Re: ISP vs "newsgroup server provider":

Bob Cunningham <exw6sxq@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:

> On 13 Dec 2005 18:22:35 GMT, "Default User"
> <defaultuserbr@xxxxxxxxx> said:
>
> [...]
>
>> That fact that they tended to make it transparent to the users
>> doesn't alter the fact. AOL didn't stop being an ISP by dropping
>> usenet. If they dropped web access, I think you'd have to say they
>> were no longer an ISP.
>
> No, I would say they're no longer an ISP that includes whatever
> Internet service they're dropping, whether it's Usenet access, World
> Wide Web access, or e-mail.

An Internet service provider delivers "Internet" as a service. They
deliver the ability for your computer to make TCP/IP connections to
other computers on the Internet. They do not need to provide any HTTP
servers (web sites) for you to connect to, any POP or SMTP servers to
route your e-mail for you, or any NNTP servers to provide you with
newsgroups. They don't even necessarily need to provide DNS servers
to allow you to do name lookup.

This is much the same as your telephone service provider. With the
possible exception of a support center, they don't have to actually
provide any numbers for you to call in order to be providing telephone
service. They just have to make it possible for you to call people
who have phones.

> An entity that provided only newsgroups could still be said to be an
> Internet service provider, because it would be providing one
> Internet service. ]

Again, an ISP provides "Internet service", not "Internet services".
Someone who provides only e-mail service or only newsgroups is not an
ISP. You have to already *have* Internet service in order to use it.

> Keep in mind that I'm discussing this topic from the point of view
> of a Joe or Jane Sixpack who has no need to be concerned with the
> jargon of technogeeks.

If this is the case, then Jane and Joe have reanalyzed what the phrase
means. Certainly at one point "ISP" meant "The company that allowed
me to get on the net". I don't believe that I've ever heard anybody
consider Google or Amazon as an ISP, even though they manifestly
provide "services".

--
Evan Kirshenbaum +------------------------------------
HP Laboratories |He seems to be perceptive and
1501 Page Mill Road, 1U, MS 1141 |effective because he states the
Palo Alto, CA 94304 |obvious to people that don't seem
|to see the obvious.
kirshenbaum@xxxxxxxxxx |
(650)857-7572 | Tony Cooper

http://www.kirshenbaum.net/


.

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