Online explorer discovers new worlds

Dear Voxbox,

Thank you, Globe! Not only do you start and try the cutting edge,but you make the effort to promote and expand it.

I've always felt the difference between the Globe and Herald wasyour intelligent and, on occasion, long letters from readers, and theother's semiliterate two-liners. Then, one day, I happened onVoxbox. A week or two later, I heard a story on the "NBC NightlyNews" -- it evoked a few thoughts. At about 7 p.m. I e-mailed thosethoughts to your editors and they appeared in print the followingmorning. The subject was so topical that my letter appeared in thesame issue with a headline and editorial relating to it. It wouldhave been dated had it arrived two or three days later. Thanks. Myworld changed with that experience.

Today, however, I discovered the true scope of the Internet and Iam feeling very small.

Until today, I had always used Compuserve and/or Prodigy, Internetgateways. The e-mail was all I thought I needed. But, lured byDelphi's offer to try the I-NET for five hours for free, I signed on.The scope of that net out there is astounding. Although I spentperhaps 45 minutes connected, I felt like an explorer must have feltwhen he first landed on raw Massachusetts beaches -- it would take meyears of online time to explore the hinterlands of the world openedup by a direct connection. I'm likely to terminate my C-serve andProdigy memberships and focus all my resources on a full explorationof another New World.

Again, thank you for helping us all. If you had not told me thatI could use Compuserve to reach you, I'd probably not had reason touse e-mail. If I'd not done that, I'd probably have delayed foranother year or two getting to know the Internet. Little steps by apaper like yours can have enormously positive consequences for itsreaders.72212.3462(at sign symbol)compuserve.comDear Voxbox,

The following paragraph is from the March 9 Globe, in an articleentitled "Changes predicted for Open Software:"

"Unix software developed by International Business Machines Corp.does not work well on computers built to use Unix versions fromcompanies such as Digital Equipment Corp. and Sun Microsystems Inc."

This is the most singularly clueless statement about Unix I haveseen in the nontechnical press. Comparable to: "Ethnic violence inBosnia over the last two years has caused limited socialdislocation."

The credibility that you've built in the technical community withthings like voxbox(at sign symbol)globe.com and other Internet accessis completely wiped out every time one of your reporters attempts towrite a technical article, and includes a statement like the oneabove.BOB METCALFCambridgebobmet(at sign symbol)clam.com

Many people have asked that we make the Globe's archivesaccessible and searchable online. Well, we did it: Our back-issuesarchive is now accessible via the point-and-click interface ofAmerica Online, for an hourly search fee.

Here's how it works:

Go to keyword Mercury, choose "News Library," click continue, andthen select "The Boston Globe." You can then select which year youwant to search, or "All Years" (The Boston Globe archive goes back to1980). You will then be prompted to enter the word or words you wishto search for.

Please note that daytime use of the library (6 a.m. to 6 p.m.,Boston time) costs 80 cents per minute ($48/hour) while nighttime (6p.m. to 6 a.m.) and weekend use costs 10 cents a minute ($6/hour),plus regular America Online connect charges.