Today we’d like to pose the question “How much binary retention is enough?”.  The question is meant for Usenet fans and those just finding interest in newsgroups.  How much retention would you like to see a year from now?  Would you be willing to give up extras (newsreaders, search, storage, vpn) or pay a higher price for the continued retention growth?  Not to say that either will be necessary but it’s worth some thought.

The truth is that most Usenet subscribers don’t use anywhere close to three years of binary retention.  Yet when comparing services the magic retention number often takes front row.  It has always been a measuring stick of sorts when choosing between Usenet providers.  Will the leading newsgroup services continue to grow retention as long as storage and overhead costs allow?  Will that eventually cause prices to increase?

Consider the rate at which Usenet is growing.  As seen in the feed size.  Which is the amount of data being posted to Usenet on a daily basis.  As you can see we’re now reaching close to 10 TB of data a day.  Where in 2008 the feed size was 4.5 TB a day.  Meaning that Usenet providers are going to need more and more storage to support their current retention.  Not to mention future growth.  Both in terms of feed size and retention.

Source of feed size data: NewsDemon blog

At what point will users not care as much about retention?  Is there a magic number?  Three years?  Four?  Five?  Will the highest retention always be important?  Or will other factors like performance, reliability and value take a front row seat.  Some might say binary retention is easier to measure.  Which is true but added features and price are easy to compare as well.  It’s really more a question of preference.

When it comes to binary retention, popular services like UseNetServer, Newshosting, NewsDemon, Astraweb and Giganews lead the way.  How about value-added features?  Where do they rank in your decision of which provider to choose?  For example Newshosting just released a cool new Usenet client.  Which is more important….binary retention or a nice Usenet client with search capabilities?  NewsDemon offers online storage and Giganews offers VPN access.  Yet we still see a heavy focus on binary retention.

For now everyone can have their cake and eat it too.  With binary retention growing by the day, new features and the best prices ever on Usenet access.  If the day ever comes though when you have to make the choice between binary retention, added features or increased price which will you choose?  We would personally choose a lower cost, reliable service with some nice extras as opposed to a few more days of binary retention.  This week you will start to see us shift focus from retention over to value and extra benefits.

Visit Newsgroup Reviews to learn more about Usenet.  Including the latest provider updates, binary retention, added features, free trials and special offers.  Follow us @NewsgroupRevs for the latest Usenet news.

We’ll be writing a number of posts this week to commemorate the three year achievement.  Stay tuned as we continue to deliver the latest news and special offers from top Usenet providers like UNS, Newshosting, NewsDemon, Astraweb, Easynews and more.  For now let’s tip our glass to UseNetServer and the other newsgroup services who are celebrating 1,095+ days of binary retention.  That kind of retention comes at a substantial cost.  As Usenet fans we are very appreciative of the efforts taken by each provider to hit 3 years!

Along with the Tim Berner’s Lee WWW announcement here are some more interesting Usenet posts:

• Logical Map of Usenet in 1981 – net.general
• The Kremvax Hoax – eunet.politics
• Discussion of Y2K Problem in 1985 – net.bugs
• Brad Templeton’s ClariNet Announcement – news.admin
• Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) Announcement – comp.sys.ibm.pc
• Tim Berners-Lee WorldWideWeb Project Announcement – alt.hypertext
• Linus Torvalds Linux Announcement – comp.os.minix
• Marc Andreessen Netscape Announcement – comp.infosystems.www.users
• AltaVista Launch Announcement – biz.digital.announce

You will find that Google Groups is a good source for historical text posts like those listed above.  To learn more about binary newsgroup access visit the Usenet providers section of NewsgroupReviews.com.

Without a doubt we missed some famous / interesting Usenet posts.  The newsgroup articles mentioned above are some of our favorites.  Please share yours with us @NewsgroupRevs so we can add them to the list.

The olduse.net feed can be accessed through the site or via newsreader at nntp.olduse.net.  Tested successfully using slrn newsreader.  The olduse.net Usenet archive is updating in real-time as if we were in 1981.  So right now it’s showing posts from June 5, 1981.  Unlike the feed in 1981 which was updated nightly, this one is kept up to date every 5 minutes.  So check out this piece of Usenet history at olduse.net.

—–

For more information read the olduse.net announcement below:

Source: http://kitenet.net/~joey/blog/entry/announcing_olduse.net/

As I write this, it’s the morning of June 5th, 1981. A few people scattered across the US are waking up, going in to work, sitting down at their terminal with a coffee, and reading Usenet. Usenet is only getting a trickle of posts each day — it’s still in that period where it’s easy to read every message posted to it.

Many things lie in Usenet’s future. It’s still running A-News, which doesn’t even have a real From header yet. Later this year it will switch over to B-News, and volume will begin to increase. In 1987 there will be The great renaming. And of course in 1994, the first spam will be posted to Usenet.

But that’s all a long way off, here in 1981. Right now, they’re talking about 500 mb disk drives that only cost $38000. And rms is inciting flames about nuclear proliferation. And Postel is publishing an RFC for the new Mail Transfer Protocol.

Good morning, Usenet. Who knows what will come next in this fledgeling electronic communications medium!

a ten year real-time historical exhibit

This morning, I’m announcing a new site: Olduse.net

It’s Usenet, updated in real time as it was thirty years ago. Planned to be available for the next ten years, unless I run out of inodes (again).

If you missed it the first time around, this is your chance to follow Usenet’s flowering.

made possible by

• Henry Spencer at the University of Toronto, Department of Zoology, who archived Usenet. Back when it was really uncool and really expensive. Our view onto Usenet is thus slightly centric to Canada and Zoology, but that’s ok.
• David Wiseman, who hauled 141 magtapes in a pickup truck.
• Many who worked to rescue data off the tapes. Including from the deleted stuff at the ends.
• Rich Skrenta, who somehow got a copy of the archive out from under the Google borg. Although one of the tar files is truncated. Just saying.
• The creator of Telehack, who pointed me in the right direction, ending my multi-year quest to find the archive. And if you think this is neat, Telehack will blow you away.
• The developers of Haskell, which enabled me to whip up a B-News to C-News converter, a custom uucp, date parsers for every crazy date format ever used on Usenet, and suitible queue data structures in a rock solid, maintainable way, in 500 lines of code written over 12 hours. When I realized I also needed an A-News to B-News converter, I knew it was worth it to have done things right, because that took only 43 more lines, and worked 100% on the first run! My code repository for olduse.net is here.

This month several leading Usenet providers including UseNetServer, Newshosting, NewsDemon, Easynews, Astraweb and Giganews will surpass 1,000 days of binaries.  With three years of binary retention likely to come later this year.  A huge achievement considering that in September of 2008 the high mark was 240 days.  Two years prior the highest retention was 90 days.

Fortunately storage prices continue to decrease.  Then again the average newsgroup feed size has exploded.  Increasing from 3 TB a day in 2006 up to 8.2 TB a day last month (source: NewsDemon).  The continued growth of the Usenet feed makes the 1,000 day achievement even more impressive.

A few will get to the end of this post and wonder what binary retention means.  In simple terms it’s the number of days binary newsgroup posts are held on a provider’s news server before they drop off.  Meaning that 1,000 days (2.75 years) of binary content will be accessible to download.  Stay tuned to Newsgroup Reviews for future binary retention stats as the numbers are growing daily.  We also keep up with the latest Usenet deals, free newsgroup trials, newsreader downloads and helpful guides.

You can expect the LCC (last call for comments) to come in the week ahead.  Here is the 2nd RFD:

From: Big-8 Management Board <board@big-8.org>
Subject: 2nd RFD: The Great Downsizing 2011/1
Date: Thu, 3 Mar 2011 23:52:13 EST
Message-ID: <great-downsizing-2011-1-rfd-2@news.albasani.net>

              REQUEST FOR DISCUSSION (RFD)

This is a formal Request for Discussion (RFD) to remove the following
198 unmoderated newsgroups.

RATIONALE:

All groups listed below fulfill these conditions:
- no moderated groups
- no group names matching *.misc
- zero on-topic, non-crossposted threads in the past 18 months
- on-topic questions that received no on-topic answer do not count

The discussion following the publication of the 1st RFD brought up
principal opposition to the removal of groups, and the notion that
some groups have a function beyond mere traffic.

The claim that the groups in question have not been used for a long
time was not disputed, however. Therefore the list was not changed.

DISTRIBUTION:

news.announce.newgroups
news.groups.proposals
news.groups

Because of the magnitude of the group list this proposal is not cross-
posted to target groups. In the course of these proceedings the B8MB
will post pointers to this announcement to appropriate groups. Readers
are encouraged to take initiative and spread the message.

PROCEDURE:

The procedure shall take at least 8 weeks, with announcements posted
every 4 weeks: 1st RFD, 2nd RFD, and LCC. The group lists may be re-
vised during this stage. Discussion about candidate groups should take
place in moderated group news.groups.proposals. After publication of
the LCC the board votes on each newsgroup individually.
More details can be found here:

http://www.big-8.org/wiki/Mass_removal_of_groups

NEWSGROUP LINES:

comp.arch.bus.vmebus		Hardware and software for VMEbus Systems.
comp.archives.msdos.d		Discussion of materials available in MSDOS archives.
comp.bbs.tbbs		The Bread Board System bulletin board software.
comp.bbs.tsx		TSX BBS discussions.
comp.bugs.2bsd		Reports of UNIX* version 2BSD related bugs.
comp.bugs.4bsd		Reports of UNIX version 4BSD related bugs.
comp.bugs.sys5		Reports of USG (System III, V, etc.) bugs.
comp.compilers.tools.pccts		Construction of compilers and tools with PCCTS.
comp.databases.revelation		All products produced by Revelation Software.
comp.dcom.frame-relay		Technology and issues regarding frame relay networks.
comp.dcom.isdn		The Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN).
comp.dcom.lans.fddi		Discussions of the FDDI protocol suite.
comp.dcom.lans.token-ring		Installing and using token ring networks.
comp.dcom.servers		Selecting and operating data communications servers.
comp.dcom.sys.bay-networks		Bay Networks hardware, software, other products.
comp.emulators.freemware		Open source PC Virtualisation software.
comp.emulators.mac.executor		ARDI's Mac emulator, Executor.
comp.games.development.art		Creative use of visual art in games.
comp.games.development.audio		Music, sound, speech production.
comp.graphics.api.inventor		Object-oriented 3D graphics in Inventor.
comp.graphics.api.pexlib		The PEXlib application programming interface.
comp.graphics.apps.avs		The Application Visualization System.
comp.graphics.apps.data-explorer		IBM's Visualization Data Explorer (DX).
comp.graphics.apps.freehand		Questions, answers, tips and suggestions.
comp.graphics.apps.iris-explorer		The IRIS Explorer, aka MVE.
comp.graphics.apps.softimage		Softimage applications and products.
comp.graphics.apps.wavefront		Wavefront software products, problems, etc.
comp.groupware.groupwise		Novell's Groupwise product (Wordperfect Office).
comp.infosystems.harvest		Harvest information discovery and access system.
comp.infosystems.interpedia		The Internet Encyclopedia.
comp.infosystems.intranet		Intranet topics.
comp.infosystems.www.advocacy		Comments and arguments over the best and worst.
comp.infosystems.www.databases		Web Database Integration.
comp.infosystems.www.servers.mac		Web servers for the Macintosh platform.
comp.internet.services.social.myspace		Teenage social networking.
comp.ivideodisc		Interactive videodiscs -- uses, potential, etc.
comp.lang.basic.visual.3rdparty		Add-ins for Visual Basic.
comp.lang.limbo		The Inferno OS's Limbo programming language.
comp.lang.lisp.mcl		Discussing Apple's Macintosh Common Lisp.
comp.lang.pascal.delphi.advocacy		Contentious issues related to Delphi.
comp.lang.pascal.delphi.components.usage		Using pre-written components.
comp.lang.pascal.delphi.components.writing		Writing Delphi components.
comp.lang.sather		The object-oriented computer language Sather.
comp.lsi.cad		Electrical Computer Aided Design.
comp.mail.list-admin.policy		Policy issues in running mailing lists.
comp.mail.mush		The Mail User's Shell (MUSH).
comp.mail.smail		Administering & using the smail email transport system.
comp.mail.zmail		The various Z-Mail products and their configurability.
comp.org.cpsr.talk		Issues of computing and social responsibility.
comp.org.decus		Digital Equipment Computer Users' Society newsgroup.
comp.org.eff.talk		Discussion of EFF goals, strategies, etc.
comp.org.issnnet		The International Student Society for Neural Networks.
comp.org.sug		Talk about/for the The Sun User's Group.
comp.org.user-groups.apcug		Association of Personal Computer User Groups.
comp.org.user-groups.management		Running a user group.
comp.org.user-groups.newsletters		User group newsletter Production.
comp.os.chorus		CHORUS microkernel issues, research and developments.
comp.os.inferno		The Inferno network operating system from Lucent.
comp.os.lantastic		The LANtastic network operating system.
comp.os.ms-windows.apps.comm		MS-Windows communication applications.
comp.os.ms-windows.apps.compatibility.win95		Running DOS&Win3 apps in Win95.
comp.os.ms-windows.apps.utilities.win3x		Utility/add-on programs for Win3.x.
comp.os.ms-windows.apps.winsock.mail		Winsock email applications.
comp.os.ms-windows.apps.winsock.news		Winsock news applications.
comp.os.ms-windows.networking.ras		Windows RAS networking.
comp.os.ms-windows.nt.advocacy		Windows NT advocacy arguments.
comp.os.ms-windows.nt.pre-release		Unreleased and beta Windows NT versions.
comp.os.ms-windows.nt.setup.hardware		Windows NT hardware setup.
comp.os.ms-windows.pre-release		Pre-release/beta versions of Windows.
comp.os.ms-windows.programmer.multimedia		Multimedia programming.
comp.os.ms-windows.programmer.tools.owl		OWL-based development for Windows.
comp.os.ms-windows.programmer.winhelp		WinHelp/Multimedia Viewer development.
comp.os.ms-windows.setup.win3x		Setup, hardware, and driver issues in Win3.x.
comp.os.ms-windows.setup.win95		Setup, hardware, and driver issues in Win95.
comp.os.ms-windows.win95.setup		Setup and Configuration of Windows 95.
comp.os.msdos.mail-news		Administering mail & network news systems under MS-DOS.
comp.os.netware.security		Netware Security issues.
comp.os.os2.comm		Modem/Fax hardware/drivers/apps/utils under OS/2.
comp.os.os2.programmer.oop		Programming system objects (SOM, WPS, etc).
comp.os.os2.scitech		Real-time, engineering/CAD, sciences, etc.
comp.os.parix		Forum for users of the parallel operating system PARIX.
comp.os.xinu		The XINU operating system from Purdue (D. Comer).
comp.protocols.appletalk		Applebus hardware & software.
comp.protocols.ibm		Networking with IBM mainframes.
comp.protocols.iso		The ISO protocol stack.
comp.publish.cdrom.multimedia		Software for multimedia authoring & publishing.
comp.publish.electronic.developer		Electronic publishing developer tools.
comp.publish.electronic.end-user		Electronic publishing end-user tools.
comp.security.gss-api		Generic Security Service Application Program Interface.
comp.security.pgp.resources		PGP related resources, information and more.
comp.society		The impact of technology on society.
comp.society.development		Computer technology in developing countries.
comp.soft-sys.app-builder.appware		Novell's visual development environment.
comp.soft-sys.app-builder.dynasty		Dynasty Development.
comp.soft-sys.khoros		The Khoros X11 visualization system.
comp.soft-sys.middleware.opendoc		OpenDoc and its related technologies.
comp.soft-sys.shazam		The SHAZAM econometrics computer program.
comp.soft-sys.stat.systat		The statistical program package SYSTAT.
comp.sources.games.bugs		Bug reports and fixes for posted game software.
comp.specification.larch		Larch family of formal specification languages.
comp.std.internat		Discussion about international standards.
comp.sys.alliant		Info and discussion about Alliant computers.
comp.sys.amiga.datacomm		Methods of getting bytes in and out.
comp.sys.amiga.multimedia		Animations, video, & multimedia.
comp.sys.amiga.networking		Amiga networking software/hardware.
comp.sys.amiga.uucp		Amiga UUCP packages.
comp.sys.apple2.gno		The AppleIIgs GNO multitasking environment.
comp.sys.be.advocacy		Why BeOS is better/worse than XYZ.
comp.sys.be.programmer		Topics related to BeOS programming.
comp.sys.convex		Convex computer systems hardware and software.
comp.sys.harris		Harris computer systems, especially real-time systems.
comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.marketplace		PC clone games wanted and for sale.
comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard.advocacy		Advocacy for a particular soundcard.
comp.sys.intergraph		Intergraph hardware and software products.
comp.sys.isis		The ISIS distributed system from Cornell.
comp.sys.mac.games.adventure		Adventure games for the Macintosh.
comp.sys.mac.oop.macapp3		Version 3 of the MacApp object oriented system.
comp.sys.mac.oop.powerplant		Metrowerks' PowerPlant (CodeWarrior) Framework.
comp.sys.mac.oop.tcl		Symantec's THINK Class Library for object programming.
comp.sys.mac.programmer.codewarrior		Macintosh programming using CodeWarrior.
comp.sys.mac.programmer.games		Macintosh game programming.
comp.sys.net-computer.advocacy		Relative merits of Network Computers.
comp.sys.next.advocacy		The NeXT religion.
comp.sys.next.bugs		Discussion and solutions for known NeXT bugs.
comp.sys.nsc.32k		National Semiconductor 32000 series chips.
comp.sys.proteon		Proteon gateway products.
comp.sys.psion.comm		Discussions about Psion communications.
comp.sys.psion.marketplace		Buy and sell Psion computers and accessories.
comp.sys.ridge		Ridge 32 computers and ROS.
comp.sys.sequent		Sequent systems, (Balance and Symmetry).
comp.sys.sgi.audio		Audio on SGI systems.
comp.sys.sgi.graphics		Graphics packages and issues on SGI machines.
comp.sys.tahoe		CCI 6/32, Harris HCX/7, & Sperry 7000 computers.
comp.text.desktop		Technology & techniques of desktop publishing.
comp.unix.advocacy		Arguments for and against Unix and Unix versions.
comp.unix.cde		The Common Desktop Environment.
comp.unix.large		UNIX on mainframes and in large networks.
comp.unix.machten		The MachTen operating system and related issues.
comp.unix.pc-clone.16bit		UNIX on 286 architectures.
comp.unix.pc-clone.32bit		UNIX on 386 and 486 architectures.
comp.unix.sys3		System III UNIX discussions.
comp.unix.sys5.r3		Discussing System V Release 3.
comp.unix.xenix.sco		XENIX versions from the Santa Cruz Operation.
comp.windows.garnet		The Garnet user interface development environment.
comp.windows.interviews		The InterViews object-oriented windowing system.
comp.windows.open-look		Discussion about the Open Look GUI.
comp.windows.suit		The SUIT user-interface toolkit.
comp.windows.ui-builders.teleuse		Using/augmenting the TeleUSE UI Builder.
comp.windows.x.i386unix		The XFree86 window system and others.
misc.forsale.computers.discussion		Discussions only about items for sale.
misc.forsale.computers.mac-specific.cards.video		Macintosh video cards.
misc.forsale.computers.mac-specific.portables		Portable Macintosh systems.
misc.forsale.computers.mac-specific.systems		Complete Macintosh systems.
misc.forsale.computers.monitors		Monitors and displays for sale and wanted.
misc.forsale.computers.other.systems		Complete other types of systems.
misc.forsale.computers.pc-specific.audio		PC audio equipment.
misc.forsale.computers.pc-specific.cards.video		PC video cards.
misc.forsale.computers.pc-specific.motherboards		PC motherboards.
misc.forsale.computers.printers		Printers and plotters for sale and wanted.
misc.industry.pulp-and-paper		Technical topics in the pulp and paper industry.
misc.jobs.offered.entry		Job listings only for entry-level positions.
news.admin.nocem		NoCeM protocol policy issues and information.
rec.arts.comics.elfquest		The Elfquest universe and characters.
rec.arts.sf.starwars.collecting.customizing		Customizing Star Wars toys.
rec.arts.sf.tv.quantum-leap		Quantum Leap TV, comics, cons, etc.
rec.autos.sport.rally		Any type of interest in any form of rally motorsport.
rec.crafts.dollhouses		Collecting and making of dollhouse miniatures.
rec.games.bolo		The networked strategy war game Bolo.
rec.games.computer.quake.editing		Editing and hacking Quake-related files.
rec.games.computer.quake.playing		Playing Quake and user-created levels.
rec.games.computer.quake.quake-c		Modifying Quake with Quake-C.
rec.games.frp.industry		Roleplaying industry & companies.
rec.games.frp.storyteller		World of Darkness and StoryTeller games.
rec.games.trading-cards.marketplace.magic.trades		Trading Magic cards.
rec.games.trading-cards.startrek		Star Trek Trading Card Games.
rec.games.video.cd-i		CD-i topics with emphasis on games.
rec.games.video.cd32		Gaming talk, info and help for the Amiga CD32.
rec.games.xtank.play		Strategy and tactics for the distributed game Xtank.
rec.games.xtank.programmer		Coding the Xtank game and its robots.
rec.music.artists.ani-difranco		Ani Difranco, related topics.
rec.music.artists.danny-elfman		Composer Danny Elfman's music.
rec.music.artists.stevie-nicks		Singer/songwriter Stevie Nicks.
rec.music.artists.wallflowers		Music group The Wallflowers.
rec.music.iranian		Discussion of Iranian music.
rec.parks.theme		Entertainment theme parks.
rec.scouting.guide+girl		Guiding and girl scout organizations.
rec.sport.basketball.women		Women's basketball at all levels.
rec.sport.footbag		Discussion about the sport of footbag.
rec.sport.orienteering		All matters related to the sport of orienteering.
rec.sport.skating.roller		Conventional (quad) roller skating.
rec.video.dvd.advocacy		DVD-Video pro/con arguments.
sci.aquaria		Only scientifically-oriented postings about aquaria.
sci.engr.coastal		Coastal and ocean engineering.
sci.engr.marine.hydrodynamics		Marine Hydrodynamics.
sci.med.occupational		Repetitive Strain Injuries (RSI) & job injury issues.
soc.adoption.parenting		Adoptive parenting by adoptive parents.
soc.college.teaching-asst		Issues affecting collegiate teaching assistants.
soc.support.depression.seasonal		Seasonal affective disorder.

CHANGE HISTORY:

2011-02-01      1st RFD
2011-03-04      2nd RFD

Here is the Big-8 downsizing RFD announcement:

From: Big-8 Management Board <board@big-8.org>
Subject: 1st RFD: The Great Downsizing 2011/1
Message-ID: <great-downsizing-2011-1-rfd-1@news.albasani.net>

              REQUEST FOR DISCUSSION (RFD)

This is a formal Request for Discussion (RFD) to remove the following
198 unmoderated newsgroups.

RATIONALE:

All groups listed below fulfill these conditions:
- no moderated groups
- no group names matching *.misc
- zero on-topic, non-crossposted threads in the past 18 months
- on-topic questions that received no on-topic answer do not count

DISTRIBUTION:

news.announce.newgroups
news.groups.proposals
news.groups

Because of the magnitude of the group list this proposal is not cross-
posted to target groups. In the course of these proceedings the B8MB
will post pointers to this announcement to appropriate groups. Readers
are encouraged to take initiative and spread the message.

PROCEDURE:

The procedure shall take at least 8 weeks, with announcements posted
every 4 weeks: 1st RFD, 2nd RFD, and LCC. The group lists may be re-
vised during this stage. Discussion about candidate groups should take
place in moderated group news.groups.proposals. After publication of
the LCC the board votes on each newsgroup individually.
More details can be found here:

http://www.big-8.org/wiki/Mass_removal_of_groups

NEWSGROUP LINES:

comp.arch.bus.vmebus		Hardware and software for VMEbus Systems.
comp.archives.msdos.d		Discussion of materials available in MSDOS archives.
comp.bbs.tbbs		The Bread Board System bulletin board software.
comp.bbs.tsx		TSX BBS discussions.
comp.bugs.2bsd		Reports of UNIX* version 2BSD related bugs.
comp.bugs.4bsd		Reports of UNIX version 4BSD related bugs.
comp.bugs.sys5		Reports of USG (System III, V, etc.) bugs.
comp.compilers.tools.pccts		Construction of compilers and tools with PCCTS.
comp.databases.revelation		All products produced by Revelation Software.
comp.dcom.frame-relay		Technology and issues regarding frame relay networks.
comp.dcom.isdn		The Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN).
comp.dcom.lans.fddi		Discussions of the FDDI protocol suite.
comp.dcom.lans.token-ring		Installing and using token ring networks.
comp.dcom.servers		Selecting and operating data communications servers.
comp.dcom.sys.bay-networks		Bay Networks hardware, software, other products.
comp.emulators.freemware		Open source PC Virtualisation software.
comp.emulators.mac.executor		ARDI's Mac emulator, Executor.
comp.games.development.art		Creative use of visual art in games.
comp.games.development.audio		Music, sound, speech production.
comp.graphics.api.inventor		Object-oriented 3D graphics in Inventor.
comp.graphics.api.pexlib		The PEXlib application programming interface.
comp.graphics.apps.avs		The Application Visualization System.
comp.graphics.apps.data-explorer		IBM's Visualization Data Explorer (DX).
comp.graphics.apps.freehand		Questions, answers, tips and suggestions.
comp.graphics.apps.iris-explorer		The IRIS Explorer, aka MVE.
comp.graphics.apps.softimage		Softimage applications and products.
comp.graphics.apps.wavefront		Wavefront software products, problems, etc.
comp.groupware.groupwise		Novell's Groupwise product (Wordperfect Office).
comp.infosystems.harvest		Harvest information discovery and access system.
comp.infosystems.interpedia		The Internet Encyclopedia.
comp.infosystems.intranet		Intranet topics.
comp.infosystems.www.advocacy		Comments and arguments over the best and worst.
comp.infosystems.www.databases		Web Database Integration.
comp.infosystems.www.servers.mac		Web servers for the Macintosh platform.
comp.internet.services.social.myspace		Teenage social networking.
comp.ivideodisc		Interactive videodiscs -- uses, potential, etc.
comp.lang.basic.visual.3rdparty		Add-ins for Visual Basic.
comp.lang.limbo		The Inferno OS's Limbo programming language.
comp.lang.lisp.mcl		Discussing Apple's Macintosh Common Lisp.
comp.lang.pascal.delphi.advocacy		Contentious issues related to Delphi.
comp.lang.pascal.delphi.components.usage		Using pre-written components.
comp.lang.pascal.delphi.components.writing		Writing Delphi components.
comp.lang.sather		The object-oriented computer language Sather.
comp.lsi.cad		Electrical Computer Aided Design.
comp.mail.list-admin.policy		Policy issues in running mailing lists.
comp.mail.mush		The Mail User's Shell (MUSH).
comp.mail.smail		Administering & using the smail email transport system.
comp.mail.zmail		The various Z-Mail products and their configurability.
comp.org.cpsr.talk		Issues of computing and social responsibility.
comp.org.decus		Digital Equipment Computer Users' Society newsgroup.
comp.org.eff.talk		Discussion of EFF goals, strategies, etc.
comp.org.issnnet		The International Student Society for Neural Networks.
comp.org.sug		Talk about/for the The Sun User's Group.
comp.org.user-groups.apcug		Association of Personal Computer User Groups.
comp.org.user-groups.management		Running a user group.
comp.org.user-groups.newsletters		User group newsletter Production.
comp.os.chorus		CHORUS microkernel issues, research and developments.
comp.os.inferno		The Inferno network operating system from Lucent.
comp.os.lantastic		The LANtastic network operating system.
comp.os.ms-windows.apps.comm		MS-Windows communication applications.
comp.os.ms-windows.apps.compatibility.win95		Running DOS&Win3 apps in Win95.
comp.os.ms-windows.apps.utilities.win3x		Utility/add-on programs for Win3.x.
comp.os.ms-windows.apps.winsock.mail		Winsock email applications.
comp.os.ms-windows.apps.winsock.news		Winsock news applications.
comp.os.ms-windows.networking.ras		Windows RAS networking.
comp.os.ms-windows.nt.advocacy		Windows NT advocacy arguments.
comp.os.ms-windows.nt.pre-release		Unreleased and beta Windows NT versions.
comp.os.ms-windows.nt.setup.hardware		Windows NT hardware setup.
comp.os.ms-windows.pre-release		Pre-release/beta versions of Windows.
comp.os.ms-windows.programmer.multimedia		Multimedia programming.
comp.os.ms-windows.programmer.tools.owl		OWL-based development for Windows.
comp.os.ms-windows.programmer.winhelp		WinHelp/Multimedia Viewer development.
comp.os.ms-windows.setup.win3x		Setup, hardware, and driver issues in Win3.x.
comp.os.ms-windows.setup.win95		Setup, hardware, and driver issues in Win95.
comp.os.ms-windows.win95.setup		Setup and Configuration of Windows 95.
comp.os.msdos.mail-news		Administering mail & network news systems under MS-DOS.
comp.os.netware.security		Netware Security issues.
comp.os.os2.comm		Modem/Fax hardware/drivers/apps/utils under OS/2.
comp.os.os2.programmer.oop		Programming system objects (SOM, WPS, etc).
comp.os.os2.scitech		Real-time, engineering/CAD, sciences, etc.
comp.os.parix		Forum for users of the parallel operating system PARIX.
comp.os.xinu		The XINU operating system from Purdue (D. Comer).
comp.protocols.appletalk		Applebus hardware & software.
comp.protocols.ibm		Networking with IBM mainframes.
comp.protocols.iso		The ISO protocol stack.
comp.publish.cdrom.multimedia		Software for multimedia authoring & publishing.
comp.publish.electronic.developer		Electronic publishing developer tools.
comp.publish.electronic.end-user		Electronic publishing end-user tools.
comp.security.gss-api		Generic Security Service Application Program Interface.
comp.security.pgp.resources		PGP related resources, information and more.
comp.society		The impact of technology on society.
comp.society.development		Computer technology in developing countries.
comp.soft-sys.app-builder.appware		Novell's visual development environment.
comp.soft-sys.app-builder.dynasty		Dynasty Development.
comp.soft-sys.khoros		The Khoros X11 visualization system.
comp.soft-sys.middleware.opendoc		OpenDoc and its related technologies.
comp.soft-sys.shazam		The SHAZAM econometrics computer program.
comp.soft-sys.stat.systat		The statistical program package SYSTAT.
comp.sources.games.bugs		Bug reports and fixes for posted game software.
comp.specification.larch		Larch family of formal specification languages.
comp.std.internat		Discussion about international standards.
comp.sys.alliant		Info and discussion about Alliant computers.
comp.sys.amiga.datacomm		Methods of getting bytes in and out.
comp.sys.amiga.multimedia		Animations, video, & multimedia.
comp.sys.amiga.networking		Amiga networking software/hardware.
comp.sys.amiga.uucp		Amiga UUCP packages.
comp.sys.apple2.gno		The AppleIIgs GNO multitasking environment.
comp.sys.be.advocacy		Why BeOS is better/worse than XYZ.
comp.sys.be.programmer		Topics related to BeOS programming.
comp.sys.convex		Convex computer systems hardware and software.
comp.sys.harris		Harris computer systems, especially real-time systems.
comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.marketplace		PC clone games wanted and for sale.
comp.sys.ibm.pc.soundcard.advocacy		Advocacy for a particular soundcard.
comp.sys.intergraph		Intergraph hardware and software products.
comp.sys.isis		The ISIS distributed system from Cornell.
comp.sys.mac.games.adventure		Adventure games for the Macintosh.
comp.sys.mac.oop.macapp3		Version 3 of the MacApp object oriented system.
comp.sys.mac.oop.powerplant		Metrowerks' PowerPlant (CodeWarrior) Framework.
comp.sys.mac.oop.tcl		Symantec's THINK Class Library for object programming.
comp.sys.mac.programmer.codewarrior		Macintosh programming using CodeWarrior.
comp.sys.mac.programmer.games		Macintosh game programming.
comp.sys.net-computer.advocacy		Relative merits of Network Computers.
comp.sys.next.advocacy		The NeXT religion.
comp.sys.next.bugs		Discussion and solutions for known NeXT bugs.
comp.sys.nsc.32k		National Semiconductor 32000 series chips.
comp.sys.proteon		Proteon gateway products.
comp.sys.psion.comm		Discussions about Psion communications.
comp.sys.psion.marketplace		Buy and sell Psion computers and accessories.
comp.sys.ridge		Ridge 32 computers and ROS.
comp.sys.sequent		Sequent systems, (Balance and Symmetry).
comp.sys.sgi.audio		Audio on SGI systems.
comp.sys.sgi.graphics		Graphics packages and issues on SGI machines.
comp.sys.tahoe		CCI 6/32, Harris HCX/7, & Sperry 7000 computers.
comp.text.desktop		Technology & techniques of desktop publishing.
comp.unix.advocacy		Arguments for and against Unix and Unix versions.
comp.unix.cde		The Common Desktop Environment.
comp.unix.large		UNIX on mainframes and in large networks.
comp.unix.machten		The MachTen operating system and related issues.
comp.unix.pc-clone.16bit		UNIX on 286 architectures.
comp.unix.pc-clone.32bit		UNIX on 386 and 486 architectures.
comp.unix.sys3		System III UNIX discussions.
comp.unix.sys5.r3		Discussing System V Release 3.
comp.unix.xenix.sco		XENIX versions from the Santa Cruz Operation.
comp.windows.garnet		The Garnet user interface development environment.
comp.windows.interviews		The InterViews object-oriented windowing system.
comp.windows.open-look		Discussion about the Open Look GUI.
comp.windows.suit		The SUIT user-interface toolkit.
comp.windows.ui-builders.teleuse		Using/augmenting the TeleUSE UI Builder.
comp.windows.x.i386unix		The XFree86 window system and others.
misc.forsale.computers.discussion		Discussions only about items for sale.
misc.forsale.computers.mac-specific.cards.video		Macintosh video cards.
misc.forsale.computers.mac-specific.portables		Portable Macintosh systems.
misc.forsale.computers.mac-specific.systems		Complete Macintosh systems.
misc.forsale.computers.monitors		Monitors and displays for sale and wanted.
misc.forsale.computers.other.systems		Complete other types of systems.
misc.forsale.computers.pc-specific.audio		PC audio equipment.
misc.forsale.computers.pc-specific.cards.video		PC video cards.
misc.forsale.computers.pc-specific.motherboards		PC motherboards.
misc.forsale.computers.printers		Printers and plotters for sale and wanted.
misc.industry.pulp-and-paper		Technical topics in the pulp and paper industry.
misc.jobs.offered.entry		Job listings only for entry-level positions.
news.admin.nocem		NoCeM protocol policy issues and information.
rec.arts.comics.elfquest		The Elfquest universe and characters.
rec.arts.sf.starwars.collecting.customizing		Customizing Star Wars toys.
rec.arts.sf.tv.quantum-leap		Quantum Leap TV, comics, cons, etc.
rec.autos.sport.rally		Any type of interest in any form of rally motorsport.
rec.crafts.dollhouses		Collecting and making of dollhouse miniatures.
rec.games.bolo		The networked strategy war game Bolo.
rec.games.computer.quake.editing		Editing and hacking Quake-related files.
rec.games.computer.quake.playing		Playing Quake and user-created levels.
rec.games.computer.quake.quake-c		Modifying Quake with Quake-C.
rec.games.frp.industry		Roleplaying industry & companies.
rec.games.frp.storyteller		World of Darkness and StoryTeller games.
rec.games.trading-cards.marketplace.magic.trades		Trading Magic cards.
rec.games.trading-cards.startrek		Star Trek Trading Card Games.
rec.games.video.cd-i		CD-i topics with emphasis on games.
rec.games.video.cd32		Gaming talk, info and help for the Amiga CD32.
rec.games.xtank.play		Strategy and tactics for the distributed game Xtank.
rec.games.xtank.programmer		Coding the Xtank game and its robots.
rec.music.artists.ani-difranco		Ani Difranco, related topics.
rec.music.artists.danny-elfman		Composer Danny Elfman's music.
rec.music.artists.stevie-nicks		Singer/songwriter Stevie Nicks.
rec.music.artists.wallflowers		Music group The Wallflowers.
rec.music.iranian		Discussion of Iranian music.
rec.parks.theme		Entertainment theme parks.
rec.scouting.guide+girl		Guiding and girl scout organizations.
rec.sport.basketball.women		Women's basketball at all levels.
rec.sport.footbag		Discussion about the sport of footbag.
rec.sport.orienteering		All matters related to the sport of orienteering.
rec.sport.skating.roller		Conventional (quad) roller skating.
rec.video.dvd.advocacy		DVD-Video pro/con arguments.
sci.aquaria		Only scientifically-oriented postings about aquaria.
sci.engr.coastal		Coastal and ocean engineering.
sci.engr.marine.hydrodynamics		Marine Hydrodynamics.
sci.med.occupational		Repetitive Strain Injuries (RSI) & job injury issues.
soc.adoption.parenting		Adoptive parenting by adoptive parents.
soc.college.teaching-asst		Issues affecting collegiate teaching assistants.
soc.support.depression.seasonal		Seasonal affective disorder.

CHANGE HISTORY:

2011-02-01      1st RFD

Usenet achievements were plentiful this year.  In past years the discussion revolved around retention levels.  While retention continues to grow the industry expanded in other directions as well this year.  Everything from Usenet providers adding clients, VPN, storage, enhanced web access and supprt for mobile devices.

Let’s take a closer look at a few Usenet providers who left an extra mark this year:

Giganews – (VyprVPN and Mimo Usenet Browser)

Giganews was certainly busy innovating this year.  First with their addition of VyprVPN and then Mimo Usenet browser.  VyprVPN provides Diamond members with free VPN access to help secure their privacy while online.  Mimo newsreader is also free for Diamond members and provides a Usenet search feature in addition to a nice user interface.  Not to by missed Giganews continued to lead the industry in retention.  With speed and reliability to match their premium services.

Easynews – (New Web Interface, Mobile Apps)

Easynews was hard at work innovating this year.  Starting with network upgrades to ensure a high level of performance and reliability.  In October Easynews launched a new web interface and continue to enhance the online features.  We were impressed with the ease of use and wrote a full review of the beta release. More recently Easynews added 3rd party mobile apps like EZ Global Search.  Available for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.  In addition Easynews added unlimited NNTP access and support for PayPal this year.

NewsDemon – (Online Storage)

NewsDemon added free online storage for their unlimited customers this year.  Partnering with StorageNinja to offer 30 GB of free online storage to members who subscribe to an unlimited plan.  In addition they continued to include a fully licensed copy of News Rover newsreader for all members.

Newshosting – (Free Easynews Account)

Newshosting recently announced a partnership with Easynews to offer free web Usenet access to NHXL members.  This means NHXL subscribers not only receive unlimited NNTP Usenet access from Newshosting but also a 10 GB monthly Easynews account at no additional cost.  Newshosting also continued to increase retention and added support for PayPal in 2010.

Not to be missed are all the Usenet providers who offer low cost Usenet access with reliability and continued retention gains.  A list including UseNetServer, Supernews, ThunderNews, Astraweb and many more.  Cheers to everyone who helped improve Usenet in 2010.  We look forward to the years ahead!

Was the lackluster reception of Google Wave a sign of it’s weakness or was the technology just ahead of it’s time?  In this case we enjoyed Wave and think you’ll see some the innovative ideas well into the future.  Unfortunately it just didn’t catch on.  Much like Bill Gates early efforts to promote interactive computing.  While the timing wasn’t right we’re seeing a huge shift to tablets and other touch screen devices now.  Perhaps parts of the Google Wave technology will thrive in future years as well.

Google has decided to make available an open source package with the Wave web server and client code called “Wave in a Box“.  According to the Google blog post:

This project will include:

• an application bundle including a server and web client supporting real-time collaboration using the same structured conversations as the Google Wave system
• a fast and fully-featured wave panel in the web client with complete support for threaded conversations
• a persistent wave store and search implementation for the server (building on contributed patches to implement a MongoDB store)
• refinements to the client-server protocols
• gadget, robot and data API support
• support for importing wave data from wave.google.com
• the ability to federate across other Wave in a Box instances, with some additional configuration

We look forward to seeing how developers continue the effort to extend the existing Google Wave code. It will be interesting to see what areas might be influenced by the effort.  If you are interested in hosting your own Wave or taking a peak at the code stay tuned to the Google Wave Federation Protocol site.

Here is the original post in the comp.infosystems.www.authoring.cgi newsgroup.  Archived in Google Groups:

Announcing the Personal Home Page Tools (PHP Tools) version 1.0.
These tools are a set of small tight cgi binaries written in C.
They perform a number of functions including:

. Logging accesses to your pages in your own private log files
. Real-time viewing of log information
. Providing a nice interface to this log information
. Displaying last access information right on your pages
. Full daily and total access counters
. Banning access to users based on their domain
. Password protecting pages based on users’ domains
. Tracking accesses ** based on users’ e-mail addresses **
. Tracking referring URL’s – HTTP_REFERER support
. Performing server-side includes without needing server support for it
. Ability to not log accesses from certain domains (ie. your own)
. Easily create and display forms
. Ability to use form information in following documents

Here is what you don’t need to use these tools:

. You do not need root access – install in your ~/public_html dir
. You do not need server-side includes enabled in your server
. You do not need access to Perl or Tcl or any other script interpreter
. You do not need access to the httpd log files

The only requirement for these tools to work is that you have
the ability to execute your own cgi programs.  Ask your system
administrator if you are not sure what this means.

The tools also allow you to implement a guestbook or any other
form that needs to write information and display it to users
later in about 2 minutes.

The tools are in the public domain distributed under the GNU
Public License.  Yes, that means they are free!

For a complete demonstration of these tools, point your browser
at: http://www.io.org/~rasmus

–
Rasmus Lerdorf
ras…@io.org

http://www.io.org/~rasmus