Volume 5, Number 33 15 August 1988 +---------------------------------------------------------------+ | _ | | / \ | | /|oo \ | | - FidoNews - (_| /_) | | _`@/_ \ _ | | International | | \ \\ | | FidoNet Association | (*) | \ )) | | Newsletter ______ |__U__| / \// | | / FIDO \ _//|| _\ / | | (________) (_/(_|(____/ | | (jm) | +---------------------------------------------------------------+ Editor in Chief Dale Lovell Editor Emeritus: Thom Henderson Chief Procrastinator Emeritus: Tom Jennings Contributing Editors: Al Arango FidoNews is published weekly by the International FidoNet Association as its official newsletter. You are encouraged to submit articles for publication in FidoNews. Article submission standards are contained in the file ARTSPEC.DOC, available from node 1:1/1. Copyright 1988 by the International FidoNet Association. All rights reserved. Duplication and/or distribution permitted for noncommercial purposes only. For use in other circumstances, please contact IFNA at (314) 576-4067. IFNA may also be contacted at PO Box 41143, St. Louis, MO 63141. Fido and FidoNet are registered trademarks of Tom Jennings of Fido Software, 164 Shipley Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94107 and are used with permission. The contents of the articles contained here are not our responsibility, nor do we necessarily agree with them. Everything here is subject to debate. We publish EVERYTHING received. Table of Contents 1. ARTICLES ................................................. 1 THE VERY BEST PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE ....................... 5 Remember the EchoList? ................................... 7 A POSSIBLE SOLUTION TO THE SHAREWARE PROBLEM ............. 11 Campaign Rhetoric -- Steve Bonine ........................ 13 2. FOR SALE ................................................. 17 Programs too big? Give 'em the AXE! ..................... 17 3. NOTICES .................................................. 19 The Interrupt Stack ...................................... 19 Latest Software Versions ................................. 19 4. COMMITTEE REPORTS ........................................ 20 Hitch Hikers Guide to the Bylaws Amendments .............. 24 IFNA Status Report for August 1988 ....................... 28 And more! FidoNews 5-33 Page 1 15 Aug 1988 ================================================================= ARTICLES ================================================================= From: System Enhancement Associates, Inc. (SEA) and PKWARE, Inc. and Phillip W. Katz (PK) August 2 1988 - Milwaukee, WI In the first known "Shareware" litigation, pending in the local United States District Court, the parties System Enhancement Associates, Inc. (Plaintiff - SEA) and PKWARE, Inc. / Phillip W. Katz (Defendants - PK), after reaching agreement, consented to the entry of the attached Judgment for Plaintiff on Consent. That Judgment was entered by Judge Myron L. Gordon, effective on August 2, 1988. Part of the agreement reached by the parties included a Confidential Cross-License Agreement under which SEA licensed PK for all the ARC compatible programs published by PK during the period beginning with the first release of PKXARC in late 1985 through July 31, 1988 in return for the payment of an agreed upon sum which was not disclosed. Additionally, PK was licensed, for an agreed upon royalty payment, to distribute its existing versions of PK's ARC compatible programs until January 31, 1989, after which PK is not licensed and agreed not to publish or distribute any ARC compatible programs or utilities that process ARC compatible files. In exchange, PK licensed SEA to use its source code for PK's ARC compatible programs. PK agreed to cease any use of SEA's trademark "ARC" and to change the names or marks used with PK's programs to non-confusing designations. The Judgment provided for the standard copyright, trademark and unfair competition injunctive relief for SEA against PK, as well as damages and litigation expenses to be paid by PK to SEA. Both parties agreed to refrain from any comment concerning the settlement of the disputes, other than the text of this press release. Also, the parties instructed all of their representatives to refrain from any such activity. Any other details of the Cross-License Agreement were agreed to be maintained in confidence and under seal of the Court. In reaching the agreement to dispose of the pending litigation and to settle the disputes that are covered thereby, PK did not admit any fault or wrongdoing. FidoNews 5-33 Page 2 15 Aug 1988 U.S. DIST. COURT EAST DIST. WISC. FILED SOFRON B. NEDILSKY AUG 1 1988 /s/ in chambers UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF WISCONSIN ---------------------------------------------------------- SYSTEM ENHANCEMENT ) ASSOCIATES, INC., ) ) Plaintiff, ) ) v. ) Case No. 88-C-447 ) PKWARE, INC. and ) PHILLIP W. KATZ, ) ) Defendants. ) ---------------------------------------------------------- JUDGMENT FOR PLAINTIFF ON CONSENT ---------------------------------------------------------- THIS MATTER, having been brought before the Court, on joint application by the parties, and upon the respective counsels' representation that the parties hereto have settled and composed their controversies that caused this action to be instituted in a CONFIDENTIAL CROSS-LICENSE AGREEMENT, dated effective as of August 1, 1988 between the parties hereto, a true executed copy of which is hereto attached under the seal of the Court, to be opened only upon further order of this Court; and Each of the parties by their respective counsel have stipulated and agreed to the entry of this JUDGMENT FOR PLAINTIFF ON CONSENT and as to the form thereof, as well as the final disposition of this matter thereby; NOW THEREFORE, the Court having been fully advised of the foregoing premises and agreements: IT IS HEREBY ORDERED AND DECREED THAT: (1) Defendants and each of them, jointly and severally, and any of their agents, servants or any in active concert or participation with any of them, be and hereby are enjoined permanently from infringing Plaintiff's copyrights in any manner, and from publishing, licensing, selling, distributing or marketing or otherwise disposing of any copies of Defendants' works PKARC and PKXARC, except as expressly provided for otherwise in the Agreement between the parties effective as of August 1, 1988; and from infringing in any manner Plaintiff's trademark ARC; and (2) Defendants, jointly and severally, are hereby FidoNews 5-33 Page 3 15 Aug 1988 Ordered to pay Plaintiff such damages as Plaintiff has sustained in consequence of Defendants' acts of infringement of Plaintiff's copyrights, trademark and the unfair trade practices and unfair competition by paying the amounts specified in and at the times stated in the Agreement between the parties effective as of August 1, 1988; and (3) Defendants are hereby ordered to deliver up to the Court for destruction all copies of any infringing work, including all copies of said works entitled PKARC and PKXARC, in the possession or control of Defendants or either of them or any of their employees, agents, servants, distributors, or licensees, as well as all computer media, diskettes, documentation and any means for making such infringing copies, which are not expressly licensed under the Agreement between the parties effective as of August 1, 1988 or which are on hand as of the termination date of the license granted by Plaintiff to Defendants as specified the Agreement between the parties effective as of August 1, 1988, and shall no later than February 1, 1989 certify to the Court in writing that all copies have been destroyed and that they have retained no copies; and (4) Judgment is hereby entered awarding Plaintiff the costs of this action and reasonable attorneys' fees against Defendant in the amount specified in the Agreement between the parties effective as of August 1, 1988. SO ORDERED. /s/2nd MLG This 1st day of August, 1988 ("1st" struck out) /s/Myron L. Gordon Myron L. Gordon UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE /s/2nd KAK Entered on this 1st day of August, 1988 ("1st" struck out) /s/Katherene M. Kirchman /s/Deputy Clerk of Court STIPULATED and AGREED TO AS TO FORM AND CONTENT: FidoNews 5-33 Page 4 15 Aug 1988 This /s/29th day of July, 1988. By: /s/Michael A. Lechter Attorneys for Plaintiff. FOLEY & LARDNER By: /s/Michael A. Lechter Michael A. Lechter, Esquire 777 East Wisconsin Avenue Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53202 and Thomas M. Marshall, Esquire Powder Mill Village 89 Patriots Road Morris Plains, New Jersey 07950 This /s/29th day of July, 1988. Attorneys for Defendants. FULLER, PUERNER & HOHENFELDT, S.C. By /s/Nicholas A. Kees Nicholas A. Kees, Esquire 633 West Wisconsin Avenue Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53203 ATTACHMENT UNDER SEAL OF THE COURT: CONFIDENTIAL CROSS-LICENSE AGREEMENT EFFECTIVE AS OF AUGUST 1, 1988 ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 5-33 Page 5 15 Aug 1988 John Herro 1:363/6 THE VERY BEST PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE Programming languages have improved dramatically since the inven- tion of early high-order languages like Basic and Fortran. Many of us now program our PCs in Pascal, C, or Modula 2. However, Ada is an improvement over these languages, with some exciting new features not found in other languages. These features let Ada detect errors at compile time that other languages detect only at run time, or not at all. They also make Ada programs much easier to understand. There are now at least three Ada com- pilers available for the PC for less than $100. Although it was originally invented for a specific purpose (real time control of large, embedded systems), Ada turned out to be the best GENERAL PURPOSE language as well. Because Ada's new features help guard against bugs and make programs easier to read, the U.S. Department of Defense ordered that all new criti- cal software be written in Ada. Ada isn't particularly easy to learn. It's said to be seven times as much to learn as Pascal. Because of this, I originally disliked Ada and hoped it would go away. Apparently many other beginners shared my feeling. "If it's mandated by the govern- ment, it must be bad!" However, after I studied Ada further and learned about its improvements over earlier languages, I became an enthusiastic convert. I now do almost 100% of my programming in Ada. I taught a graduate course in Ada at the State Univer- sity of New York at Binghamton, and also taught Ada to employees of General Electric Co., Grumman Corp., and Harris Corp. To make Ada as easy to learn as possible, I've written an inter- active tutor program called ADA-TUTR. It's much more thorough than the "quizzes" found with some Ada compilers. I'd like everyone to have a chance to learn Ada, so I released ADA-TUTR as Shareware with a low registration fee. There's also a unique way for you to earn money distributing ADA-TUTR that's different from other Shareware programs. See "A POSSIBLE SOLUTION TO THE SHARE- WARE PROBLEM" in this issue of FidoNews (or in a nearby issue) for more details. ADA-TUTR emphasizes that Ada isn't just another language, but a whole new programming philosophy. Beware of learning just Ada syntax, or you'll write Basic-like (or Pascal-like, etc.) pro- grams that happen to be coded in Ada. Such programs would fail to take advantage of Ada's new features. Instead, ADA-TUTR teaches good program DESIGN along with Ada syntax. This should make the student enthusiastic about Ada's special features. ADA-TUTR does NOT require an Ada compiler when run on a PC. How- ever, a list of Ada compilers available for the PC is included in the documentation. An Ada compiler is helpful, because with it FidoNews 5-33 Page 6 15 Aug 1988 the tutor can check the "homework" assignments. Most Shareware doesn't include the source code with unregistered copies. However, I included the Ada source code with ADA-TUTR for two reasons. First, the student can study the source code if he wishes. Second, the source can be transferred to any computer with an Ada compiler, and then be compiled and run. For example, I've successfully installed ADA-TUTR on several mainframes, in- cluding two VAX (tm, Digital Equipment Corp.) computers running different Ada compilers. Ada programs tend to be very portable. In future articles, I'll try to give examples showing WHY Ada is an improvement over other languages. In the meantime, you can find ADA-TUTR.ARC on the following boards in Zone 1: 11/210, 18/8, 101/45, 106/504, 107/210, 110/55, 112/9, 124/210, 124/211, 129/38, 132/777, 135/1, 135/4, 135/10, 135/14, 135/27, 135/34, 135/37, 137/15, 141/355, 142/911, 151/2, 157/200, 232/18, 320/42, 363/6, 363/10, 377/1. Many of these boards allow Bark or WaZoo file requests outside National Mail Hour. I welcome any comments and suggestions you may have. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 5-33 Page 7 15 Aug 1988 Mike Fuchs 1:1/201 EchoList - The EchoMail Conference List (It's bAAAAaaaack...) Ever wonder what all those EchoMail conferences are about? Ever wonder if there was already a conference on some specific topic? Well that's why the EchoList was originally created. And that's why I've resurrected it. For those of you who might not be familiar with it, a little history... The EchoList is an informal listing of EchoMail conferences, as described by each conference's moderator. It is now a monthly publication which attempts to document certain interesting information about EchoMail Conferences; "interesting" to people who would like to participate, interesting to EchoMail Coordinators and those who route the conference traffic, and potentially interesting to the Conference Moderator. The base product of the EchoList database is the detailed Conference listing. But, as needs are identified which can be satisfied with the available information, additional reports and analyses can be developed. The EchoList was originated by Thomas Kenny, who maintained it as a text file completely manually. It was a time consuming effort, and was updated on a very sporadic and infrequent basis. The last edition published this way was December 1987. Several people (myself included) were working with Thomas on developing ways to automate the maintenance, and provide a structured database that could be used for things other than a simple conference listing. As a result, he assembled a specification for submitting messages that would be used for updating the list. Unfortunately, Thomas decided to drop out of FidoNet before any of the code was completed. He continues to have my gratitude for all he put in to getting the EchoList as far as he did. Since I was interested (for purely personal desire) in having an EchoList, I picked-up that last 1987 EchoList, built an R:base database and application, and keyed the whole thing in. The result is a semi-automated update application, and some nice report generation facilities. There's a lot more to be done. It's still a VERY labor- intensive task. But, I'm happy to say I've been able to publish all updates received for the last 3 months on-time. Now, I'm going to try and ruin that by inviting more updates... HISTORY LESSON OVER... That's why I wrote this article. It has been pointed out to FidoNews 5-33 Page 8 15 Aug 1988 me that there are a lot of people who don't realize the EchoList is available. Most importantly, there are a lot of Conference Moderators who don't know, and as a result their conferences aren't in, or will soon be dropped from, that list. You see, one of things that seems to be widely agreed upon is that, in order to be really useful, an EchoList needs some control criteria. Hating bureaucracy as I do, I've only implemented two (at this point). First, in order to be listed, a conference must have a responsible party to whom questions can be directed; that person is the Moderator. Second, since reference information is only valuable if it's up-to-date, an EchoList conference entry must be updated via message to me on a regular basis. So there's the reason for the article. A number of conferences have already been dropped because they had no moderator identified. (How anybody's supposed to join a conference when there's no one identified to contact, I'll never know, but so be it.) The other thing is that most of the entries' last-update dates are VERY old. Starting with this next EchoList, I will start enforcing a purge criteria. An awful lot of conferences will be dropped as a result. Many are dead wood anyway. But there are many such conferences I know are alive and well, and I hope this article gets the message to those moderators. If you frequent a conference important to you, how about letting the moderator know about the EchoList? Oh yeah, I lied. There is one more control, but it is for the Moderators themselves. A Moderator can submit an entry that becomes password protected. From then-on, the moderator has some feeling of control over the information listed in the EchoList for their conference. SO, HOW DO YOU UPDATE THE ECHOLIST? There are two ARC files that I publish. One is the EchoList itself--which I'll get back to. The other is ELISTMOD.ARC. It is essential that you get a copy of this file, as it contains detailed instructions on the update message format and contents. This article is going to be too long as it is, so I can't put the whole thing here. Suffice it to say, it's a fairly simple, but strictly structured, message format that has to be NetMailed to me at 1:1/201. The other file I referred-to is ELISTnnn.ARC, where nnn is the edition. The August 1, 1988 edition is X03, and it contains the basic, detailed Conference list, and a few ancillary cross-reference listings. I ship both of these files, when updated, to each of the Regional EchoMail Coordinators in the U.S., plus the Zone Gates for Zones 2, 3, and 7 (in hopes they will pass them along). I have no idea whether any of these people pass them along, make them available for download, or what. I just hope they do. If you can't find them locally, you can use the "magic" file FidoNews 5-33 Page 9 15 Aug 1988 names (specify them without a period or file extension): ECHOMOD - to get the latest EchoList update instructions, ECHOLIST - to get the latest EchoList, in a SEAdog or WaZoo file request to 1:1/201. They are also first-time-user downloadable from my BBS at (201)506-0472. WHAT IS A MODERATOR? I needed to establish some definitions for the EchoList, so these are MY definitions and others' may vary. Critical to the identification of an EchoMail conference is the identification of its Moderator. A Moderator is the person who defines a Conference, and keeps it on track; making sure message content is within reasonable bounds of the topic for which the conference exists. A Moderator should also set the base rules of the conference and cut off abuses of the media when they occur. IF A CONFERENCE HAS NO MODERATOR, IT WILL NOT BE LISTED IN THE ECHOLIST. If you know of a conference which you feel is important to the community and it doesn't have a moderator I seriously suggest you consider the job. Basically, then, the Moderator "owns" the CONFERENCE. This is specifically contrasted with ECHOMAIL COORDINATORS. A dedicated group of volunteers have identified themselves as willing to expedite distribution of national EchoMail conferences. There is (identified at the beginning of the NodeList) a National EchoMail Coordinator, and one Regional EchoMail Coordinator for each FidoNet Region. These people run the National EchoMail Backbone, and facilitate timely and accurate distribution of the bigger conferences in the U.S. They "own" that particular distribution channel, not the Conferences themselves. There are also nodes who can afford to aggregate a large number of Conferences and facilitate distribution. They are frequently referred to as EchoMail Hubs, though it's a fairly unofficial title, I think. SO WHAT'S IN IT? I don't want to make this article too long, but as a brief overview: The minimum information required for an EchoList entry includes: The Symbolic Area Name used by the conference, A Title or brief descriptive phrase for the conference, the Moderator's Name and the Moderator's Node Number. Certain Moderators do not want to publicize the AREA: name, and the ability to supress the display of the Area Name in the EchoList is provided. Perhaps the best way to show all the various fields in the EchoList is to show the format for submitting additions and updates, so an EchoList update message would be... To: ECHOLIST FidoNews 5-33 Page 10 15 Aug 1988 At: 1:1/201 Subject: MODerator UPDate or MODerator DELete or COORdinator UPDate or PARTicipant UPDate AREAname TITLe DESCription MODerator , PASSword , TOTalnodes VOLume / RESTrictions DISTribution GATEway SEENby PATH Please don't submit an update based solely on this article, as there's a lot more documentation in ELISTMOD.ARC. I just wanted to give you a flavor for what's there. Constructive criticism, advice, and other butting-in is ALWAYS welcome. Enjoy, And have fun with it! - Mike Fuchs, 1:1/201 ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 5-33 Page 11 15 Aug 1988 John Herro 1:363/6 A POSSIBLE SOLUTION TO THE SHAREWARE PROBLEM What Shareware problem? The problem of people not paying for the Shareware they use, of course. Shareware is an ideal answer to the problems of high-priced com- mercial software, copy protection, and illegal copying. The Shareware author says, "Go ahead. Make all the copies you want and give them away. Try the program for free. But if you use it, please send in $X to register your copy." The registration fee is usually small. You're on your honor; you know if you're "using" the program or only "trying" it. Usually there are incentives to register, such as a year of technical support and the right to get updates very cheaply. I don't think we have any way of knowing how severe is the prob- lem of users not paying for Shareware, because we have no way to tell how many users there are. We do know that some Shareware programs are failures, while others, like PC-Write (tm Quick- soft), are phenomenally successful. PC-Write gives users an extra incentive to register. The program contains a serial number which is displayed at startup. When you register for $89, you mention this serial number and Quicksoft assigns you a new number. Before giving away copies, you put the new number into the program. Then, for each person who registers from one of your copies (mentioning your serial number), Quick- soft sends you a commission of $25. I've received more money from Quicksoft than I spent to register, because four or more people registered from my copies. Thus I actually earned money on a program I didn't even write! We read- ers of FidoNews have a special advantage in distributing copies, because almost all of us have modems and access to bulletin boards. I BELIEVE THE SOLUTION TO THE SHAREWARE PROBLEM IS TO CARRY THIS EXTRA INCENTIVE A STEP FURTHER. I've written a Shareware program called ADA-TUTR, an interactive tutor for the Ada programming language. (See the article "THE VERY BEST PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE" in this issue of FidoNews, or in a nearby issue.) Individual registration for ADA-TUTR is only $25, and a registered user receives $5 for each individual who registers from one of his copies. However, there's an extra in- centive that's considerably larger than $5! As with some other Shareware, ADA-TUTR offers multi-user licenses to schools, companies, etc., priced as follows: FidoNews 5-33 Page 12 15 Aug 1988 Number of Users: Price of License: Up to 100 $ 450 Up to 500 $ 725 Up to 2000 $ 950 Unlimited $ 2400 With ADA-TUTR, a registered individual receives TEN PERCENT of the price of any licenses sold from his copies. Thus, he can re- ceive up to $240 per license sold! I believe this idea is new. A person now has a real incentive to register and give copies of the program to his employer, to other companies, and to schools. (Of course, he'd also give copies to individuals, clubs, bulletin boards, etc., as with any Shareware.) The license fees are very reasonable, because they're not SITE licenses, but MULTI-USER licenses. A company need buy only ONE license for ALL its locations, paying according to the number of people who will use the program. A license can always be up- graded for only the difference in price. Since ADA-TUTR is a new program, it's too early to tell whether this idea will work. If you'd like to see the program, a list of bulletin boards that have ADA-TUTR.ARC appears in the article "THE VERY BEST PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE." I hope to be reporting here that we've found a solution to the Shareware problem! ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 5-33 Page 13 15 Aug 1988 IFNA Issues: My position Steve Bonine 115/777 I did not receive a netmail copy of David Drexler's recent poll of IFNA Board of Directors candidates, but instead "happened upon" his message in the IFNA echomail conference. This intro- duced delay into preparing my response, so I decided to submit it myself as a FidoNews article. I understand that David plans to consolidate the responses into an article, but I don't know the timing and the date for FidoCon grows close. 1. Why are you running? What do you, personally, hope to contri- bute to IFNA? I'm running because I feel that FidoNet needs an organization to provide certain services, and that I can help in that organiza- tion. As for contributions, I bring a year of proven work on IFNA's behalf in providing responses mail inquiries. I bring a record of a positive attitude as evidenced by my participation in several echomail conferences. I bring twenty years of experience in the business world, both as a technician in the computer field and as a manager. Finally, I deplore the amazing amount of apathy in FidoNet today. Most sysops are quick to critcize (especially in echomail, which makes criticism so easy) and slow to do anything constructive. I am not convinced that IFNA is the right answer, but it's where I have decided to put my personal effort to do something besides complain. 2. What are your goals for IFNA? Short-term? Long-term? Short term, I would like to see the organization perform the minimum amount to be viable under its by-laws. The current organization isn't even able to accomplish that. I would expect IFNA to continue to perform two tasks which it has accomplished in the past: Organize a convention and respond to inquires received by US Mail. By "perform the minimum amount to be viable under its by-laws" I mean items like announcing the nomination process for Board candidates in a timely manner and handling other routine items. Until the organization is capable of handling the most mundane administration of its own affairs, it has little chance of accomplishing anything more ambitious. Much of this failure is can be attributed to the small number of persons who actually participate in IFNA activities. I won't speculate on whether this is a failure primarily on the part of the prospective volunteers or a failure of the current adminis- tration to effectively recruit workers. A medium-term goal is to address public-relations issues. IFNA FidoNews 5-33 Page 14 15 Aug 1988 currently has no organizational entity dedicated to handling its communications with its members or with the "outside world". In a hobby which is basically communications, IFNA has a terrible record in communicating. Long term, I see IFNA serving to make FidoNet more responsive to the needs, desires, and opinions of the sysops which make it up. I have no desire to change the current structure of coordinators. The lack of progress on an update of Policy3 and in framing an echomail policy make it clear that something is missing -- an entity which can accomplish this type of project. IFNA is not yet ready to take on that role because it does not have enough popular support within the network, but it is my hope that the day will come when IFNA will be an effective force for shaping the policy of FidoNet. 3. Do you feel that the IFNA membership rules should be changed, and if so, how? Yes. The proposed by-law amendment which comes the closest to reflecting my position is "D", which essentially gives a vote to associate members. This proposal also allows the waiving of dues to anyone who contributes to IFNA, and I would like to see a liberal application of this option. I don't believe that $25 is an unreasonable amount to pay, but I would hope that the folks who find that a "sticking point" would be willing to accept the vote based upon their (non-financial) contribution to the network. 4. Should Directors be replaced if they do not fulfill all of their duties as specified in the By Laws? How much leeway is permissible? Absolutely. This is an area which has caused untold harm to the organization. Directors whose intent is to harm IFNA, rather than to help it grow, should be removed. How to remove them is an important but difficult issue. The existing recall procedure, which to my knowledge has never been invoked, may be adequate. A more significant problem is apathy. There are too many people who have agreed to perform a function and have not done it, but who are still nominally holding the position. I am painfully aware that this is a volunteer organization, but that is all the more reason to carefully monitor each task and be sure it is accomplished in a timely manner. If enough interested persons cannot be found to do the minimum amount of work to maintain the organization in a viable state, IFNA should be disbanded completely. 5. Do you feel that the VP-TC should be held directly accountable to the BoD? (If your answer to this is "yes", what would be your recommended solution to the hypothetical scenario where the IC and RCs "hold the nodelist for ransom" to force the BoD to back down from a confrontation?) FidoNews 5-33 Page 15 15 Aug 1988 IFNA cannot fulfill its obligation under its by-laws to "ensure the smooth operation of the IFNA NETWORK as prescribed by the Board of Directors" [article 29] unless the IC is accountable to the Board. On the other hand, at the current level of IFNA credibility, it would be political suicide for the Board to dictate to the IC. If the hypothetical scenario described did occur, then by my definition of FidoNet the Board would be in the wrong because the real decision-making power in the network is in the coordinator structure. If such a confrontation did take place, IFNA would very properly be destroyed. This seems highly unlikely, since if the Board had a strong consensus, the RC's would likely have the same consensus. 6. Do you feel that the Statement of Position released this last February in St Louis contradictory to the By Laws and Articles of Incorporation, as some have claimed? No. In fact, that Statement is a bit more ambitious than I have been, since it includes (in addition to maintaining the nodelist and sponsoring a convention) the FTSC. IFNA must crawl before it can walk, and must walk before it can run. The only way to walk is to first crawl, and that is what the Statement is in my eyes. At this juncture, it is entirely appropriate that IFNA limit its activities to nodelist, FTSC, and FidoCon. 7. How would you like to see the 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status used? Does it have any particular significance to IFNA? (To those outside of the US, this is the facility that allows people to make tax-deductible donations.) The 501(c)(3) status is absolutely key to the future health of the organization. It will allow the organization to take advantage of corporate contributions. I do not see an IFNA "rolling in money" with the advent of the tax-exempt status, but I do see a real opportunity to break the current 100% dependency on the dues structure. More important, 501(c)(3) lends a level of legitimacy to an organization, and it is obvious that something name "FidoNet" needs all the help in that area that it can get. 8. Should IFNA be in any way involved with professional telecom associations (like the ICA, the communications SIG of the ACM, etc)? I don't know enough about these organizations to comment. I have no opposition to FidoNet's involvement with commercial ventures, since it provides a potential source for funds and for support in terms of equipment which can be used to move FidoNet traffic at night after being used for a commercial purpose during the day. 9. How familiar are you with the By Laws, the Articles of Incorporation, and the Statement of Position? More familiar than I wish I was. FidoNews 5-33 Page 16 15 Aug 1988 10. Should IFNA compile and distribute nodelists for all the alternative nets? Please explain. No. By doing so we would be attempting to interject policy into those nets, and they have their own policy. We can't even handle our own policy yet; no additional challenges are required. IFNA is a FidoNet service organization. Nets which broke away from FidoNet did so for a reason, and trying to "put Humpty Dumpty back together again" by having a common nodelist distri- bution mechanism won't work. I bear no animosity to the alternative networks, and I would like to see enhanced communications between them. However, if those folks had wanted a common nodelist they would have stayed in FidoNet. 11. What kinds of services should IFNA be providing to its members, and to the net, that it is not now providing? What enhancements to existing services would you like to see? Gaining credibility in the sysop world is not easy. Sysops are independent folks, and "provide a service" is always dangerously close to "run my system". Better communication of what IFNA is already doing would help. Acquainting the non-modem world with this hobby, and acquainting the modeming population with FidoNet, is a worthy goal. A few well-placed articles in popular computer journals can provide great publicity if the structure is in place to take advantage of it. Training for new sysops is another potential service area. Providing sysops with tangible day-to-day benefits is more difficult. "Buying" the allegiance of sysops by negotiating deals on hardware or software is a dangerous technique. It will always be difficult to convince the sysop who can't see beyond the computer monitor that a national organization has benefits. 12. If someone donated a megabuck to IFNA, how would you want to see it spent? Such a donation would probably kill both IFNA and FidoNet. Assuming that IFNA received a moderate contribution of funds from one or more corporations, there are a number of projects which could be funded, at minimum cost, which could provide benefit to FidoNet. These include a professionally-done PR package, seed money for FidoCon and regional FidoNet meetings, KidsNet, and FidoNet development in third-world countries. This type of project, while not requiring massive infusion of cash, could enhance FidoNet's contribution to society and our enjoyment of our hobby as sysops. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 5-33 Page 17 15 Aug 1988 ================================================================= FOR SALE ================================================================= Programs too big? Give 'em the AXE! What could SEA do to top it's phenominally successful ARC program? Well, have you noticed that new programs from SEA don't seem to ARC very well lately? * * * System Enhancement Associates, Inc. is proud to announce the latest and greatest addition to our line of quality software. Our new product is called AXE, and it can chop your programs down to size! If you thought ARC was good, wait until you see AXE! It can compress almost any .EXE or .COM file by twenty to thirty percent, saving you megabytes of disk space. And, here's the best part, the programs don't have to be uncompressed to run! That's right, you can AXE all your programs and make them twenty to thirty percent smaller (or MORE), and they still run just like they always did. You'll never even notice you AXEd them, but you'll sure notice the extra disk space! AXE is available for $50 from: System Enhancement Associates, Inc. 21 New Street, Wayne NJ 07470 or you can call us (voice) at 201-473-5153. We accept VISA and MasterCard. Get AXE today, and chop your programs down to size! ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 5-33 Page 18 15 Aug 1988 TECHbooks : The Computer Book Specialists 3646 SE Division Street (800) TECH-BKS Portland, OR 97202 (503) 238-1005 FidoNet Address: #1:105/4 Message-only BBS: (503) 760-1473 Selected Books _PC Magazine DOS Power Tools_ A disk loaded with more than 200 utilities, plus 1300 pages explaining everything there is to know about DOS, your hardware, and more. List is $39.95, but we have it on special in August for $31.95. Strongly recommended. _Public-Domain Software_ by Rusel DeMaria and George Fontaine. PC Week liked it because it groups software together by category, then compares them. Gives you the bad points as well as the good. Includes $15 of CompuServe usage. List is $19.95, on special for August at $15.95. New Books _Using WordPerfect 5_ by Charles Stewart Another one of Que's massive tomes, this covers the new 5.0 version in depth. $19.75 _Inside the Norton Utilities_ by Rob Krumm. Officially endorsed by Peter Norton, it also includes the Norton Commander & Editor. $17.95 _Inside AutoSketch_ by Frank Lenk AutoCAD's "baby brother" is covered in depth, including schematics and floor plans. $13.45 Policies We sell computer books for 10% off the list price every day. All books are returnable within 30 days. We accept Mastercard, Discover, American Express, Visa, personal or company checks, and approved purchase orders. We will ship your book(s) anywhere in the US for $2.00 on the first book, $.50 per additional book. Prices shown reflect the 10% discount. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 5-33 Page 19 15 Aug 1988 ================================================================= NOTICES ================================================================= The Interrupt Stack 25 Aug 1988 Start of the Fifth International FidoNet Conference, to be held at the Drawbridge Inn in Cincinnati, OH. Contact Tim Sullivan at 108/62 for more information. This is FidoNet's big annual get-together, and is your chance to meet all the people you've been talking with all this time. We're hoping to see you there! 17 Oct 1988 Start of the Digital Equipment Corporation Users Society's (DECUS) semi-annual symposium. It is being held at Anaheim, California. 23 Nov 1988 25th Anniversary of Doctor Who 7 Doctors and going strong! 24 Aug 1989 Voyager 2 passes Neptune. 5 Oct 1989 20th Anniversary of "Monty Python's Flying Circus" If you have something which you would like to see on this calendar, please send a message to FidoNet node 1:1/1. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Latest Software Versions BBS Systems Node List Other & Mailers Version Utilities Version Utilities Version Dutchie 2.90* EditNL 4.00* ARC 5.22* Fido 12h MakeNL 2.12* ARCmail 1.1 Opus 1.03b Prune 1.40 ConfMail 3.31 SEAdog 4.10 XlatList 2.86 EchoMail 1.31 TBBS 2.0M