Anyone out there???????

"Keith Meredith" <merry050 RemoveThis @btinternet.com> writes:

> "Alan Adams" <alan.adams RemoveThis @orchard-way.freeserve.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:da4d59c04d.Alan.Adams@orchard-way.freeserve.co.uk...
>>
>> Maybe the problem is that people don't have newsreaders.

> I use outlook express - don't /most/ people have this?

Leaving aside the issues of using outlook express as a usenet client[1].

Mainly I suspect it is because ISPs don't advertise the fact that
they have an nntp server, even if they do have one. AOL don't even
run a usenet service anymore. If people don't know they have access
to a service they will assume that they either don't have access, or
that they will have to pay for access, so they don't bother.[2]

The other thing is that as the wonderful whizzy world of the web gets all
the attention these days, some the other less glamourous parts of the
internet get correspondingly less attention, so people don't even know they
are there.

Doesn't help that it is slightly more complex to configure usenet
access than it is to configure someother things.

[1] It does, if you have nothing better, but there are better clients
available for free (ditto oe for email).

[2] Did that make sense? it has been a long day.

--
James jamesk[at]homeric[dot]co[dot]uk

"Boom. Boom boom boom. Boom boom. Boom! Have a nice day."
(Lt. Cmdr. Ivanova, B5)

In message <djqju1$9qj$1@nwrdmz03.dmz.ncs.ea.ibs-infra.bt.com>
"Keith Meredith" <merry050 DeleteThis @btinternet.com> wrote:

>
> "Alan Adams" <alan.adams DeleteThis @orchard-way.freeserve.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:da4d59c04d.Alan.Adams@orchard-way.freeserve.co.uk...
> >
> > Maybe the problem is that people don't have newsreaders.
> >
> > Alan
> >
>
> I use outlook express - don't /most/ people have this?

Yes, but I'm referring to a newsreader, rahter than email software. OE
doesn't handle news well, which I suspect is why most people don't like
using news. I'm using MessengerPRO which handles it seamlessly. The last
time I used news on a PC I used Netscape4, which did a reasonable job.

Alan


--
Alan Adams
alan.adams DeleteThis @orchard-way.freeserve.co.uk
http://www.nckc.org.uk/