| Usenet Newsgroups
Don't quote me, but from what I understand, Usenet newsgroups
are rarely accessed by more than 10 to 15 percent of the average
I.S.P.'s customers. So, why is such a rarely used service the
most expensive to provide?
A couple of reasons. First of all, unlike the web, the I.S.P.
usually provides all the servers needed for a full Usenet feed,
rather than a connection to someone else's servers. Secondly,
those servers must absorb a Usenet feed from outside sources that
currently exceeds 100 gigabytes per day. This requires
some serious processing and storage power, which costs serious
money. In fact, some I.S.P.'s, like MSN, are dropping Usenet entirely.
Other I.S.P.'s are upgrading to keep up with a Usenet feed which
grows by leaps and bounds. If you were going to build a newer
bigger news farm for today's Usenet load, it might fill these
racks and cost well into seven figures.
Maybe someday I'll be able to add a picture that shows these
racks filled with this new equipment. But for now, this concludes
our Grey Line Bus Tour of the Information Superhighway. I hope
you feel like you got your money's worth.
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