OT -- just a test

i know ya said pay no attention but just to let you know... i can see this post thru all three of the free news servers i have set up to receive on Outlook Express....eternal-september, aioe and albasani. so yup rctq is working on usenet today.

i can see you're using google groups to read/post. seems to me, as someone else has said already, that google is slowly or selectively deleting groups and instigating their own group system to run exclusively and totally separate from usenet that they've archived for yrs and yrs now. what a shame. we cant change that but we can use other news servers to access usenet as i'm sure it will continue for yrs to come.

i'd also like to suggest that anyone reading/posting to usenet always use a bogus return addy or at the very least get a generic email addy like @hotmail, @yahoo, @gmail, etc so you dont get set upon by spammers harvesting your real email addy and/or hackers gaining access to your computer. tho it might never happen to you, it happens to others and it wont be nice having others accessing all the files on your computer without your knowledge or permission. i'm just say'n.... :) j.

"Mary" wrote ... This is just a test to see whether RCTQ is really working these last few days. Please pay no attention. Thanks!

I don't know for certain, google might just be having problems with their servers, and people that post exclusively to groups that are only on google might be having the same problems. Also, usenet might well continue for several more years, but I think it is also dying technology and will be replaced with a different technology for holding threaded discussions, though what I am not really certain:

1. The former usenet group, alt.org.toastmasters, got to where the signal to noise ratio was very low (it was full of spam) and it moved exclusively to a web-based forum, google groups. I am certain that other groups have done the same.
2. Several ISP's have dropped usenet groups entirely. Many people moved on to either google or a provider like eternal-september, but I suspect also many did not.
3. I am not certain of the ratio of groups that are either dead (the simcity discussion groups for example) or full of spam (like alt.org.toasmasters - which is also almost dead as there are only 4 messages in it right now, all of which are spam) to active groups (such as this one) is, but I suspect it is pretty high, and I am just not certain how high it will have to get before the whole system just is not useful anymore.
4. My understanding is that MS has dropped Outlook Express, their client for usenet, and has not replaced it with anything in windows 7. Other clients for usenet, such as thunderbird, are easy enough to get, but that does mean the MS has dropped their support for this technology. As "evil" as MS might be, or as "evil" as people might percieve them to be, they are still a major player in the software industry.

For those 4 reasons, I think usenet is a dying technology.

Brian Christiansen

ok

I don't know for certain, google might just be having problems with their servers, and people that post exclusively to groups that are only on google might be having the same problems. Also, usenet might well continue for several more years, but I think it is also dying technology and will be replaced with a different technology for holding threaded discussions, though what I am not really certain:

1. The former usenet group, alt.org.toastmasters, got to where the signal to noise ratio was very low (it was full of spam) and it moved exclusively to a web-based forum, google groups. I am certain that other groups have done the same.
2. Several ISP's have dropped usenet groups entirely. Many people moved on to either google or a provider like eternal-september, but I suspect also many did not.
3. I am not certain of the ratio of groups that are either dead (the simcity discussion groups for example) or full of spam (like alt.org.toasmasters - which is also almost dead as there are only 4 messages in it right now, all of which are spam) to active groups (such as this one) is, but I suspect it is pretty high, and I am just not certain how high it will have to get before the whole system just is not useful anymore.
4. My understanding is that MS has dropped Outlook Express, their client for usenet, and has not replaced it with anything in windows 7. Other clients for usenet, such as thunderbird, are easy enough to get, but that does mean the MS has dropped their support for this technology. As "evil" as MS might be, or as "evil" as people might percieve them to be, they are still a major player in the software industry.

For those 4 reasons, I think usenet is a dying technology.

Brian Christiansen

--- Posted via news://freenews.netfront.net/ - Complaints to snipped-for-privacy@netfront.net

Microsoft not longer supports Outlook Express but now has Windows Live. It does the same thing and looks almost exactly like Outlook Express. That happened a few years ago. Wwindows Live is not specific to a version of Windows. I don?t need Windows 7 to use it.

thanks for that info, Kay. been googling but as yet have not found a free download for outlook. will keep looking i guess. i am running win xp.

j.

"Kay Ahr" wrote ... Microsoft not longer supports Outlook Express but now has Windows Live. It does the same thing and looks almost exactly like Outlook Express. That happened a few years ago. Wwindows Live is not specific to a version of Windows. I don't need Windows 7 to use it.