CFN & Y2K: Free Computer Network Goes Offline

[Kenneth Applegate]

On Fri, 6 Aug 1999, Joe Mabel wrote:

I checked the Cleveland Freenet site, and apparently it's no hoax,
althought they don't say much about. They seem to be tied closely to Case
Western Reserve University, and there is a note advising faculty, staff,
and students to switch over to other university services.

I hope the obsolete software that doesn't do Y2K isn't named "Freeport"!

Ken Applegate


> Hard to know what to make of this.  Almost seems like a hoax, or at least a 
> partial misunderstanding, although I don't doubt Cleveland Freenet is going 
> out of existence.  Unlike our SCN, I gather they never really made the 
> transition to the Web & they are more of a glorified BBS.  Shutting that 
> down would just be the recongnition that their software has gone from 
> obselescent to obsolete.
> 
> Still, it's bizarre that they are closing shop instead of transitioning. 
> Must be far more to the story than this, and they are blaming the software 
> for an institutional problem.
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Brian High [SMTP:kv9x at scn.org]
> Sent:	Thursday, August 05, 1999 4:41 PM
> To:	scn at scn.org
> Subject:	CFN & Y2K: Free Computer Network Goes Offline
> 
> X-No-Archive: Yes
> 
> Thursday August 5 5:05 AM ET
> 
> Free Computer Network Goes Offline
> 
> CLEVELAND (AP) - Cleveland Free-Net, the nation's first free
> community computer network, is already a victim of the Year 2000
> bug.
> 
> The system, which started as an electronic bulletin board in 1984
> at Case Western Reserve University, is scheduled to go out of
> business on Oct. 1. Its operators said the system would self-destruct at
> year's end because the computer program written for it can't recognize
> the year 2000.
> 
> Operators have decided to get out early.
> 
> http://dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/ap/technology/story.html?s=v/ap/199  
> 90805/tc/free_net_demise_1.html
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Ken Applegate           How do you identify astronomers from Seattle? 
<starsrus at scn.org>      By the windshield wipers on their telescopes!


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