---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Text of TeleFinder Chat from Tuesday, June 30, 1998 11 AM PDT. In attendance: From SpiderIsland: Sysops: Ken Sutherland, Daniel O'Leary, Mikael Fredriksson, Jim Smith, Bob Nunn, Bill Gram-Reefer ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ken Sutherland: Welcome to the Chat Room chat Daniel O'Leary! Ken Sutherland: Welcome to the Chat Room chat mikael fredriksson! Daniel O'Leary: thought the chats were moved... Ken Sutherland: ? Daniel O'Leary: guess only the Thursday chat was moved. Ken Sutherland: hope so Jim Smith: DO: not Tue. Ken Sutherland: Thursday means a 2 A.M. chat for me Daniel O'Leary: cool. Daniel O'Leary: KS move here... Mikael Fredriksson: 3 am here.. Daniel O'Leary: grin. Mikael Fredriksson: I will be in the US the next 2 weeks ;) Daniel O'Leary: still no luck on drive recovery... Ken Sutherland: JS does mailserver create a lollipop mail folder? Daniel O'Leary: come look me up MF, if you are in Texas. Mikael Fredriksson: MacWorld and then Phoenix.. Ken Sutherland: just look for a Unix scrap pile Jim Smith: Key: There is one, I think it does. Daniel O'Leary: you'll be close on phoenix.... haha ken. Daniel O'Leary: archaic, but better than winhoze Ken Sutherland: Welcome to the Chat Room chat Jim Smith2! Mikael Fredriksson: Plane ticket Gothenburg, Sweden - NY, Phoenix - Gothenburg 500 USD! Daniel O'Leary: and no drive faults in 6 years of op. Daniel O'Leary: What is in Phoenix? Ken Sutherland: think we need to have a go again at RT about those cool T-shirts 8-0 Mikael Fredriksson: friends Daniel O'Leary: Is he not in today? Ken Sutherland: hiding Mikael Fredriksson: RT is out of town this week Daniel O'Leary: saw me coming, eh? Ken Sutherland: I'm going to ask about PC client again Daniel O'Leary: I think we need something better than SSL. Daniel O'Leary: it should ALSO work with TF/User. Daniel O'Leary: Also need strong demos of easy-to-do database integration. Ken Sutherland: mk is a plugin hard to code? Ken Sutherland: MF even Daniel O'Leary: RT has some source for it KS. Daniel O'Leary: Says any app can be made a PI. Ken Sutherland: here are my thoughts..... Ken Sutherland: why not create a custom plugin , 1 for Mac, 1 for Ken Sutherland: a custom algorithm etc. Ken Sutherland: not SSL but hard enough to crack Ken Sutherland: yes/no Ken Sutherland: create a different approach Ken Sutherland: tfsl Daniel O'Leary: You'll need on some the client side, and one on their server side. Ken Sutherland: that's what I meant Ken Sutherland: a Mac server and a Mac plugin , also Ken Sutherland: the web server would download it Daniel O'Leary: And what about TTY/ANSI? leave them out? Ken Sutherland: tough Ken Sutherland: c-ya Jim Smith Ken Sutherland: MF, what is latest build for Allegro Daniel O'Leary: Need to get most TF basic features avail from the TTY/ANSI login.. Mikael Fredriksson: a8 Ken Sutherland: has the web search appeared yet Daniel O'Leary: There is no need to exclude these connection from chat, etc... Ken Sutherland: Welcome to the Chat Room chat Bob Nunn! Daniel O'Leary: BRB.... Am thirsty Mikael Fredriksson: KS has the been any more work on the ftp plugin? Ken Sutherland: the ftp is on hold, we are talking to people about it but demand is extremely low Bob Nunn: I would buy it. But you would need a few more I guess. Mikael Fredriksson: Me 2 Bob Nunn: I signed up as an amazon.com associate and opened a bookstore this week. Ken Sutherland: wow Daniel O'Leary: Trying to offset expenses? Ken Sutherland: dirty or tech type Daniel O'Leary: hah Bob Nunn: Got my first report (sold $0) had 52 click throughs. Yep my ISP charges, phone line charges etc. Would like to break even. Daniel O'Leary: good luck. Bob Nunn: I figure if I get anything it will be better than what I am doing now. I do get lots of traffic. Ken Sutherland: want a UK echo Daniel O'Leary: Post-Crash - I currently do not have much to offer, or to differentiate my site from others... Daniel O'Leary: Am working to change that, but do not want to go commercial. Bob Nunn: Don't know how they handle international shipments but know they do. 5% on any order click thru, 15% if they order a title I feature. Ken Sutherland: I'll be right back! Bob Nunn: I won't consider myself commercial until I get above the monthly charges. The site is basically a hobbyist site. I just get to recommend book titles to my visitors. Daniel O'Leary: What is your ratio of BBS hits to Web hits Bob Nunn: The program is no secret by the way. Anyone who wants to participate just visit the site and look for the become an associate link. I get about 3 to 1 web. Ken Sutherland: money potential? Bob Nunn: hit my site and look at report.html Daniel O'Leary: My dial-up is about dead... Am considering dropping it and then have not much reason to stay with a BBS. Daniel O'Leary: Could then craft a UNIX-based site to do everything I want. Bob Nunn: I had a 13 year history for dialup and still maintain quite a few who mainly use the mail feature. Ken Sutherland: I run 'freemail' , a local community free email Ken Sutherland: I'll be right back! Daniel O'Leary: Current crop of Unix boxes provide built-in support for dial-up PPP sessions Bob Nunn: If you have enough friends and relative who already order from amazon (I do myself) then you could perhaps make a few. Bob Nunn: Might put your modems to better use. Mikael Fredriksson: I moved my system to work last year and has no dialup any more my system is now free. Ken Sutherland: chat.app was clipping my text Bob Nunn: is anyone keeping a log? Daniel O'Leary: The primary problem is that it violates why I put a system up in the first place. Ken Sutherland: why not look to make a small amount from web hosting Ken Sutherland: email is a extra Bob Nunn: One thing I have learned is that u have to change to meet the needs of your users. Perhaps it is time for you. Ken Sutherland: costs buttons Daniel O'Leary: Don't think there is any money to be made her in that area. Ken Sutherland: I'm looking to charge $99 a year for up to 10mb web space Ken Sutherland: had a good few inquiries Bob Nunn: Have you tried setting up any small biz web sites? Ken Sutherland: they like SPML Ken Sutherland: we really need to get RT to expand.expand,expand on the commands Daniel O'Leary: They like Apache better. Ken Sutherland: only if they know about it Daniel O'Leary: It supports SSL and SQL DB. Ken Sutherland: a lot of my customers are new to the web Daniel O'Leary: That is REQUIRED for biz Ken Sutherland: 8-) Bob Nunn: TF/FileMaker makes an affordable combo for anyone needing online dbases. My ISP charges his customers for each copy of the SQL databases. Daniel O'Leary: MOD.pearl and XSSI do everything that TF does on the web side and then some. Ken Sutherland: heard 4d has more to offer Daniel O'Leary: 4D is a pig. Ken Sutherland: scripting is very good tho Daniel O'Leary: KS Perl is better. Bob Nunn: If we start going commercial I will farm out the transactional part and let our TF/FileMaker system handle all up to that point. Ken Sutherland: a lot better than FM4 Ken Sutherland: good idea Daniel O'Leary: RT should address the biz side... Bob Nunn: We control 100% and don't have the headaches of the transactions. Companies line up to provide that service cheap. Daniel O'Leary: It is still something that should be supported, rather than sloughed off. Ken Sutherland: bob, remember my idea about multiple shared sites around the globe, maybe we should look into this in more detail Ken Sutherland: u host me, I host you etc... Daniel O'Leary: Secured connections is also needed in that scenario Ken. Bob Nunn: Probably but he has to look at his total market as well. How much return for his investment. With so many other choices out there. Daniel O'Leary: I get hacked, we ALL get hacked... Daniel O'Leary: BN the problem is that we need something to differentiate the product from others. Daniel O'Leary: you do not do that by leaving out a required capability.. Daniel O'Leary: if the market is biz.... ten you gotta have it. Daniel O'Leary: if the market is not, then we have an expensive toy that could be obtained easier another way. Daniel O'Leary: simple. Ken Sutherland: a plugin might be a get around Daniel O'Leary: The price differential for doing it another way is compelling. Bob Nunn: An ftp option and an SSI option would be tasty. Perhaps RT can talk to Chuck I am not sure how WebStar's SSI option works. Ken Sutherland: could be promoted as a better unique solution Daniel O'Leary: If RT wants sales, he must address it from a biz viewpoint. Daniel O'Leary: std protocols must be supported, and expected security features must be incorporated... period. Daniel O'Leary: The biz customer will go elsewhere to get them. Daniel O'Leary: he can get the almost turnkey now.... Daniel O'Leary: A critical examination of the differentiating features of TF versus competing technology will show this. Daniel O'Leary: scaleable servers are available for very low cost, almost free. Daniel O'Leary: non-Mac platforms are cheaper. Ken Sutherland: rusty wont listen Daniel O'Leary: And TF is becoming more complex to set up and keep running. Daniel O'Leary: Where is the advantage for the new customer. Daniel O'Leary: ??? Ken Sutherland: rusty could increase market if he listened to us Daniel O'Leary: We need to do more, easier, and better than the competition. Bill Gram-Reefer: hello? Ken Sutherland: if 5.7 complied to WS3 the SSL feature would work Daniel O'Leary: We need to examine ALL features and immediately incorporate those that exist and used in the competition Ken Sutherland: WebStar's SSL module is under $1000? correct y/n Daniel O'Leary: AND revamp the setup to make it easier to set up a secure functional site. Bob Nunn: You been talking to Bill? ;-) Ken Sutherland: hi bill Daniel O'Leary: Gotta run. Have a meeting at work. Ken Sutherland: ttfn Daniel O'Leary: Been playing the server features/numbers game. Daniel O'Leary: later guys! Bob Nunn: did anyone catch a log from the first of the chat?? Ken Sutherland: nope Ken Sutherland: just us bumming around Mikael Fredriksson: I think that I have the most of it Ken Sutherland: an 'if only' day Bob Nunn: would you mind emailing it to headgap@headgap.com MF? Mikael Fredriksson: ok Bob Nunn: Thanks, guess I had better get back to work. See u Thursday Night if I can remember. Ken Sutherland: night all ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- June 30, 1998 -- ŠCopyright 1998, Spider Island Software