Pine controversy

[Rod Clark]

> OK, so we will have a bunch of library computers running Windows 98 and
> using IE or Netscape for a web based access to their services. Does that
> mean we set up SCN email so it can use the email features of whatever
> browser the library uses? 

Ken, 

   The POP mail server has been working well for about a year or
so now (or maybe longer, but I hadn't used it before then). Any
mail program that uses the POP3 and SMTP protocols will work
with it. This includes, for example, Netscape Mail as well as
standalone programs like Pegasus and Eudora.

> Or do we try to get the library to install some particular
> dedicated email program on all their machines?

   They can use whatever they like, as long as it adheres to the
POP3 and SMTP standards. A user in Siberia could use a Cyrillic
mail program to check his mail, as long as it communicated with
SCN's server using those protocols.

> And how do users and visitors access other services on SCN, using the
> library environment?

   Usenet newsreaders are built into the popular browsers. As
yet, though, SCN's news server is unreachable by anything other
than the FreePort newsreader and the "readnews" read-only CGI
script. The number of newsgroups available is small, which is
something that many users would like to see improved. That's not
possible with the old, slow news machine. Does anyone know what
the plans are for the new SCN3 news server that someone was
working on last year?

   The FTP server is a non-service, except for Information
Providers. So that's not applicable, at least until
Hardware/Software figures out how offer FTP uploads to users in
general. This is one of the most requested services among users,
and has been for several years. But FTPing files to SCN with
WS_FTP from SPL lab computers has worked well for about two and
a half years now for IPs.

   What other services would they be accessing? There's no chat
or anything like that. Mail, Usenet, FTP. End of list.

Rod Clark

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