Re:When was the blizzard?
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 1, Insightful
Only the slashdot story is mistaken, of course. Christensen says "January 16, 1978 was a very snowy day." and the ZDNet article says "Winter in Chicago means snow, and lots of it. Twenty-five years and one month ago saw a doozy of a storm."
Christensen obviously remembers it wasn't "The Blizzard Of" or he'd say it that way. The ZDNet article is iffy; they might have it wrong, but didn't say enough to pin them down. This oiliness is called "Professional Journalism". The slashdot article is simply wrong, since saying "The blizzard of" instead of "A blizzard in" clearly implies a great event.
Moral: Ignore any text you see on slashdot, RTFA, and then do some light background research.
Re:Snow day...
by
rusty0101
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· Score: 2, Insightful
Actually what became the Internet already existed. ARPAnet existed, and I seem to recall it celebrating it's 30th birthday in the last couple of years.
What the BBS provided, respective to the Internet, was a bunch of people who had some experience administering equipment that connected computers over the telco PSTN. Many of these people started their own ISPs or went to work for new ISPs when it became obvious that the internet was the way of the future.
Running a BBS gave you experience with user accounts, privledges, various chat and application options, modems, and in some cases even billing. In many cases it also provided you with a crash course in customer relations or even what has become known as Customer Relationship Management, as you usually were the tech support for your BBS.
If you did not back end your BBS with a network of some sort, other than fidoNet or RHYME, you probably did not have experience with routers, or file servers. The vast majority of BBSs were single systems with 1-4 modems attached. If you wanted more than four modems you would have to buy special cards that would allow 8, 16 or even 32 serial ports per card. These cards may have been expensive, but in most cases they were less expensive than the added computer, network equipment, etc to add more phone lines.
If you participated in one of the back end file and message passing services, and there was not a local hookup with another BBS, you almost always ended up paying monthly $100+ phone bills.
Slashdot Mirror
Not trying to be a troll, just saying hey, we have already discussed it.
Memo To Malda: Make sure your not posting the same story a week later...
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Erm, am I the only one who remembers that the "great Chicago Blizzard" was in '79 not '78? Don't believe my rusty old memory? See for yourself.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
Actually what became the Internet already existed. ARPAnet existed, and I seem to recall it celebrating it's 30th birthday in the last couple of years.
What the BBS provided, respective to the Internet, was a bunch of people who had some experience administering equipment that connected computers over the telco PSTN. Many of these people started their own ISPs or went to work for new ISPs when it became obvious that the internet was the way of the future.
Running a BBS gave you experience with user accounts, privledges, various chat and application options, modems, and in some cases even billing. In many cases it also provided you with a crash course in customer relations or even what has become known as Customer Relationship Management, as you usually were the tech support for your BBS.
If you did not back end your BBS with a network of some sort, other than fidoNet or RHYME, you probably did not have experience with routers, or file servers. The vast majority of BBSs were single systems with 1-4 modems attached. If you wanted more than four modems you would have to buy special cards that would allow 8, 16 or even 32 serial ports per card. These cards may have been expensive, but in most cases they were less expensive than the added computer, network equipment, etc to add more phone lines.
If you participated in one of the back end file and message passing services, and there was not a local hookup with another BBS, you almost always ended up paying monthly $100+ phone bills.
-Rusty
You never know...