Grex in the new millenium-- should it be web based?

Nov 30 23:53 UTC 1999

As Grex enters the new millenium, the question becomes whether it should
reinvent itself to be better positioned in the coming age.

Specifically, the generations of new users coming along who will provide
grex's revenue base in the next millenium, will be younger users who wont
dialin and wont telnet.  They are not going to fully participate in Grex
unless it is completely web based.  

Grex has proven itself as a unix board, but the next step to ensure
prosperous survival, is clearly for Grex to move toward being much more
web based than it is now.  There should be a point IMO where there are few
if any applications on Grex that cannot be done via the web.

Thanks to Backtalk, Grex has taken the first stop and has its conferencing
web accessible.  The next step could be to offer, as member-only perk at
this point, web based email.  Also a web based party channel would serve
as a terrific way to attract users to the site.  

Since Grex has a significant amount of money in the bank now, wouldnt it
be a good idea to think about reinventing itself and upgrading its web
capabilities.  Perhaps the time has come to consider cutting back and
eventually all but eliminating dialins, so the funds can be applied to
upgrading the ISP and adding more web functionality.  

If you look at grex as a unix board, it is a reminder of a bygone era
now-- the question is whether grex wants to be relevant in the new
millenium.   

response 2 of 91:

Dec 1 02:43 UTC 1999

I can't help but find myself grimacing at the notion of Grex 
"reinventing" itself.  The point of moving towards a wider user base and 
becoming more web-accessible, as I see it, is to provide easier access 
for more people to what we already have, not to change what we're doing 
in any fundamental way.  
  What Grex does is provide a free, uncensored medium for communication 
of ideas.  This is something that, no matter what technology does, isn't 
likely to become irrelevant any time soon.  The people here, and their 
opinions, are not going to become any less relevant if the staff and 
budget can't quite keep pace with the technology curve.  

  Web based email and Web based party channels were both discussed, at 
least briefly, and the FOG meeting a week or so ago.  (By the way, 
wasn't there going to be an item about that?  Did I miss it somehow?)
  IIRC, the staff members present were not at all excited about the idea 
of free web email.  No one mentioned members-only web email, but I 
suspect that this won't be a very popular idea.  Web party channels are 
more technically feasible, but still present some real issues, both 
technical and administrative.  

And finally, it's still a bit premature to be talking about Grex in the 
next millennium:  it's over a year away.  <ducks>   :)

response 4 of 91:

Dec 1 05:24 UTC 1999

Have I mentioned lately that I hate the web?

As an information source, the World-wide Web is wonderful.  As a hypertext
document, there is nothing better.  As a replacement for all the other
services provided by the Internet, it sucks; that's not what it's good for.