Post by Roy Brownwriting at 21:42:37 in his/her local time opines:-
<Snip good stuff>
Post by geoffI would say that anyone who doesn't make their email / website ISP
independent is being very shortsighted, irrespective of the ISP
I would also say do it now, before there's a problem rather than being
caught short when a problem arises
With my Roy hat on, and my own domain set up ready for exactly those
reasons, I fully agree with you.
But from under Eileen's hat, I suspect, this is peering into the abyss.
If you want broadband, you have to use an ISP. If you can rely on the
ISP, why not give yourself an easier ride by using the stuff they
provide? If you can't rely on the ISP, why use them?
I remember, all those years ago when Windows didn't even have its own
winsock, looking at ISPs and realising that with most of them, you had
to knit together your own mail/news/browser solution from all sorts of
tools we weren't familiar with, and a justified suspicion that even if
we chose best-of-breed in each case, they might not actually play nice
together.
Or we could go with Demon, and its proven, integrated, internally
supported Turnpike/IE solution, where if it didn't work, there was but
one arse to kick, and it was a knowledgeable 'arse' that would take
ownership of, and responsibility for, your problem, and solve it for you.
A lot of people made that same decision on the same basis. And even
though Demon isn't what it was, and Turnpike is hanging on by a thread,
and 'much easier' mail solutions from Microsoft, Hotmail, Google and
the like now abound - well, as I said, better the Demon you know.
OK, it's just kicking the can down the road, maybe. But it may well be
a lot easier, for now, than finding a new road.
Thank you all for your kind consideration of my plight! I will share the
comments you have all made with someone who knows more than I do about
computers and see what we can make of it. But yes I am fine at the
moment with Demon in spite of the cost. I go on paying that as the price
for keeping away from trying to understand the implications if I move
from them. My problem has two different aspects which are intertwined,
and major disturbance in either is more than I can contemplate.
1. As some of you know when something goes wrong with Turnpike I do go
into the abyss as it is so rare to find any tech support person who
knows anything about it who is able to visit which is what I need if it
requires action I have not taken before. Though I must say with the
support of many of you I am getting better at being able to articulate
the problem and get help from DIST that I can understand, so can take
the action myself. But if the DIST advice is too tech for me, it can't
help me and the vulnerability is terrible.
2. My local operations depend on my email list of 1600+. I have
developed an indexing system in the Turnpike email address book which,
together with my familiarity at operating the Turnpike email system, is
symbiotic now with my thinking processes for my local project work. This
is so even beyond the actual use of the email system, as the local
process has grown around the index. It reminds me of a local tree a few
minutes walk from here, that has embedded deep inside its trunk an old
metal railing that was part of a fence now long gone, and the metal is
now totally integrated into the living tissue.
I have spent years investigating other email systems and have found none
that seem likely to be able to give me what I get with the Turnpike
system. And how could they now as the system is so deeply embedded in my
psyche. That makes me even more vulnerable than being tied to Demon. As
long as Demon causes me no trouble, I have no desire to fix that
problem. Which is why I panic if someone says Demon will not operate
Turnpike in the near future. It is ironic that I went with Demon in 1996
simply because they offered 24 hour phone support for my email system.
In those days I didn't even know it was called Turnpike or that it was
different from Demon. In those early years it was just wonderful, as a
phone call away there were people who were able to handle any tech issue
I had with Turnpike and sort it out for me. It went into nightmare mode
when that stopped and went to Bangalore, and now there isn't even a 24
hours service...
But I am getting by for now with DIST, and the Turnpike local angel who
appeared in my despair the long bank holiday weekend last August. I am
always hoping my work pressures will lessen so I can get to grips with
computer issues, but unfortunately the pressures get more intense every
year, as I am too successful in pioneering new things... (though very,
very non-tech).
--
Eileen Conn