Don't Dis The Host

If you get to the Internet through a host, are you a second-class citizen? In some ways yes, but look at the benefits. Security and maintenance are the host's problem, not yours. With BIX, BYTE's primary link to the Internet, we can access its Internet services (plus public and private BIX conferencing) from the LAN or any Tymnet node, and we can use them effectively even on the humblest DOS laptop over the worst-case hotel-room dial-up link. As the PC LAN culture collides with the scary realities of wide-area directory synchronization and data replication, host-based systems can look pretty attractive.

You doubt that central computing is back in style? Consider that Microsoft Exchange product managers are now pitching "terminal-mode" access to mail servers (i.e., the ability to read a message store without altering its state) as a key innovation. Or think about how Lotus is cranking up the number of connections that Notes will handle in version 4, so you won't have to spread data across servers just to boost capacity, and you can reserve data distribution for the problem that really justifies it--geographical separation (see "Your Next Mainframe," May BYTE).

The Unix-based, TTY-oriented host called BIX is reliable, secure, and convenient. And thanks to Jean van Waterschoot's brilliant navigator and off-line reader, called Galahad, it's lately become downright gorgeous. BIX's mail and conferencing services are a vital part of BYTE's infrastructure, and I hope to remain judell@bix.com for a long time to come.

Of course, we can't field a Web server on BIX. And while I prefer its news reader, nn, to any of the GUI alternatives now available, I admit I'm a knuckle-scraping Neanderthal in this regard. None of my colleagues use nn. They all want direct, graphical access to the Internet, not terminal mode, and they should have it. So we're experimenting with direct dial-up and leased-line connections to the Internet. (ISDN isn't an option yet in New Hampshire, sadly. Nynex, please get with the program!) An open pipe to the world, however, can be a scary thing. Client-side Internet access that's mediated by a host--BIX, CompuServe, America Online, Prodigy, the Microsoft Network--can be the ticket for individuals and even some businesses.