"Usenet" and "newsgroups" tend to be used interchangeably,
but they're not strictly the same. The main line groups
like comp.*, soc.* and so on are centrally administered
by some organization whose name escapes me at the moment.
In any case, you need a newsreader client to read/post
to the groups that your server carries. For example, Outlook Express
and Thunderbird can handle both mail and news.
The standard port for the news protocol is 119 which your company
would have to open through their firewall for outgoing connections.
IMO, there is no real reason not to, but they may think differently.
Google archives just about all the Usenet groups. So if your company
allows you web access point your browser to:
http://groups-beta.google.com/group/bit.listserv.ibm-main?hl=en
to look at ibm-main.
--
Jeff
Eric Bielefeld said the following on 06/25/2005 10:50 AM:
Joe,
I'm not sure that most people have unsenet available at work. I read
the list both at work and at home from the newsgroup, but as far as I
know, I'm still the only one where I work that has access to newsgroups.
A couple of years ago, I was getting so much spam that I decided to
change my work email address. The lady in charge of email at the time
told me I got more email than all but 2 or 3 people each month at our
company worldwide. We employ I'd guess about 5,000 people. She
strongly recommended that I not subscribe to IBM-Main via email. They
made a special rule for me to allow me to read newsgroups. There may be
more now, but back then I was the only one. The only problem with that
is that I can't reply via the newsgroup. I have to access the web site,
find the message, which sometimes takes a while, and then reply. At
home, like I am now, I can just reply.
A couple questions.
1. Is Usenet and newsgroups one and the same thing?
2. Do other companies restrict newsgroups or usenet like we do?
Eric Bielefeld
P&H Mining Equipment
Joe Zitzelberger wrote:
Twenty years ago that might have flown. But since the mid-1990s that
just doesn't fly. Everyone and their grandmother has 'access' to
usenet. While only about 95% of them will have it in their home, the
rest are just a hop-skip-and-jump from a public library or a big box
superstore complete with free internet access.
They may not use it, but access is universally available in the
developed world and pretty much available in the undeveloped world
as well.
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