Date: Mon, 30 Oct 2006 12:07:27 -0400
From: RICK WAGNER
To: HECTOR SANTOS
Subject: Re: A Better WHO IS ONLINE
Newsgroups: win.server.wish.list
Message-ID: <
1162228047.33.1161759224@winserver.com>
References: <
1161759224.33.1161708088@winserver.com>
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Understood... but as others in the world use things like MySpace, or Hi5 or other free
services, it's important to remember that this kind of competition is what deteriorates
what's left of the original BBS community... I love the fact that I have the ability to
manage and limit my WinServer clubs.. But the ability to record a Location, or a Birthday
can be helpful instead of just a UserID and a Password.
The ability for Authenticated users to view other members profiles without having to hunt
or beg for that info is helpful and sadly, even though there were WCX add on apps for
that like Dynamic Registry, or things like that, they no longer work, and the author's no
longer exist to permit registration of their apps.
I love the ability to have an "All In One" system for mail, web, listserve and not have to
spend countless $$$ and time to set each system up.. But right now, the biggest
competitions out there like Yahoo Groups, or Google Groups deter people from building
their own community systems even though most can do this with dynamic DNS resolution
and simple DSL service such as that offered by
http://www.no-ip.com/
And yes, there are other competitors out there similar to WinServer offerings such as
EzFileShare
http://www.sharing-file.com/ for a mere $49.95 which does ok but lacks
true email abilities or files.bbs configuration. Yes, I've run this too to manage my files
but I prefer Winserver because I can organize new files and library grouping better.
Still, since more and more are using DSL and DHCP assigned IP addresses, I guess it's
important to convey to others that there is a way to still create a service such as
winserver beyond just being stuck with static IP addresses. Even voice over IP
companies like Vonage or SunRocket have to deal with this kind of stuff these days.
But the kicker here, is to convey to the potential customer that he doesn't have to spend
megabucks for static connectivity like T1's or such and by being able to show the client
this it might be a way to resurect the old BBS philosophy once again.
Here's an example of WinServer usage... You obviously know what a pain in the butt is
is to set up a PPP connection with a modem so that laptop workers can dial into
the
home office. Laptop workers that don't want to spend money for internet service
providers that they only use a couple times a week... But using a Winserver and having
a Navigator connection they can just fire up their modem and gain internet access
momentarily. Now, suppose the Host Winserver was also using something like SunRocket or Vonage.. Imagine how this could significantly reduce monthly costs
but
allow this needed technology.
The average joe, could be a host, over a Cable Modem or a plain old DSL line and still
have a very well defined business outreach.
Or how about the old Echomail concept brought into the next level where my Winserver
and your winserver could manage unified groups identical on both geographical sides of
the planet... I can offer my TX people cheap dial-up, and the the guy in CA can do the
same.. and yeah I know you know all about the echomail concept since you did lots of
work with it as well as my partner Wynn Wagner. It was a way to eliminate the high
cost of staying in touch.
----------
Today, the Yahoo and Google group club concept is ok but, it's becomes more appealing
to "Takers" not "Givers"... The owner of the group posts files for others to take down,,
but there's no way to encourage others to upload and shave their creations. Yahoo
Groups has also eliminated their online Chat Rooms forcing the group owner to go
elsewhere like
http://www.spinchat.com/ to incorporate this kind of feature.
So I guess the big question is in order to build a useful community group, do I
need to go
out to Yahoo and build a group there, and then spinchat and build a chatroom there, and
then someplace else to host the HTML and so on and so on.. or do I go out to Santronics
and get me a Winserver that can do it all??
The ability to have this one server assume several identities is also good. You can have
a Cooking group, a Programing group or a Health Related group and each is a living
legacy different from the other.. A library that can contain and store historical data and
not force the Grourmet Chefs to wade through geeky computer program junk that is
better suited to geeks not chefs..
But wait, let's take it one step further... Since the internet is the world's largest online
library, what can be done to allow search spiders to record certain file areas,
but not the
entire system? And if the user finds one of these links on Google how can we show them
a screen saying "...you can view this free file but you need to establish a login account
first.." Why, so the hosting person has a bread crumb trail of who's reading his
documents about the ingredients used to make crystal methe and know that it's not being
posted on some kinky "Make your own drugs" website. Yes, we always need some level
of control.. Even back in the old BBS days we had BBS's that listed how to make
your
own pipe bomb and this will always be an abusive issue.
Just as the spamers have used the power of the net to sell Viagra and other crap by
cloaking their true identity. There will always be someone out there pondering a "get rich
quick scheme" Sad but true.. There will always be grown adults hunting to sexualy
abuse kids but by knowing and planing this kind of negative stuff it doesn't have to
condemn or punish the entire human race either.
Winserver has lots of abilities that you can capitalize on... Heck, mine is running on a
WiFi Sonly Laptop with thousands of organized files in my library but the best part is that
the community of users not only suck and download these files, but they share and
upload their own special gems enabling the knowledge-base to continually grow.
I know
life in Florida is different than life in Texas but having the ability to convey these things
allows club members to see beyond a simple narrow-minded vision. And as a hobbiest,
and a well-known artist, this is key.
But enough of this jabber, I have to get some work done.. I can only hope that maybe
some of what I've said enlightens you a bit.. There's a lot of non-geek people
out there
like my mom who's lucky to even hunt and peck on a keyboard.. but this same person
had the artistic ability to do *all* of the floral arrangements for my little brother's
wedding ceremony this Friday. So she's a floral geek not a Compu-Geek.. but imagine if
there was a Winserver based Floral Geek club she could hunt and peck her way to
and
figure out the best place to buy her supplies or find others who could teach her tricks to
save time and money. And not just spending hours doing search after search through
Google. Best of all, if she wanted to come up with her own web page, this Floral Geek
winserver might even have a way for her to build her own advertising page for some
pocketchange on the site.
On 10/25/06 2:46 AM, HECTOR SANTOS wrote to RICK WAGNER:
-
.....Not so clean and elegant with the WEB equivalent and using
non-persistent
connections.
The details are too complex and old to go over again, but let me just state the new version pays a lot of attention to making it common and consistent, for example, how a bad name lookup is checked. The TEXT version was different than the WEB version when it checked for valid characters in a
new user name. That is now a COMMON logic between the WEB and TEXT mode. :-)
---
HLS
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