Re: Specific Questions

[Michael Dillon <michael@memra.com>]

On Thu, 26 Dec 1996, Thom Stark wrote:

> Why in the name of pity aren't you folks using Internet telephony, 
> instead of the traditional POTS network?

This is just a plain silly question. There are several incompatible
Internet telephony programs that only support certain types of hardware
and/or operating system. I wouldn't be surprised to find that one IACH
member has a Win3.11 system, another has a Mac, another has OS/2,
another has SunOS/SPARC, another has DOS/V. 

> There are so many incredible software-based conferencing tools available
> at minimal costs today that it's extremely hard to understand why you'd
> even want to use POTS.  Heck, Netscape's telephony app is free to non-
> profit users, as is PGPfone.

POTS is reliable. Everybody already has POTS. Nothing else meets those two
criteria.

> "Captain, I am attempting to construct a tricorder, using the equivalent
> of flint knives and bear skins."  --Mr. Spock to Captain Kirk in 'The
> City on the Edge of Forever'

I think Spock was referring to your Internet telephony suggestion here.


Michael Dillon                   -               Internet & ISP Consulting
Memra Software Inc.              -                  Fax: +1-604-546-3049
http://www.memra.com             -               E-mail: michael@memra.com