CYBER RIGHTS NOW! // /\ .^. / / //^\ \.^| |^.^./ / / |_: : : |/ / /^ ^ ^ \ \ /\ \_ | \ \ / /\ \ | \ \ // \ / . \ \ / | | \\ |CRN!| \ )ASCII by Bone( Newsletter 3 ****PLEASE DISTRIBUTE**** /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ I. Introduction II. A Matter of Fairness Why software copy protection is unfair to individuals with disabilities III. E-Mail Addresses for Sale IV. Jesus Takes Over the Internet V. 5 Reasons Why Online Services Are Dying VI. AOL4FREE - Can I get Caught? VII. AOL and USENET Abuse VIII. Little Thing on Technology \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ *********************************************************** INTRODUCTION by Bone Looking at the articles in this Issue I'd say CRN! is actually looking a bit on the classy side. We have some really good articles for you this time. I actually only wrote one article this time. The rest were submitted by CRN! members. Some of whom have some serious talent. CRN! now has over 225 registered users and keeps growing daily! Our distribution also seems to be growing. Hopefully CRN! will continue to grow to a real force in the computer world. I have no intention of becoming like C|Net or anything like that. I don't want to be a pansy to the corporate world (even though I work in it :( ). I just want CRN! to be recognized as a voice in the computer world. I'm actually out of words. On with the articles. * <= Tribble * <=Tribble's evil cousin Skippy - Bone *********************************************************** A MATTER OF FAIRNESS: WHY SOFTWARE COPY PROTECTION IS UNFAIR TO INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES By Belgarion Before I begin I would like to apologize for the necessity of a pseudonym. You see my job focuses on providing information regarding assistive technology and, more specifically, how to adapt computers for people with disabilities. However, since a good portion of my job deals with working with many many computer software and hardware companies I have a concern that just ONE may look unfavorably upon my opinions. This, in turn, could lead to said company refusing to work with us, which in turn could cause some individual to not be able to use a piece of software they would want to. In addition, there is also always the possibility of my superiors not appreciating this either (they are perfectly fine with what I do, they just share the same concern that I do). Anyway, on to the focus of this article. As previously mentioned I try to help individuals with disabilities adapt computers, both hardware and software for their use. I work with individuals of all ages and functioning abilities. The software we adapt is also equally as varied. I have helped to set up computers for children with Cerebral Palsy and adults who are paralyzed from the neck down. Today one of the largest obstacles for independent computer usage continues to be software copy protection. What is designed to save (or make) the companies a few extra dollars is actually eliminating a potential revenue source that is pretty impressive. How impressive? Microsoft has an entire team devoted to making Windows 95 easier to use by individuals with disabilities (there are notes about it when you install the software, in the manual, and an icon in the Control Panel - they obviously take it seriously). According to Microsoft's Computer Accessibility for Individuals with Disabilities, "it is estimated that there are over 30 million people in the United States alone that could be affected by computer design." That's a lot of buying power and if the big M$ took note it's surprising that so many other companies remain ignorant. Of all the software available three types of software cause the most problems: a) Document check - It is fairly difficulty for an individual using a headmouse (an ultrasonic device that is worn on the head an allows for full mouse control, the user moves their head to move the cursor and blows into a straw to click the mouse button) to turn to page 33 and look at word 6 on line 5 paragraph 3. While add-on TSR software, such as virtual keyboards that work in conjunction with a headmouse, allow for 'typing' by the individual, they are still unable to access the documentation. Thus, they can no longer independently use the software. b) CD Check and key disk - Again, an individual who is unable to functionally swap CD's or disks is condemned to use the one in the drive or not use the program at all. I know that some CD's are required to be present due to the vast amount of information required, and that disk towers are available. I am specifically pointing to those programs that could reasonably fit onto a hard drive but deliberately require the CD to be present. C) Dongle - Possibly the worst of them all the dongle, frequently employed by high-power CAD and other professional software, can actually prevent a professional from doing their job. I recently gave a copy of the 3D Studios 4 patch to an individual who is quadriplegic. The person was so happy that he actually had tears in his eyes. He had wanted to use the software for over a year however his adaptive hardware used the parallel port and was not compatible with the dongle requires to run 3D-Studios. The patch helped to solve this problem. It is important to recognize that I do not advocate for illegally pirating software. I am only trying to point out how certain practices can vastly effect a group of individuals who should be , but rarely are, taken into account by the software developers. I wonder how some of the companies would react if Christopher Reeve wrote them and told them he would love to use their product but can't because of the document check... So what do I do? I keep a library of patches for available software. Copyware has also been kind enough to regularly provide us with Neverlock to demonstrate how programs can be modified to avoid things like document checks and key disks. I also provide location information of FTP or WWW sites where cracks are available (I can't keep copies of cracks that are modified portions of the actual code - it's illegal ;) ). I also try to keep a few other tricks up my sleeve... Anyway, this was just one person's perspective. While I am sure that there are some who agree and some who disagree I think that (for the most part) people feel that EVERYONE should be able to use software. If you would like more information on adapting computers take a look in Yahoo. They have a pretty good list of links and can get you pointed in the right direction. I can also be reached at AN369067@ANON.PENET.FI. If you have any a major problem or emergency I am sure that Bone will be able to find me... -Belgarion ******************************************************** E-MAIL ADDRESS FOR SALE by Intaglio Junkmail - don't you hate receiving it? I always felt it was a terrible waste of paper. Do you really want to deal with it on the net, too? What a waste of bandwidth and storage space. let your voice be heard. Send a short message to the companies who want to exploit our privacy for their economic gain. Share this message with your electronic community. Don't let them play on the apathy that has already allowed them to commercialize the net to such a degree. The following message taken from a cpsr newsletter --snip-- The Marketry company of Bellvue, Washington is now selling email addresses of Internet users obtained from Newsgroup postings. From the company's press release: "These are email address of individuals who are actively using the Internet to obtain and transfer information. They have demonstrated a substantial interest in specific area of information on the Internet. They are regularly accessing information in their interest areas from newsgroups, Internet chats and websites. . . . The file is anticipated to grow at the rate of 250,000 E Mail addresses per month, all with Interest selections." What are the interest areas currently available? "Adult, Computer, Sports, Science, Education, News, Investor, Games, Entertainment Religion, Pets." The release notes that "additional interests areas will be added, please inquire." Activities of US and non-US Net users will be included in the Marketry product. The Washington Post reported that the president of Markertry, Norm Swent, would not disclose who the actual owner of the list is. "That really is confidential information," Swent said, "and we are obviously bound by confidentiality agreements with the list owner." WHAT YOU CAN DO: (a) Sit back, let your newsgroup postings get swept up by the data scavengers and watch the junk email pile high on your system, or (b) Send email to Marketry and tell them to STOP SELLING PERSONAL DATA GATHERED FROM THE NET. Send email to: listpeople@marketry.com and tell your friends to send email. And tell your friends' friends. It's your name. It's your mailbox. Think about it. ******************************************************** JESUS TAKES OVER THE INTERNET! Letter provided by ANONYMOUS Comments by Bone First let me state that this is the first time I am commenting on something in a way I think may piss some people off. Let me state that I believe noone has ANY right to push their beliefs on someone else. Let it also be know that I am agnostic (not atheist). This was brought on by 8 years of private catholic school (the type where they did hit you...hard) and a better than average IQ. These comments reflect the way I am towards people who try to regulate others lives. I have nothing against God. If he does exist I picture him as a big warm guy who when you reach heaven will say "It's OK, you screwed up, everyone does" and give you a big warm hug. Not a "throw the sinner is hell" type of god. Anyway, anything starting in *** is me (Bone). > >Message-ID: <030313Z02101995@anon.penet.fi> > >Path: nntp4.mindspring.com!matlock.mindspring.com! > >news.sprintlink.net!EU.net!news..eunet..fi!anon..penet..fi > >Newsgroups: alt.aol-sucks > >From: an388076@anon.penet.fi (DiannaLeach) > >X-Anonymously-To: alt.aol-sucks > >Organization: Anonymous forwarding service > >Reply-To: an388076@anon.penet.fi > >Date: Mon, 2 Oct 1995 03:01:05 UTC > >Subject: My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, the almighty > >father > >Lines: 102 > > > > > >Brothers and Sisters in Christ: > > > >Hello all, this is once again Mrs. Dianna Leech writing to you > >from my secure account within the Internet at America OnLine. > >Over the last several weeks I have been only to post messages > >to this message board on a sporadic basis. You see, I have been > >out fighting in Washington D.C., for Christian values for one and > >all. I hope to be able to write more within the next couple of days > >and weeks and months to come. > > > >I see that there has been some debate as to whether or not I am Dawn > >or whether I am Mimi. Why can't you people just accept the fact, that > >I am who I am and that is Mrs. Dianna Leach. For those of you not > >familiar with me, I am here to bring TOS to all the world. I will > >bring AOL's TOS to every corner of the earth that has an Internet > >connection -- it must be done in Jesus name. *** What is your quest? *** I seek the Holy Grail! *** What is your favorite color.... > > > >After reading several hundred back messages in this group, I am > >concerned about the direction it is taking -- but I also see some > >progress. I see many more Christian women and men speaking up in > >this discussion group who come from AOL. They are coming to defend > >their morals and beliefs that the Internet is a vile disgusting place for > >the worlds children to have to visit. *** You don't like it??? Don't use it! You don't eat a food you don't like. > > They understand that AOL is a > >Christian community where we love one another and we can learn and > >grow in this love. They understand that TOS is a well written > >document that protects and defends Christian morals and values. *** Since when? I don't think it was Christian specific. > >AMEN. > > This must and will continue. I'm happy to see more and more AOLers > >and GNNers going out to all the Internet to spread the good news of > >TOS and Jesus Christ. Mr. Jordan, don't give up the fight for what > >you believe in.. God will send you a little miracle to let you know > >that he is working on the big ones -- like converting all of the > >Internet to AOL and TOS. *** God help us all :) > > > >One thing that is particularly troubling to me is that I have been > >seeing an ever increasing amount of obscene language and four letter > >words used in the messages in this message base. Dear friends, be > >warned that this type of behavior must not be continued any further. *** Shiver in fear! > >I am announcing my new policy of ZERO tolerance for those who use > >curse and blasphemy words. We must realize, that this mess age > >base is open to many children who may read these vulgar words. > >If you use them, I will take several steps. For one, I will send the letter > >to your sys admin with a copy of AOL's TOS to show them how you > >violated common decency standards. *** Since when did AOL set the rules? Ever hear of the Internet Society? *** Or even better, the CONSTITUTION???? Guess not... > > Next, I will forward to letter to > >AOL's TOS for future reference so that accounts may be terminated > >when AOL acquires all of the Internet. *** That will NEVER happen. If it does I'm going back to my hacking *** ways. BIGTIME. > > I'm sorry I have to resort to these > >tactics, but if you people can not abide by the voluntary rules that > >AOL and Jesus Christ have set up for the Internet in its TOS document, *** I checked the Internet Societies member list. Jesus didn't make the cut *** this year. > >then you will have to suffer the consequences. Note though, that you > >will also suffer the consequences at the right hand of Jesus Christ on *** Isn't he a lefty? Or shouldn't he be ambidextrous so he isn't biased. > >judgment day as well. There is your warning -- please don't make me > >resort to this. Also, this includes *EVERYONE* who is a participant > >in this discussion group -- no one will be excluded (not even the all > >powerful CABAL members). > > > >Secondly, I think that we should eradicate all known homosexuals > >from participating in this discussion group. *** Can you say Bigot? Homosexuals (non flaming) are just regular *** people with different sexual preferences. Nothing else. > > Lets make this a place > >where we know our children will not be harmed. So, sorry Mr. Finley, > >you'll have to go, and you better take Mr. McCracken (ASCII Rider) > >with you, since we all really know that his sexual orientation leans > >toward homosexuality - despite his attempts to hit on me. *** To quote a little known document "All men are created equal". > > > >Third on my agenda, is to change the name of this group. The current > >one is inappropriate at best. S*cks is not appropriate language for *** SUCKS is a bad word??? Bart Simpsons says bitch on TV and *** SUCKS is a bad word???? That sucks. > >our christian children to be hearing. I'm open to suggestions on > >this one. My real hope would be to just kill this group and take our > >discussion over to alt.online-service.aol or something like that > >lets wait though and see what suggestions we get for new names for > >this group. OK? > > > >And finally, during this week that Jews celebrate their special > >holidays, lets all say a special prayer for them that they will > >someday know that their creator is Jesus Christ and they will join > >with us in celebrating the body of our Lord and savior, Jesus > >Christ, the most holy one. *** My god woman, your a Christian Nazi! > > > >Well, there you have it people, three new agenda items -- short > >term goals for this newsgroup. The Christian Women's League > >long term goal of converting all of the Internet to AOL/TOS/Jesus > >has not and will not change until complete conversion is at hand. *** You're going to be waiting a LONG time. > > > >Now, let us reflect on what Jesus has given us and thank him for > >that: > > > >Dear sweet Jesus, thank you again for providing the on-line community > >with AOL. *** If Jesus invented AOL I think he did a better job with the Chia Pet. > > We thank you for the Christian Fellowship that we all > >have come to enjoy on your network of choice. Thank you dear father > >for writing TOS for us as a guideline on how you want us to act in > >this day of global communications. *** Jesus is a technical writer for AOL? Must be working with Elvis. > > Dear Jesus, give us the strength to > >always do your will, and we know your will is to free the net of > >porn, homosexuality, and Christ haters. We know that only a powerful > >document and Christian AOL GUIDES can accomplish this feat, but we > >will do it in your name Jesus, forever and ever. AMEN. ALLELUIA! *** I keep getting flashes of Bill the Cat as Fundamental Bill and his *** quest against penguin lust (remember that one?). > > > >Sincerely and on behalf of HIS sorrowful passion, > >Mrs. Dianna Leach > >Christian Women's League > > *** I'm conducting a playful little survey. *** E-mail your answer to seaman@phobos.lib.iup.edu *** - - - - - - - - - -cut here- - - - - - - - - - *** This woman needs to: *** *** A) get laid *** B) get the stick out of her ___________ (you fill it in) *** C) Realize all people(PC) are created equal. *** D) Realize that America was founded by people looking *** for religious freedom *** E) Go back to England during the middle ages when *** the churches ran everything *** F) Realize that if God really cared famine, war, and *** plagues would not be happening. *** G) (you fill in) *** *** Choose one and send it to Bone. Results will be in *** the next newsletter! *** *** - - - - - - - - - -cut here- - - - - - - - - - *************************************************************** 5 REASONS WHY ONLINE SERVICES ARE DYING by Marty Robinson There was a very interesting article in the Atlanta Journal- Constitution today. It's a reprint from the Orange County Register and was written by Stephen Lynch. This isn't the whole article, just the top 5 reasons online services are on the way out. "1- They can't keep up with growth. AOL Spokeswoman Pam McGraw says the service receives more than 4 million e-mail messages a day from outside providers - but that volume forces delivery delays of about two hours. Unlike the Web, which is scattered across a worldwide computer network, commercial services route all their subscribers through the same bottleneck and the users are charged for the delays. 2- Too many graphics. Even on a high-speed modem, one page on (the online services) can take forever to load. MSN spokesman Bill Miller says that his service has been criticized by some users for it's abundant photos - "from the result of us pushing the envelope." Make that "the result of trying to make more money." On the Web, if something is taking too long to load, you hit "Stop" and go elsewhere. Commercial services, in an effort to run up your bill, make you load and load and load. 3- They are losing their content providers. Almost everything you can find on a commercial service can be found on the Web. And more content providers are leaving the companies in favor of a broader audience. 4- They've become blockades, not gateways. Commercial services have realized the Web is the way to go, and the Big Four all feature browsers to surf the general Internet. But to access the Web through AOL is to go to New York by the way of Alaska. 5- They know they are dying. AOL is starting a direct Internet service. So is CompuServe. Microsoft tried to by 20 percent of Netscape. Apple Computer is transforming the World into a direct Internet service." Mr. Lynch goes on to give one reason why online services are still not extinct: "One reason why commercial providers aren't dying: No one has invested in a national service that you can load on your computer, double-click and boom, Web access. Until that happens, easy-to-use commercial services may still cling to Internet newbies, who are good for at least six months before they realize they are being suckered." **************************************************************** AOL4FREE - CAN I GET CAUGHT? by ANONYMOUS A better question would be 'would they want to prosecute me if I'm caught?' The answer depends on how easy it is to catch and trace you. A little more than a week ago, certain persons in the underground community found a security hole which allowed them to sign on any AOL account without needing a password. While browsing around some TOS accounts, they found EMAIL concerning AOL4Free. The letter you've all been massmailed in the hack rooms explains how AOL can detect usage of AOL4Free. However, I have managed to get my hands on a fuller version of the letter within which AOL Staff admits plans to take legal action against AOL4Free users. Check it out: ----------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, Sep 4, 1995 1:52 PM EDT From: Appelman Subj: Fwd: AOL4FREE detector To: lippke@aol.net Posted on: America Online (using WAOL 2.5) Please supply her with the list of screen names. This will get interesting. Barry -------------- Forwarded Message: Date: Thu, Aug 31, 1995 4:32 PM EDT From: MayLiang Subj: Fwd: AOL4FREE detector To: Appelman cc: Dphillips, JMCHURCH Posted on: America Online (using WAOL 2.5) Barry-- This is great! I talked to Jane and what we need is a list of screen names only (no member names or addresses--those need to be subpoenaed)of the aol4free people. We then should get verification from TOS and then hand them over to the Secret Service, but those are things you don't have to worry about. So you may start whenever you're ready! May P.S. How's the patent application looking? :) -------------- Forwarded Message: Date: Thu, Aug 31, 1995 12:26 PM EDT From: Appelman Subj: Fwd: AOL4FREE detector To: MayLiang Posted on: America Online (using WAOL 2.5) These people are idable as stealing time. I think we have enough? to go forward with legal action. We are ready whenever you are. Barry -------------- Forwarded Message: Date: Thu, Aug 31, 1995 10:11 AM EDT From: Lippke Subj: AOL4FREE detector To: KHuntsman, Steiny, JHunter cc: Appelman, X066TR Posted on: America Online (using WAOL 2.5) Heh heh heh .. looks like we've got a reliable AOL4FREE detector. If you filter the log for "CMis" you'll come up with what seems to be a reliable list of AOL4FREE users. The CMis message is being output by the terminal handler when it gets a holding area update carried in by a q_context that doesn't have the same UID as the stored q_context. These updates are all coming in from Library with the last token being set to Dd. Knowing that AOL4FREE sends in constant K1s and that K1 is marked pre-login, I hypothesized that the thing must start sending in the swarms of K1 tokens BEFORE the user is fully logged in --- and, sure enough, when you look at the billing history of these folks, they pretty much all = look normal until June (when AOL4FREE came out) and then they started racking up 1000s of minutes of free time and almost no paid time. With this bit of knowledge, we should be able to comb through the old logs and come up with a fairly comprehensive hit list which could then = be verified by TOS (although it looks like a positive lock!). Others can decide what to do with them, but I have visions of all AOL4FREE hackers getting simultaneously whacked. The prevention code still needs to go into the TIH, but that'd sure send a shot over their bow! :-) /David ----------------------------------------------------------- Looks pretty bad, doesn't it, with the Secret Service and everything. But not to worry... with v4 of AOL4Free, you are much harder to detect! You see, what AOL4Free does is send the free token after every real token. When you are signing on, you send the 'Dd' token with you screen name and password, and a free 'K1' token is sent afterward. However, because you aren't really signed on yet, AOL sees the K1 token as a bug and records it in a log. All the Network Ops people had to do is search their logs for this bug and viola, they had their AOL4Free users. v4 is modified so that it doesn't send the free token after 'Dd'. Users of v4 are totally Stealth... they 'look' just like normal AOL users. The ONLY way for AOL to identify them as AOL4Free users would be to record their entire sessions... but with hundreds of thousands of mac users, how would they pick out suspects? They could comb through billing records looking for inordinate amounts of free time, but for privacy and technical reasons this isn't feasible. NOTE: If you're calling from the 800 number, logging in over TCP, or have not disabled caller ID with *67 AOL CAN TRACE YOU WITH THE PRESS OF A BUTTON. PLEASE, if you're on a fake account or doing anything highly illegal, sign onto AOL only through your local number. They'll need a court order to find you there. *********************************************************** AOL AND USENET ABUSE by Dr. Suess (Doc@CatnHat.net) Recently I commented on my concerns about being removed from my server at the request of America Online. Most would say this would be inappropriate. My concerns derive from America Online's attitude that they have the right to exercise control over FORMER America Online members. This truly reminds me of a movie, The Godfather, which is about the Mafia and is an excellent movie despite Marlon Brando. Once a member of the Mafia you can never leave except as a deceased member. America Online seems to function the same way. Once a member you will always belong to them. I am, like many, an ex-member of American Online. I often refer to Steve Case as Cardinal Case. Perhaps I have been in grevious error at great personal risk. Henceforth I will address him with great respect as Don Case. I value my ISP account and would not like to lose it nor become a member of the Federal Witness Protection Program as I have enough difficulty keeping my name straight. Please note the first word of the second sentence of the paragraph immediately following the header. ********** From: webedit@aol.net (Canceler Web Editor) Newsgroups: news.admin.net-abuse.announce Followup-To: poster Subject: 6 Oct 1995: Abuse Report from AOL Date: 9 Oct 1995 21:53:00 GMT Organization: America Online Message-ID: <45c5js$7l7@newstf01.news.aol.com> This is an abbreviated report of USENET abuse by current and ex-America Online members. Inclusion in this report indicates that, as of this date, local action has been or is in the process of being taken against the poster. All inappropriate articles have been canceled. No further reports about these users are necessary. To report an instance of USENET abuse which doesn't appear on this report, send mail to postmaster@aol.com - please remember to include a complete copy of the USENET article, including all headers, to help us quickly quash the abuse. To make an emergency report of abuse, send complete copies of the abuse to atropos@aol.net. America Online's USENET Terms of Service (acceptable usage policies) are available via anonymous FTP at ftp://ftp.aol.com/pub/usenet/aol-usenet-aup.txt. Comments, suggestions and criticisms are welcome via e-mail to atropos@aol.net. USER INCIDENTS (5+) DESCRIPTION (if appl.) ===================================================== beachstdes 19 commercial bluesees 5 monetary chain-letter christo440 7 commercial coolshari 1 non-binary in binary newsgroup cwigley657 4 non-binary in binary newsgroup hotbod2117 21 non-binary in binary newsgroup jacenjen 5 commercial juepaman 1 illegal activity juepaman 46 illegal activity juepaman 46 illegal activity jvitaly 1 illegal activity llyg 16 commercial los1lag2 39 inappropriate/TERMINATED rashr 8 inappropriate sleuth1801 450 commercial thofm0428 27 inappropriate Ed Brundage Internet Feedback, Response, and Information Team America Online, Inc. ifritfox@aol.com or foxman@aol.net -- All postings to news.admin.net-abuse.announce are unconfirmed and unverified unless stated otherwise by the moderators. All opinions expressed above are considered the opinions of the original poster, not the moderators or their respective employers. For a copy of the guidelines to this group, see: http://www.math.psu.edu/barr/net-abuse-guidelines.html ************* Is this a matter of semantics or a matter of attitude? One nice thing about me is that you will always know where I stand on an issue. I am assertive, aggressive and tend to call it as it is rather than as I see it. Based on my prior experiences with America OnMafia documented in earlier posts I suspect this is an attitude problem. "quickly quash" ? quash: crush; subdue Kiralynne, a dubious lady of a thousand names and even more personalities. hmmmm... thinking again... I wonder if the illegal activity was reported to the appropriate authorities?? hmmmm... thinking again... if the activity was illegal why was the member not terminated?? hmmmm...hee hee... inappropriate = terminated illegal = cancelled post Hello?? Hello?? Anybody home?? Odd... the lights are on but... ************************************************************* LITTLE THING ON TECHNOLOGY by Layne Well, as you might know all of the good, high quality games out today like Under the Killing Moon, Magic Carpet 2, and the others are CD-ROM based games. You might see this as a problem because you are being required to access the data as fast as possible AND even multiple disks are becoming frequent. I am sure that most of you out there would like to have many games. What I mean is that, sure you can install one large CD game on your hard drive completely, but only one. Now what current technology is working on is faster CD-ROM drives as well as multiple drives on your home used PCs. For instance, remember when 2x drives were first out, you thought WOW! Well, know I am seeing PCs that come with 3 (yes 3!) 4x CD-ROM drives in your machine or try out the 6x SCSI CD-ROM, that baby can cook. Well enough from that end. Have you noticed that just a year ago Pentium was just coming out and had all kinds of problems, and now you can own a little P-75 for just under $1,500. These are probably the best kind of machine to own in the home, unless your super rich and would prefer an SGI or SUNSparcstation. The internet is expanding so fast that you must be connected or you will be lost in less than a year. I mean, sooner or later there will be multi-player interactive and fully graphical operating games. I mean right now MUDs and MUSHs and IRCs seem really nice, but what about a couple of years from now when something like Johnny Mneumonic comes to life just about everyone will be fully immersed. Life as we know it today will be gone and if you're not at least 10% cyber-literate then you'll never know what's happening because it'll probably all be computer updated. ******** -EOF