Re: When will TB be able to decode binaries?

In article <PJydnawSoK3gURnZnZ2dnUVZ_tGdnZ2d@mozilla.org>, 
Andrew@DeFaria.com says...
> NightStalker wrote:
> > Amazing that a 21st century program like TB won't do what a 1990s 
> > program like Gravity will do.....
> I know. It doesn't play pong or donkey kong junior either! I'm so 
> disappointed! :-(
> 
> 

OK - I know you're just being facetious with tongue-in-cheek, but 
downloading and decoding binaries is something I still want/need to do.  
Playing pong etc isn't. ;)

-- 

NightStalker wrote:
> In article <PJydnawSoK3gURnZnZ2dnUVZ_tGdnZ2d@mozilla.org>,
> Andrew@DeFaria.com says...
>> NightStalker wrote:
>>> Amazing that a 21st century program like TB won't do what a 1990s 
>>> program like Gravity will do.....
>> I know. It doesn't play pong or donkey kong junior either! I'm so 
>> disappointed! :-(
> OK - I know you're just being facetious with tongue-in-cheek, but 
> downloading and decoding binaries is something I still want/need to 
> do. Playing pong etc isn't. ;)
Different people need different things. :-)

While intended to be humorous and tongue-in-cheek I'm trying to 
illustrate that needing to play pong is perhaps not an extremely popular 
one. Maybe needing to download and decode binaries isn't either. Besides 
there are many better ways to obtain binary files from the Internet than 
Usenet.

-- 

Andrew DeFaria <http://defaria.com>
When it rains, why don't sheep shrink?

In article <V_adnd2WLcoXpRXZnZ2dnUVZ_vednZ2d@mozilla.org>, 
Andrew@DeFaria.com says...
> 
> While intended to be humorous and tongue-in-cheek I'm trying to 
> illustrate that needing to play pong is perhaps not an extremely popular 
> one. Maybe needing to download and decode binaries isn't either. Besides 
> there are many better ways to obtain binary files from the Internet than 
> Usenet.
> 
> 

Heheh :)  Given the enormous number of binary newsgroups on Usenet, I'd 
hardly call it "not popular".  And premium news servers, such as 
GigaNews, base a lot of their advertising on the retention rate of 
binaries on their servers.

Also, I'm well aware of most other sources for binaries, particularly 
"eye-patch" copies of software, which is not what I download.  But
what 
I do download is very difficult to find on the web - it's stuff that is 
found in highly specialized/specific newsgroups on Usenet, including 
some original music, some mp3 audiobooks, etc.  Maybe you should have a 
little look around on Usenet - you might be amazed at what's on there.  
And the connections are much more reliable than, say, bit-torrents, or 
stuff like LimeWire.  Once you're logged onto the news-server, the stuff 
is just sitting there ready to be sucked down as fast as your connection 
will allow.  Rarely is the connection lost.  To download something with 
bit-torrent can take all night, all next day, and the next night as well 
in many cases!  

Nope - Gravity and Usenet fill my needs at present, so I'll stick with 
that combination I guess.  It's just that I thought something new and 
whizzbang like Thunderbird would at least be able to replicate the 
functions of a 10-year old app like Gravity.  I was wrong.

-- 

NightStalker wrote:
> Heheh :) Given the enormous number of binary newsgroups on Usenet, I'd 
> hardly call it "not popular". And premium news servers, such as 
> GigaNews, base a lot of their advertising on the retention rate of 
> binaries on their servers.
Take the number of people using the Internet (A) and subtract the number 
of people who use Usenet (B). That number will be orders of magnitude 
larger than B.
> Also, I'm well aware of most other sources for binaries, particularly 
> "eye-patch" copies of software, which is not what I download. But
what 
> I do download is very difficult to find on the web - it's stuff that 
> is found in highly specialized/specific newsgroups on Usenet, 
> including some original music, some mp3 audiobooks, etc. 
Hmmm... So first, you have a small number of people using Usenet 
compared to the much larger number of people just surfing the 
web/reading email. Now you have admittedly a specialized thus rare 
search for unusual things. Sounds like pong to me! ;-)

Besides, I manage to find original music and mp3 audiobooks - why can't you!
> Maybe you should have a little look around on Usenet - you might be 
> amazed at what's on there. 
Oh no doubt there is lots there. That wasn't my point. My point was most 
people don't use it.
> And the connections are much more reliable than, say, bit-torrents, or 
> stuff like LimeWire. Once you're logged onto the news-server, the 
> stuff is just sitting there ready to be sucked down as fast as your 
> connection will allow. Rarely is the connection lost. To download 
> something with bit-torrent can take all night, all next day, and the 
> next night as well in many cases!
Again, you're not paying attention. Preaching to me the utility of 
Usenet is preaching to the choir. Truth is it's a niche compared to 
everything else. That answers your original question. Why debate the above?
> Nope - Gravity and Usenet fill my needs at present, so I'll stick with 
> that combination I guess. 
There ya go! You already have a solution for your admittedly highly 
specialized application.
> It's just that I thought something new and whizzbang like Thunderbird 
> would at least be able to replicate the functions of a 10-year old app 
> like Gravity. I was wrong.
Again, it's not replicated because not many people want it. Is this 
really that difficult for you to understand? Or is it just difficult for 
you to admit? I suspect it's really the later...

-- 

Andrew DeFaria <http://defaria.com>
The nice thing about Standards is there are so many to choose from. - 
Michael Santovec

Jay Garcia wrote:

> In December of 1996, the daily volume of Usenet traffic was about 2 GB.
> 
> In mid-March of 2005, the daily volume increased to over 2 TERRAbytes.
> 
> It is important to note, however, that much of this traffic increase
> reflects not an increase in discrete users or newsgroup discussions, but
> instead the combination of massive automated spamming and an increase in
> the use of .binaries newsgroups in which large files (frequently
> pornography or pirated media) are often posted publicly.

It would be interesting to know what percentage of net users use usenet. 
  When I was skiing I asked my lift-companions if they ever read 
rec.skiing.alpine on usenet.  The most knowledgeable answer was "Is that 
like chat?"  I told one woman how to do it (amazing what you can do in 5 
minutes) but never saw any indication that she did it.

Just a lonely minority, at the mercy of newsadmins who would probably 
rather be doing something else...

-- 
Cheers, Bev (Happy Linux User #85683, Slackware 10.2)
===============================================================
Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely and in a
well preserved body, but to skid in sideways, totally worn out,