Usefulness of IRC

[Douglas Allen Luce]

One note I'd like to make:

IRC has been invaluable to me for finding spot information in a timely
manner.  Questions of mine that have been answered this month include
"Where can I find GNU AWK for the PC" and "Why does my RT's version of
inetd screw up when I send it a HUP, but not when I reboot?"  There
has also been individuals on who can give me a bigger picture of
network problems, like "why can't I get to llnl.gov today?"

I've been studying these real-time conversation systems on an informal
basis for several years, and I would bet that if taxpayers were to get
a wind of what goes on, they would be all for it.  Perhaps they would
even pay more so they could get a piece of the action (Minitel comes
to mind when estimating this reaction).

Douglas Luce
Chemical Engineering
Carnegie Mellon