The MyNews-Project: Step-2: Limitations

There is no wonderful thing in the world without problems. MyNews will be no exception. Some limits and problems are still there, a lot has been found out in the Alfa-Test and the Field-Beta-Test.

I dont sell you MyNews - it is free. So I dont have to make big promises and hide the negative sides. Perhaps an unusual approach - but I have my own kind of "ethos".

So now some reasons why you should NOT be interested in MyNews:

You need a PC
MyNews is based on a windows-32-platform. So Win95/98/ME/NT/2000 are supported. (Old Win3.0, 3.1 and WfW are NOT supported. The 32-bit-extension does NOT work).
I have no experience with the WINE-Emulator for LINUX-PCs. MyNews was created with Borland C++ 4.52 and uses the CW3215.dll. Perhaps someone want to try it.

MyNews is complex
You have read the features in the first step. More features are included. So please dont expect a program which has just three buttons: "ON", "OFF", "DWIT" (do what I think). Actually MyNews still fits on a single 3.5"-floppy disk. But good programs can be small and offer a wide variety of functions.
The main purpose for this step-by-step introduction is to show you what you need. This will be about 5-10 functions. Later we will talk about what you want.
So you dont have to be a computer-expert to run MyNews. But fundamental know how is required: "How to download a program from the Internet". "How to start an installer". "How to edit a text-file". "How to delete a directory". "How to use a newsreader" (wonder how you read this).

Documentation overkill
There was criticism about the pure amount of documentation which is available for MyNews. Too much to read. Too much to care for. But I did not make a "step-by-step" tutorial with my alfa-testers. So they had just the program and the manuals. And some tips by Email or newsgroup. And the manual is really much stuff to read. I've documented far too much - for normal users. (MyNews can be very helpful for news-admins also). The documentation has been rewritten - and now it is perhaps more useful. At least it has a better structure :-)
But if you enjoy reading, and want to learn more about the technic and backgrounds, then the complete manual will be a great thing for you.

MyNews requires a registration
This software is a powerful Internet/Usenet tool. So it is necessary to register a name ONLINE during the setup. This unlocks most features of MyNews. That name is necessary to identify your MyNews when it is "crawling" through the Internet. You can compare it to your homepage-URL or your Email-Address. When MyNews gets active in the Internet, then it needs a unique identification. So the registration is necessary.
However the basic functions are available without any kind of registration. You get a temporary license when you start MyNews without the license-file.

MyNews contains a child-proof lock
If you are not adult under the laws of your country, then you will later get a "kid-license". Such a license does not allow access to specific parts of the MyNews-Network.
Actually kids are not allowed. Sorry youngsters. I know that some of your are really great. But law is law.

MyNews is also a server !
One of the principles of the MyNews-network is that you do not just download - but that others will download from your computer.
One source for information are "static" servers which are always there. The other (and more important source) will be the other MyNews-users around the world. Information is exchanged between everybody! So you will also deliver information to others.
This is a new quality of software running on your computer. True bidirectional flow of information. You get and give. (Formerly usual behaviors in the Internet).
Now if you tell someone (perhaps your admin) that you will run a server on your computer, then he might be frightened. And he will perhaps tell you that you should not do this. Because there are always evil hackers around who try to crack servers. And because running a server requires a lot of experience.
Dont worry: MyNews is an extreme simple server: A NEWS-server using the NNTP-protocol. The only known attacks to such servers are attempts to gain "illegal access". To get access to the messages on your server. And this is one thing we really do not worry about. because we WANT to deliver our messages. So there is need to 'hack' the MyNews-Server. It gives everything it has for free. And it will deliver only the MyNews-messages from its own directories.
Nothing else!
And with MyNews you can always see what's going on. Every access is visible.
btw.: Those of you who run Microsoft Outlook (ROFL) as a mailer or WinProxy or Win98/2nd Edition with the shared internet connect for you home network have also (hidden) servers on their computer - but I tell you!

MyNews will not work on every internet-connection.
MyNews accesses other MyNews- and Usenet-Servers through the Internet. If your connection to your provider does not allow access to other servers, then you cannot use MyNews. There are "Firewalls", "Proxy-Servers", "Local network addresses" and other restrictions which might prevent that you use MyNews.
One of our next steps will be that you test whether you can use it.
If you already use a "pay-provider" for the newsgroups, then you will have no problems. And nearly all major providers offer "true" (full) internet-access. Just some extreme cheap (or free) providers restrict the Internet access to drastically that you cannot use MyNews.
If your internet connection is not done with the regular "WinSock", but with any kind of "FunSock" - because your provider gave you a very special software for access, then we might be in a big mess.

MyNews will not work with every newsreader
You can use your own, well known newsreader or news-tools with MyNews. (MyNews acts like other news-servers - but extremely fast because it is local).
But I did not test all of them. So perhaps your favorite news-reader needs functions which are not available today in MyNews. I've tested some major tools (Netscape, Microsoft, Forte Agent) and they work. The rest will be tested and adapted by request.
MyNews has some news-reader functions (you can read news), but in fact it is a lousy news-reader. Writing a good newsreader is a hell of a job - and a lot of good programmers did it already. I dont have the intention to "re-invent the wheel" :-)
Your help to adapt and test the rest of the newsreaders (and autoposters and picture-hunters and intelligent agents) is highly appreciated (more later).

MyNews creates bandwidth on your modem !
Now, this is not too bad for you. Whether your modem sleeps or works while you are online does not matter. But if you access the internet while MyNews is active, then your work (getting EMail, browsing the net, chatting) might be a little affected. Everything could go a little slower than without MyNews.
Of course MyNews allows you to setup how many of the capacity of your Internet-connection will be used. You can set it to "slow, normal, fast" for Modems and/or ISDN - meanwhile even ADSL. But even "slow" will get 10-25% of your bandwidth - so the websites appear a little slower (as long as MyNews is receiving or sending messages).
The nice thing is that you CAN do other things on the web while MyNews is running. Your line is better used than ever.

MyNews creates volume at your provider !
This is a more serious thing. If you have to pay your internet-connection by VOLUME (you pay for each MegaByte you transfer), then please FORGET this project for you - except if you are a professional.
Today you download your messages from the Internet - and you pay for them. With MyNews you also deliver messages. And perhaps you deliver a message ten times. Then you have to pay ten times for this one message. That does not make sense.
No major provider (AOL, CompuServe, ....) takes a fee for volume today. But perhaps the new, fast Cable-Modem-Connections will be payed "by MegaByte" soon. And perhaps your provider changes its policy one day. Then keep in mind: You have more traffic than others. And dont rely on the promise "One Gigabyte per month is enough" ! One Gigabyte is nothing - even if you run a small ISDN-Line.

MyNews creates bandwidth at your provider
Imagine you have a small city-provider with a 2 Mbit-Line to the Internet. And then 100 users are running MyNews through his line. He will get crazy! (He has to PAY for the bandwidth - and perhaps for the volume).
The only reason why even a small provider offers a news-server is to avoid that all his users get their news from "pay-sites". News are an extreme part of the volume your provider has every day.
We will cooperate with our providers! We will not abuse their system and lines. So whenever messages are available at your providers news-server, then we will try to get them there first. And perhaps some providers will join the MyNews-Network? Then you can feed the MyNews-Server of your provider. Or some MyNews-groups will be available in the Usenet (additionally) one day?

MyNews increases the international Internet-traffic
Because MyNews does not care where the messages are coming from, it is possible that a message is transported from New York to New Zealand and back to Washington and then again to Sidney.
The main advantage for the Usenet is, that informations are "routed" on short ways. Providers work together. The newsgroups are sent from New York to Washington, then to Sidney and then to New Zealand. This more a "tree" with a backbone. MyNews is more a net (sometimes a star).
If the traffic in the MyNews-network increases significantly, then it will be necessary to add better algorithms.
This does not affect the "small" and "super small" MyNews-Groups with just a handful of participants. But if one group contains 100 MegaBytes per day and has 100 participants, then you will be able to measure the traffic.
Until then: Lets simply go ahead. Routing algorithms are easy to implement.

MyNews will be used by the criminals
The feature to create your own newsgroup is nice for you and nice for the unwanted elements of our society. While we like a newsgroup about "democracy" others will like a group about "maoism" - and others will create a private newsgroup for drug-exchange or "how to gain the leadership of the world".
It is already possible to exchange information encrypted around the world by Email, WWW, FTP and other Internet-Software products. The difficulty with MyNews is, that it makes such kind of "unwanted" exchange perhaps easier, faster, more reliable. And I really dont want to see the first article in the "New York Times" with the headline: "MyNews: Perfect for criminal video trading" !
So perhaps you understand now a little why I require the registration in the first time.
There will be unwanted groups - and unwanted, even criminal, MyNews-Servers running around the world. But not on my root-servers !

MyNews will fill your disk
Dont laugh. This happens faster than you like it :-)
You will learn to delete - or to purchase larger disks and/or a CdRom-Writer.
(Of course MyNews allows automatic expiry of old articles).
Worse is, that MyNews will fragment your harddisk - due to the nature of incoming messages from different sources. So you will have to run "Defrag" or "DiskKeeper" or anything else to keep your harddisk clean. If you have the intention to use MyNews heavily, then you should create a separate partition (logical drive) - or add a new harddisk to your system.
If you dont care about this, then your daily work can be affected. A full and fragmented harddisk is bad for the performance of your other computer programs.
Of course this is not so important if you get 100 messages per day. Your news-reader does the same kind of "fragmentation". But if you run MyNews for two months have 20.000 messages on your C-Drive, then you will run a defragmenter :-)
One thing: A lot of programs are fragmenting your harddisk - even on Windows/NT. And MyNews is not worse than most other newsreaders. But I tell you at least.

MyNews requires more time than Usenet.
If you read your news from the Usenet, then you dont care about anything. Your news-reader does the job for you. But with MyNews you can estimate one hour per month for "administration". You will check logfiles (to see who contacted you), you will read announcements about new groups. You have to create new groups manually yourself (MyNews does not do this automatically). You will delete spam. You will read news about evil MyNews-sites and trouble in the network.
I dont add the time you will spent additionally because your feed is improved - because you get more groups and more messages. Perhaps you detect new groups to join - or new topics to follow (or collect).
In fact you can spent up to 744 hours per month on this network.

MyNews can increase your phone/provider-costs
The design of MyNews is that you start MyNews after you went online - and that you stop it before you go offline. So it is running "while you are already online". You can let it run as long you are already online. Then the costs for your phone line (if you pay per minute) and for your provider (if you pay per minute) will stay the same.
But if you let your phone line longer active than before - to please (and serve) other users of this network, then your costs might be increased (if you pay anything by minute). YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED !

The license conditions
Of course MyNews has some "general disclaimers" and license conditions. When I start to sell special versions, then this will become legally important. I am not a lawyer. So the (naive) conditions are:
1. Use this software on your own risk. I'm not responsible for your computer, data, phone bill and any kind of damage!
2. You are not permitted to use this software if you are ANY kind of authority: Examples: Police, Secret services, Jurisdiction, Army, Mafia...
3. No version of this software is public domain! You must not sell or distribute this software without my permission. "
4. I'm not responsible for the information which is distributed with this software. Whatever you distribute with it: Do it on your own risk.

Bad luck (for me) if you dont agree with these conditions.

Now I've written everything I know what can be bad. I believe that just a few topics are really important for you:

* A little slower internet-access while MyNews runs
* Disk Space Usage & Fragmentation
* Perhaps your favorite newsreader does not work yet, but later.

Really difficult is that MyNews will not run on every Internet-connection. So we will test this before you spend too much time for nothing.

In Step-3 you will get some informations how MyNews works. Not very detailed, but enough to understand how we can reach "the stars" :-)