your survey is right.

Grex and M-Net will always have a dedicated group of telnet or terminal users.

Community on-line systems will be web-based. If Grex or M-Net do not adapt
to the web, then in my opinion they will be niche systems, meeting the needs
of only a tiny segment of the population (just as they do today).

HVCN has now announced its interactive Forums. They are based on Backtalk,
written to exploit the ubiquitous web browsers. If you are someone who dials
up a system like Grex or M-Net, you can use it via lynx if you want to, but
it will be quite awkward that way. 

You cannot understand the value of using a graphical web browser until you
do it. Conferencing via Netscape Navigator is a breeze. The rest of the world
is going to this.

Compared to experienced unix users who dial in on ttys, relatively clueless 
users of AOL, compuserve, Netcom, Delphi, and other ISPs are using more 
sophisticated packet-based software and getting more out of it, too.

The world is passing Grex and M-Net by.

I wonder if it will be possible to achieve the same sense of
"community" through web-based conferencing that one has in a
Grex-like environment, where one has not just conferencing but
other forms of communication -- email, 1-on-1 chat, multi-person
chat -- all more or less closely linked.

Email will be possible. It may be a different community, but, hopefully,
it will be a good alternative community. Both have good and bad to 
deal with. There are some aspects to the system srw and janc have 
developed that make the exchance of information extremely powerful --such
as the autmatic recognition of most URLs and the abiltiy to link to those
right from the response you are using. Same with login ids. Those are
features that will lead to entirely new ways of communication, I think.
<response you are using should be response you are reading>.

Those are good observations, John. HVCN is definitely not trying to replicate
the Grex experience. Right now there are no plans for 1-1 or multi-person 
chats. 

I think that we are probably not going to get much interest from the world
at large for any telnet-based service. If we decide we want a chat facility,
we will do it using client-server technology, probably http.

Exactly why we want to cooperate with Grex, Arbornet etc. If we can share
infrastructure, eventually, then we can offer all those services, and 
gain the experience and expertise develolped over the years. I hear much
about maintaining the identity of "our" system. This is good. But, the
real world is moving faster and faster -- rather than HVCN, or ICAN, or
NEW COMMUNITY NETWORK (fictious) doing everything, why not coordinate
and develop a system of systems that is truly outstanding? Each can still
accomodate its essential character and provide the forums for users that
they have come to expect. I see many advantages. Problems? Sure! But
that is the fun, beating the odds.

Hi! I am a new entrant to this conference.Pl.mail back to me the details whch
ichhave been discussed earlier.
Thax a lot for this help.

This response has been erased.

My local isp, which I've had for a month or two, as of yesterday appears
to be nonexistant. (I'll not name names till I know more). Let me be
more to the point: the dial in # goes unanswered. I was just beginning to
teach myself the many and sundry things available. 

Prior experience when I worked at the UofM, near the dawn of the Web - before
it's exploding on the scene, found me with several "shell" accts, and to
tell the truth, I rather enjoy UNIX and feel much closer to the source of
what is going on. 

                        PS
                                re the dissappearing isp. From an alltogether
                                different reason for being in touch with
                                them, I suspect they have gone belly-up
                                leaving me with 11 months of paid service.

Sorry to hear about your ISP. Around Grex you will find many who prefer
command line interfaces, and we and other free-nets of the years 
have shown that menu-based interfaces can be quite effective.

It is much a matter of taste, but it seems that overwhelmingly the majority
prefers the advantages of a web browser. 

I think at the keyboard as the best way to interact with a computer :-)

luca_

Personally, I think the survey is correct, more or less, as of now.  But I
also think we may just be headed back to that ancient technology of bulliten
board services, conferences, and telnet-style communication.  I happen to
think it's much more interesting, and much cheaper.

The web is a wonderful thing, if used properly.  Most of the time, this is
not the case.  Take for example flash sites, which are nothing more than a
single page with a flash animation on it.  Granted, it's quite interactive,
but it's quite an annoyance as well, on the lower-end systems of today which
are still in much use (esp. but not only) in businesses.

Now, of course, we have the come back of command line interfaces, and the
operating systems which work best with them (UNIX, with the BSDs, and
Linux.  Sure, there's XFree86, and a whole line of products for the X Windows
environment, but many also prefer (as do I) the console.  I think as we move
away from the web, well be moving to completely different technology, whether
for the console or the GUI.  Menus will have a whole new meaning.  I also
think that the dream of a completely wired globe (or possibly wireless) is
becoming more and more a reality, which will soon make the web obsolete.

Response not possible - You must register and login before posting.

- Backtalk version 1.3.30 - Copyright 1996-2006, Jan Wolter and Steve Weiss