14 Mar
2007
14 Mar
'07
9:44 a.m.
Dave McGuire wrote:
On Mar 13, 2007, at 2:53 PM, Jules Richardson wrote:
I generally don't (and generally won't) use networks that I don't run,
and I'm not a lazy or clueless admin...so I'm used to seeing things a
bit more "open" and functional.
OK, so they're still functional *to you*. But if you take into account the
number of machines on the public network and then look at the number of
machines which are capable of using programs like talk, I suspect the
proportion is absolutely tiny. (which isn't a Good Thing, IMHO)
(I had exactly the same issues with VCRs the other day - they're still useful
*to me*, but planet-wide they're dead as a dodo, superseded by DVD and PVR
technology, so I had to bite my tongue when someone declared them obsolete :-)
[and there's a real danger with people confusing obsolescence with "no longer
any good" - to my mind they're often totally different things]
cheers
J.
/bin/finger
apophis$ which talk
/bin/talk
...looks to me like they're still there.
The issue's more that in today's security-paranoid atmosphere
firewalls tend to have everything apart from a few basic services
(like HTTP and SMTP) blocked. So the binaries are still there and
reasonably widespread - you just can't use 'em :(