Date   : Tue, 06 Dec 1988 00:01:27 GMT
From   : portal!cup.portal.com!raf@uunet.uu.net (Robert A Freed)
Subject: PC-Pursuit and RCP/M Royal Oak

MVM@cup.portal.com (Mark V. Miller) writes:
>Looks like Telenet has finally made good on its promise to block
>access to the Detroit prefix on which RCP/M Royal Oak is connected.
>I'll be contacting Telenet protesting; BFD.  Need to pass the word
>and get a letter writing campaign going.

Following is a public letter to Telenet's Dave Purks, which I posted in
the Outdial Services Product Manager's area of the PC Pursuit Net
Exchange BBS.  I am reproducing it on this list in the hope it may
inspire others who share Mark's concerns.

-- Bob Freed
   raf@cup.portal.com

-----cut here-----

No. 56  12/05/88   13:15:52       
From: Bob Freed                   To: David Purks          
Subject: (R) MIDET            
Message class: Public             Message base: prod

Dave,
 
I realize you must receive dozens of messages daily on the subject of
the recent changes in PC Pursuit outdial exchange restrictions, e.g. in
the suburban Detroit (MIDET) area.  And I have seen Telenet's "stock"
response about the high costs of nonlocal outdial connections and the
long-available list of supported exchanges in the EXCHANGE.TXT file.
However, I would like to remind you of a message I sent you nearly a
year ago (on the "old" Net Exchange), regarding one particular BBS in
the MIDET area.
 
That BBS is Keith Petersen's and Bob Clyne's RCP/M Royal Oak, at
313/759-6569.  "Royal Oak" is one of the oldest and most prestigious
continuously-functioning BBS systems in the country.  It is a
non-profit, non-passworded system, dedicated solely to file transfer of
public domain software for those interested in the CP/M operating
system (and its derivatives) for 8-bit microcomputers.
 
Sysop Keith Petersen's name should be familiar to you.  He is the
original author of XMODEM, the CP/M program which contributed the
popular name to Ward Christensen's ubiquitous file transfer protocol.
And Keith is the longtime overseer of the MS-DOS and CP/M public domain
archives on the SIMTEL20 mainframe computer at White Sands Missile
Range, which provides free file transfer service to thousands of users
on the DARPA Internet network.  Keith also moderates several prominent
ARPA mailing lists which are gatewayed to tens of thousands of systems
connected through the worldwide USENET network.
 
I wish to plead special consideration for this particular BBS system
due to its singular importance to the CP/M user community.  The number
of quality remote access systems which cater to CP/M users has dwindled
substantially in recent years.  The accessibility of RCP/M Royal Oak
via PC Pursuit service has been a real boon to the many Telenet
customers nationwide who still operate "antique" 8-bit systems (and who
do not have access to the aforementioned private networks).  The Royal
Oak system serves as a major central distribution point for new
CP/M-based software, in large part because of Telenet access which
(until just recently) has been available since the inception of PC
Pursuit service.
 
While the loss of a single outdial exchange might have little effect on
(for example) IBM-PC/MS-DOS system users, it has a major impact on the
declining population of CP/M users.  In your reply to my earlier
message on this subject (prior to installation of the 313-759 exchange
restriction), you indicated that you would "keep that exchange in mind
when I begin programming the block outs."  I don't know if that was
simply politeness on your part, or if my request was overlooked among
the many others you have received.  But if it is at all possible to
program the outdial restrictors to allow special access to an
individual BBS system, you could not find a system which is more
deserving of special consideration than RCP/M Royal Oak.  And many
hundreds of PC Pursuit subscribers will be gratified by restoration of
access to this important system, upon which we have come to rely during
nearly three years of continuous service.
 
Please pass this message on to Peter Naleszkiewicz, and thank you for
any consideration you or he may be able to provide in this matter.
 
Very truly yours,
 
(Bob)
 
Robert A. Freed
Newton Centre, MA
5 December 1988