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1994-09-28
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Thank you for your interest in The World. Enclosed is a description
of our services. Let us know if you have additional questions.
Software Tool & Die
presents
T H E W O R L D
The World is the premier online service for dialup access to the
Internet. Since November 1989, The World has been offering a myriad
of Internet services which include electronic mail, USENET, telnet,
ftp, irc, gopher, library catalogs, and much more. Using ordinary
terminal emulation software, customers of The World have access to a
UNIX-based computer that supports all the software and utilities for
Internet access. Software Tool & Die is committed to providing cost
effective, reliable network services for dialup customers in the
Internet community.
INTERNET
The Internet is a collaboration of computer networks that allows the
instantaneous transfer of information between computers located all
over the globe. Within the information society, Internet is the
fastest growing and most widely available computer based
communications network. The international Internet community
encompasses a wide variety of people including university professors,
students and staff; employees of for-profit businesses and
not-for-profit organizations; members of Fortune 500 companies as well
as individual family-owned businesses; government employees such as
the President; and individual computer owners.
COMPUTER AND NETWORK RESOURCES
The World is an SGI Challenger XL 6 CPU (150MHZ R4400) server with
512MB of main memory and over 32GB of local disk storage. The World
is connected to the Internet via multiple high speed (T1, 1.544Mbps)
links to the Alternet commercial access network. On the dialup side,
the World offers modems supporting the v.32bis, v.32, v.42bis, v.42,
and MNP5 protocols. Modem settings are 8 bit, no parity, and 1 stop
bit. A vt100 terminal emulation is recommended for optimal
communications.
RATES
The World offers two billing plans with rates that are uniform 24
hours per day at all connection speeds. The Basic Rate plan includes
a $5 monthly account fee plus a $2 per hour usage fee. Basic Rate
accounts include a 1MB of private disk space. The 20/20 Plan is a
volume usage rate where $20 paid in advance buys 20 hours of online
time during a calendar month. The 20/20 Plan includes the $5 monthly
account fee and 20/20 Plan accounts receive an increased disk space of
5MB. Any 20/20 Plan account used for more than 20 hours during the
month is billed at the rate of $1 per hour.
The World offers payment options via MasterCard or Visa, postal
invoice, or email invoice. Additional billing plans are available for
members of the Boston Computer Society, the BMUG organization, Sun
User Group and for corporate customers. Send email to
"info@world.std.com" for details.
SIGNUP PROCEDURE
To sign up for World access, dial 617-739-WRLD (617-739-9753) or
telnet to the hostname, world.std.com (192.74.137.5). At The World's
login prompt, use the login "new" to access the account request
program. You will be asked several questions necessary to create your
account. The World will allow you to select your own login name which
will also be your email address. Most people select their name, their
initials, or a combination of both. Your initial password will be
provided by the account creation software. All customers must contact
our office for account activation after making the account request.
Every World account is eligible for a one hour trial period (see
details below).
THE WORLD'S STAFF
The World is managed by a professional full-time staff, all of whom
have UNIX and international networking experience. We are committed
to providing our customers with reliable, cost effective Internet
services. In order that our customers can exploit the power of
today's electronic community, our primary occupation is the support of
The World and its resources.
ONE HOUR TRIAL
All accounts are eligible for a one hour trial period. This provides
an opportunity to explore The World and its resources without
incurring any obligation. Simply complete the account request
procedure and take a sixty minute tour of The World.
OVERVIEW OF SERVICES OFFERED BY THE WORLD
Customer Support
Software Tool & Die believes that customer support is the primary
service which our staff offers. Our customer support members have
extensive knowledge of UNIX, Internet, and computer based
communications. We encourage our customers to contact us when they
have questions, problems, or comments.
A comprehensive online help utility is maintained by our staff and
provides up to the minute details on Internet services. All
information within the help utility is available for customer access.
A detailed tutorial style user guide is available both in electronic
form and in a printed manual. This is designed for customers who have
never before used the UNIX environment and provides concise
step-by-step instructions on the essential World services.
Additionally, customer support is provided by telephone at
617-739-0202, by email through the address staff@world.std.com and in
a public spirited format on the USENET newsgroup wstd.help.
Electronic Mail
Electronic mail is the most ubiquitous service of the World and of the
Internet. From a World account your electronic messages are delivered
direct to any other Internet member at any location around the globe.
In addition to access to all Internet mailboxes, The World can be used
to send electronic mail to other mailbox services such as Compuserve,
Applelink, MCImail, BIX, Fidonet and UUCP sites.
The World offers all popular UNIX mail programs including mail, pine,
elm, mh, mush, GNU's RMAIL, dmail and mm.
An added feature of Internet mail is the ability to join a mailing
list. These mailing lists are collections of kindred souls devoted to
a specialized topic. World customers may also select to create and
manage their own mailing lists.
USENET Newsgroups
The international public forum called USENET is the most extensive
bulletin board system in the world. This collection of over 4700
newsgroups ranging in topics from technical and scientific discussions
to recreational conversations unites people in an electronic
community. The World distributes all available USENET newsgroups
including many groups from foreign countries in their native languages.
The newsreaders available on World are tin, rn, nn, trn, tass, and GNUS.
Electronic Newspapers
The World offers two electronic newspaper services which provide
direct access to the newswire services from AP, Reuters, and others.
From Clarinet communications, World receives the UPI wireservice;
syndicated columnists, such as Dave Barry; daily closing prices for
the stock markets; and Newsbytes, a service specializing in hightech
related news. From MSEN, the Reuters newswire is available. Both of
these electronic newspapers are delivered in the USENET newsgroup
formats.
Gopher, WAIS, and WWW
These three services, Gopher, WAIS, and WWW provide different ways of
accessing large collections of information. Gopher is an Internet
navigation utility providing a menu based format for roaming the
Internet. Wide Area Information Server (WAIS) is a tool for searching
an indexed database by making English-like queries. After locating the
information, WAIS allows for retrieving of the entire document. World
Wide Web (WWW) is another database access tool based on a hypertext
design.
Internet Relay Chat
The Internet Relay Chat allows for World customers to join a live,
interactive discussion in a format much like talk radio. Each channel
is devoted to a specified topic and has participants from any of the
Internet hosts. After joining a channel, your messages are
immediately delivered to listeners around the globe. IRC even has
channels in various languages.
Information Archives
The Internet has many extensive archives of information which are
freely accessible. These archives include shareware software, public
domain software, product catalogs, newsletters, etc. The program
called FTP is used to access these archives and retrieve the
information. An FTP index is available via the program called, archie.
Online Book Initiative
The purpose of the OBI is to create a publicly accessible repository
for freely redistributable collections of textual information, a
net-worker's library. The OBI project was started by Barry Shein, who
is also founder and president of The World. The complete OBI
collection is available to World customers.
Corporate Services
Businesses, small and large, are the fastest growing segment of the
Internet community. World offers several special services for
corporate customers. The corporate mailbox service allows a business
to register an Internet domain name and receive email address to their
Internet address. FTP and gopher archive areas can be established for
distribution of information about your business and products.
Discounted rates are offered for corporate customers with multiple
World accounts. Onsite Internet training sessions are available.
Unix Software
An extensive compilation of the utilities and programs which have
become an integral part of the UNIX environment are available. The
unix command shells include sh, csh, ksh, bash, tcsh, zsh and rc.
GNU Software
The Free Software Foundation is a Cambridge based organization
providing free software. Their primary project is called GNU and
intends to distribute a complete set of UNIX utilities and software
for no charge. Many of the available GNU components, such as EMACS,
GCC, G++, GDB, GAS, BASH, GAWK, are installed. This collection is
particularly useful for customers who are interested in software
development.
Games
Many games common to the UNIX environment are available. These
include hack, moria, nethack, adventure, omega, robots, and tetris.
The MUD (Multiple User Dungeon) games offer access to real-time
interactive program where the players explore a virtual space in a
role-playing manner.
COST EFFECTIVE LONG DISTANCE ACCESS
At the present time, Massachusetts is the only place where direct
dial World modems exist.
We have listed the communities below which are non-toll calls to these
numbers but advise you to check with your telephone business office
regarding your own service.
617-739-9753 Boston, Cambridge, Brookline, Somerville,
Arlington, Newton, Watertown, Waltham,
Lexington, Chelsea, Quincy, Milton, Belmont.
617-826-0290 Hanover, Norwell, Rockland, Hingham,
Weymouth, Braintree, Scituate, Hanson,
Kingston, Marshfield, Pembroke, Rockland,
Whitman, Abington, Halifax, Plympton.
508-366-4422 Westboro, Northboro, Southboro, Marlboro,
Worcester, Framingham, Ashland, Hopkinton,
Upton, Grafton, Shrewsbury.
508-934-9753 Lowell, Tewksbury, Billerica, Chelmsford,
Concord, Acton, Littleton, Carlisle,
Tyngsboro, Chelmsford, Westford, Dracut,
Methuen, Lawrence, Andover, North Andover,
Wilmington, (North Reading?)
Various non-measured services are offered for flat monthly fees.
From outside Massachusetts, first check your long distance service
provider. Many companies offer affordable rates for direct dial
service particularly when you dial frequently to the same number
or area code. MCI will provide additional discounts for World
customers who list STD on their Friends and Family Plan.
Lower cost local dial modems throughout the USA are available with
Compuserve's Packet Network (an additional $5.60/hr added to your
World bill, no Compuserve Information Service account is required -
call 800-848-8980 for your local number). World is not affiliated
with this modem network service provider.
*******
This document was last modified on February 28, 1994.
For the latest update, check the ftp archive at world.std.com
or send your request via email to info@world.std.com
Software Tool & Die 1330 Beacon Street Brookline MA 02146
617-739-0202 office@world.std.com