From hungary-online-owner Mon Apr 3 15:50:39 1995 Received: from localhost (daemon@localhost) (fnord) by nando.yak.net (8.6.5/8.6.5) id PAA14063 for hungary-online-out31415; Mon, 3 Apr 1995 15:50:39 -0700 Received: from localhost (daemon@localhost) (fnord) by nando.yak.net (8.6.5/8.6.5) id PAA14052; Mon, 3 Apr 1995 15:50:24 -0700 Received: from hollosi@skysrv.pha.jhu.edu () via =-=-=-=-=-= for hungary-online@hungary.yak.net (14050) Received: from skysrv.Pha.Jhu.EDU (skysrv.pha.jhu.edu [128.220.26.123]) (fnord) by nando (8.6.5/8.6.5) with SMTP id PAA14047 for ; Mon, 3 Apr 1995 15:50:13 -0700 Message-Id: <199504032250.PAA14047@nando> Received: by skysrv.Pha.Jhu.EDU; Mon, 3 Apr 1995 18:47:19 +0500 From: hollosi@skysrv.pha.jhu.edu (Jozsef Hollosi) Subject: (HOL) Re: let's hear about HIX To: hungary-online@hungary.yak.net Date: Mon, 3 Apr 1995 18:47:18 -0400 (EDT) Cc: carlson@odin.net X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL24] Content-Type: text Content-Length: 3111 Sender: owner-Hungary-Online@hungary.yak.net Precedence: bulk Reply-To: Hungary-Online@hungary.yak.net Dear Steven: Thanks for asking about HIX. Yes, it is old and big, but it is still turning fast... :-) We started TIPP a little more than five years ago with Jeno Torocsik. Originally we wanted to create most of the published material ourselves with occasional letters from the readers, but it soon turned upside down. >From the third or fourth issue it was essentially a true reader's forum, and I got stuck with the pleasure of editing the incoming letters to something digestable. I figured out that I spent most of my day on the project, so I tried to automate everything: so XMAIL was born. Then I had to spend not most, but all of my time on the project (computer logs showed around 100-110 hours/week), because obviously XMAIL didn't work; sometimes it created mail-explosions, and other nice surprises. Eventually it got better, and the readers who didn't give up started to even enjoy it. (Not to mention my wife whom I noticed lived with me during this whole period... :-)) I think I have to speed things up, otherwise this will be a book, not a letter. HIX became HIX after starting HIRMONDO (with Laszlo Babai, Zsolt Hatsagi and the HIRMONDO staff), FORUM (replacing Ivan Weisz invaluable Faliujsag, that he terminated) and perhaps Radios Hirek. It was really a bunch of things together without a name. It was very hard to talk about. Then I got very innovative and gave it my name... :-) Today we are at about 12-15 publications (it is very hard to keep track, I just created one yesterday, which is still unannounced), a WWW-server, a couple of gophers and mirrors and still expanding. I said "we", because dozens of people are creating the magic every day: maintaining servers, editing news, moderating forums or just plain simply sending in letters. > Where will HIX go in future? It is a very good question, indeed, but should we know everything? HIX will be where the people are. Some of the actual directions are more interactivity (e.g. there is a yet-unannounced online conference system, called ARENA), and more English-language stuff. > Will it become commercial? No, HIX won't be commercial as far as I can predict the future. HIX will remain powered by the HIX-spirit rather than by money in the future, too. This does not mean that I am not interested personally in other aspects of the internet, -- In fact, quite on the contrary, we just put together a US corporation last month, called World-Wide Link, Inc., whose mission is to provide reliable, fault-tolerant, mirrored, high-speed commercial internet services in North America, Hungary and across the pond, focusing on interactive and multi-media technologies. Clearly and although WWLINK is not directly related to HIX, one of WWLINK's missions is to reinforce the infrastructure needed by HIX in many ways like the provision of backup facilities and a fresh infusion of state of the art technologies. We will have more details to announce as we get closer to the launch of WWLINK's online services. May I ask in turn, why and how you started HOL? What are your plans? Best Regards, Jozsef ############# # This message to Hungary-Online@hungary.yak.net # was from hollosi@skysrv.pha.jhu.edu (Jozsef Hollosi) # # To unsubscribe, # send "unsubscribe" to # An announcement-only subscription (less volume) is available # at # Send mail to for more information, # or to if you need human assistance. #############