What They are Up to at My Fine Institution

[Interpersonal Computing and Technology]

From: J Metz <JM...@UGA.CC.UGA.EDU>

Sounds like your college has some problems with planning. Down here at
UGA it's mostly an underestimation of visitors for the Olympics and the
parking snafus. This, obviously, is more serious. At least our problems
will go away once the Olympics are over (hopefully).

I'm assuming that you have already sent this to your director. Nevertheless
there are a few technical issues that should be clarified:

On Fri, 12 Jul 1996 11:14:24 -0400 Interpersonal Computing and Technology said:
> Utica College with a small and overtaxed Computer User Services
>Office is planning to give students access to their e-mail via the
>World Wide Web (Netscape). The memo speaks for itself....Has any one
>out there faced the same situation? What have you done? What would
>you do if you were my boss?

I'm a little confused how they intend to control account logging from
within Netscape. The program automatically calls up a preferences file
which has the domain name and subnet mask, plus an 'account' information
section for dedicated mail. For dynamic allocation systems (which most
computer labs use), there *is* no dedicated mail. The database for Windows-
based account information for anyone who *might* log into a particular lab
at any given time would seem prohibitively large. That's why most lab
cites for Netscape (or any other browser) either disable email on non-
dedicated workstations (meaning more than one person has to use it).

That's my understanding. Of course, I've never *tried* to create a multi-
user, dynamic allocation domain system for email on a large scale through
a web browser. So, I guess it's *possible*...

> Information and Planning Resources, Computer User Services'
>parent office, is notoriously uncommunicative with either faculty or
>staff which is probably a large reason for this memo's existence.

Yes, that is evident.

>Date: July 10, 1996
>
> Use of the WEB for e-mail is unnecessary. E-mail is text
>based, and the WEB's graphic power is wasted for this
>application.

I guess I want to make absolutely sure about this, that's why the stupid
question: The school is limiting email access to the web? No other
alternative?

> The WEB is slow. One might say that this does not matter to
>new users who will accept any kind of delay and who will have
>pentiums at their disposal, but there will be a limited number of
>pentiums in the labs and these will be available only when there
>is no class using them.

Actually, while your later comments about graphics on Wintel machines is
definitely true, particularly for those with older machines, the greatest
hindrance to use of the Web as a full-time facilitator of email is
connection speed and peak usage times. As more and more companies get on
the web, the access times slow to a crawl between 11 a.m. EST and 8 p.m. EST
thanks to the business hours of the west coast. My guess is that for the
most part classes in Utica are going to be within those hours, and the
majority of students will try to use the accounts during those times.

Moreover, since *everyone* at the college will be using web access for their
email, you will have a bottleneck at the Utica site as well. Netscape needs
a server, as do all web browsers. Each server begins to slow down with
each additional user connected and querying. Multiple servers are necessary,
obviously, to deal with several hundreds or thousands of users on the host
location. Heaven help Utica if someone from the *outside* actually wants
to request information on a web page from Utica!

On top of it all, there is storage space. Fortunately, while storage is at
an all time low in terms of price, storing email information adds up very
quickly. Then there are site licenses, and decentralized maintenance.
This alone (when dealing with email access) should be a *major* consideration.
It's *much* easier to deal with 10,000 accounts from *one* location than
from 10,000.

>inboxes. Slow mail means that students' inboxes will overflow.

Well, no, not really. Technological ignorance means that students' inboxes
will overflow. Since many students have their own notions about what's
*there* or *not there* and don't understand how email works or where it
goes, they're unlikely to comprehend the nuances of inbox maintenance,
*especially* if they can't see it first hand (Graphical web browsers
are designed to hide the ugly stuff from the average user).

> The system Computer Services is creating is also inherently
>unfriendly to commuters. A Computer User Services pamphlet on
>internet access instructs users with their own machines to "get
>an outside provider." This is the academic equivalent for "take a
>hike," the wrong words to tell students at a school where half of
>them live off campus and where many travel great distances over
>icy roads in winter.

Good point. That's just evil policy, in my opinion.

> Yet, even if there were enough modem lines to satisfy off
>campus and dormitory users, Computer User Services has made the
>cost of entry into its supported e-mail application, ownership of
>a pentium. Many home users, myself included, and many faculty and
>staff have 486's, 386's and even older machines, which reel or
>falter under the weight of a graphical interface. Moreover, many

Get a Mac. :)

Seriously, though, this is a very valid point. I wonder if someone in CUS
has major stockholdings in Microsoft or Intel... :)

>of the phone lines in the city of Utica are still analog, which
>means that graphical access is slow, noisy, and probably
>unworkable.

Actually, *all* phone lines that you hook up to via modem are analog.
Digital lines will blow out your modem. Analog lines, e.g., non-dedicated
POTS (plain-old-telephone-service) lines often cut down efficiency of
data transmission to around 50-70% capacity. Bell South, for instance,
is absolutely notorious for this; I don't know about Nynex.

Thing is, though, that if people want to connect from home, that means that
they absolutely have to have a 28.8 baud modem to compensate for error-
correction due to line noise. I myself am using a 9600 baud modem and
I'm absolutely pulling my hair out. Obviously travelling the web is a
non-graphical journey for me.

> Furthermore, Computer User Services may be setting up an
>internet access system that is missing a crucial components, a
>system that fails to fulfill the library's and college's mission.
>If WEB access is the sole method of internet contact for
>students, each machine downstairs MUST have a telnet utility
>installed on it or a text based alternative through which telnet
>is available.

With Netscape, Telnet is a program that is installed as a helper
application, and must be installed on the machine or LAN in order for
it to be used.

This in itself is not a major problem: the LAN will run the allocation
scheme for assigning domain addresses. The only real drawback is that
it further decentralizes the system. If the CUS staff is so overworked
and understaffed, they might have just royally shot themselves in the foot.

> TELNET IS A VITAL SERVICE! It provides access to databases
>that make the net an important ACADEMIC RESOURCE rather than a
>grudgingly provided frill. Telnet allows students to enter CARL
>Uncover to obtain free, reliable, and current references to
>articles and to access major library consortia to obtain free and
>reliable references to books. Full text files from the National
>Institute of Justice and internship information for occupational
>and physical therapy students are also available via telnet
>and/or gopher

Netscape has FTP, Gopher, Archie, and Telnet built-in. CUS customizes
each copy of Netscape ( a pain in the ass, but doable) with the
corresponding helper applications.

> Other important components for any full fledged WEB based
>system include a complete Usenet feed, real audio, WEBchat, and

Yes, and with each of these comes sound cards, speakers, video cards and
the drivers for all of the above.

Get macs. :) (sorry, couldn't resist).

>Palace clients as well as the ability for students to construct
>their own WEB pages. Without access to telnet, and other
>interactive utilities, use of the net becomes as passive as
>watching television or talking on the phone. This is not the
>dream that the internet revolution promised.

And, ultimately, perhaps not doable. It looks like they've created far too
much work for themselves to accomplish. Things go wrong. At the computer
consulting firm I worked at, we only had 75 workstations -- dedicated,
and something was going wrong all the time. I'm curious to see what
Unix boxes CUS plans to use to hold all this stuff. What about a firewall?
There's something else to consider.

> Because we have volunteered to teach the internet, we will
>receive the blame for an inadequate system and may find ourselves
>in the awkward position of promoting services that rest on a
>philosophy with which we disagree. I hope that you can prevent

Or worse. I forsee an environment where less technologically-savvy
professors decide to use the Web as out-of-class assignments only to
find that certain students can't access from home, or those that do
manage to get to campus find scores of people looking at the Web Site Of
The Day. A logistical nightmare unless they plan for a worst-case
scenario instead of what the average might be.

If you plan for the average situation, the average situation then becomes
the worst-case scenario.

>I would also like
>to know Computer User Services' plans to provide for commuters
>and those not lucky enough to have pentiums. A text based
>alternative to the WEB would make me far more comfortable in my
>role as internet instructor.

Telnet information takes priority on the Internet. Realtime messages
have higher priority in packet-switching, so if students are realtiming
through the Netscape server, the system will slow to a crawl (I mean if
lots of them are doing it at once). It simply makes more sense to let
an IBM mainframe workhorse handle the core messaging system, which makes
everything centralized and keep the Web server dedicated for graphic
materials.

They might argue that that would mean maintaining two different systems,
and that they don't have the manpower for that. I would retort with a
question about how they plan to handle the manpower necessary to setup and
maintain *several* Unix boxes, thosands of Netscape licenses, *plus* the
decentralized locations, *and* the prerequisite helpdesk for users'
questions.

> * * * Eileen H. Kramer

Good luck.

J Michel Metz
University of Georgia
and
Internet Systems Consultant
Exploration Resources
Athens, GA