Mail Archives: opendos/2004/01/14/09:32:51
The product lifecyle for Fidonet may soon, if not already have,
come to an end. Take MCI Mail which was decommissioned after 20
years. As a fee based message handling service it allow more and
better access as well as more message delivery options as well as
someone to say the time has come.
Access: No access charges for 800 number in the US, at speeds
down to 300 baud half duplex with a paper terminal. Also
Z-modem, Y-modem, Kermit and a customizable proprietary protocol.
Dial access in something like 110 other countries, as well as via
the global packet switching network, and via the global telex
network which would include radio telex. Maybe radio access via
Motorola's EMBARC service. There was access via the Internet,
but that was kept secret from their customers.
Messages: MCI Mail, Internet, X.400, Telex, Fax send only (plain
text, .TIFF, .PCL5, and PostScript), Worldwide postal or courier
delvery (plain text or color PostScript). As long as you used
ASCII text, the same message could go via all delivery options
with one send.
Everying worked better and faster, just not cheaper. After 20
years with MCI Mail, my laptop, a 1984(?) Sord IS-11C could live
on through Fidonet. Kinda scary.
-- Gary Welles
| Date: Tue Jun 24, 2003 4:12 pm EDT
| From: Help with MCI / MCI ID: 324-8333
|
| Subject: Final MCI Mail Decommissioning Notice
|
<snip>
| . . . The decision to decommission the MCI Mail service was not
| made lightly, and resulted from careful analysis of MCI Mail's
| maintenance costs and revenue trends. This analysis identified
| that the product lifecycle for the MCI Mail service has come to
| an end.
<snip>
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