Ford Festivas, Usenet & NNTP Newsreaders
NewsAdmin Staff Writer

What could NNTP newsreaders and Ford Festivas possibly have in common? Can your article titles be any more obscure? Were you dropped on your head at birth? All perfectly valid questions, but I think I can explain. No really! Don't push the "Back" button... don't click your mouse... I think this will all make sense in the end.

During my college daze I drove a Ford Festiva, and thanks to extensive therapy I can now admit that fact in public without breaking into a cold sweat and shrieking like the bald guy in Edvard Munch's "The Scream". Don't get me wrong, the Festiva served its basic purpose. As an impoverished college student going to school in a congested city, the diminutive Festiva offered great gas mileage and it never met a parallel parking challenge it couldn't conquer. Unfortunately beyond those attributes, the Festiva didn't offer much in the way of creature comforts to make the driving experience one worth remembering. No leg room, no power accessories, a heater that sounded like a heavy breather, and an AM radio that only received evangelical stations. The robust V-4 engine moved the Festiva at the speed of snail, but to its credit it gave passengers an opportunity to leap from the car without sustaining any major injuries.

In many ways traditional NNTP newsreaders and my Ford Festiva have much in common. They'll both get you from Point A to Point B, but it will require a lot of effort... a lot of patience... and you may question whether reaching your destination was worth the no frills journey in between. A few newsgroup service providers (NSPs) have capitalized on this dilemma by offering both NNTP and Web based newsgroup access. For some, the mention of "Web" and "Usenet" in the same breath is sacrilege, but before you rush to a hasty judgment you may want to consider some of the benefits.

When photos, music or video clips are posted to the binary newsgroups, those individual files will appear as multiple parts within a group. It's not uncommon to find larger files broken into +300 smaller parts, and with a traditional NNTP newsreader you'll have to manually locate, select & decode all of those parts in order to view the file. The process is tedious and time consuming, not unlike the two hours my Festiva required to accelerate from 0-60. Web readers on the other hand will automate this entire task, giving users a single link or icon to click on to retrieve a file of interest.

As a protocol HTTP (Web) is generally more efficient than NNTP when it comes to downloading data. NNTP newsreaders will transfer a larger encoded version of a newsgroup file to your system, while most Web readers will deliver the file in a smaller decoded format. Because the HTTP protocol does a better job of moving bits and bytes through cyberspace, downloads are more stable through a Web reader and can be up to 25% faster than NNTP data transfers.

NNTP newsgroup access requires that you have to download and install a 3rd party newsreader on your computer. In the context of one computer this is not a major problem, but it does become an inconvenience when you'd like to access the newsgroups from different locations (work, school, hotel, etc.). In this instance you'll need to download and install a NNTP newsreader at each computer, and depending upon the location, you may not have the ability to do so. In contrast, if your NSP offers Web based Usenet access, all you'll need is an Internet connection and a Web browser to connect to your favorite newsgroups. Since a Web browser application is packaged with most computer operating systems (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, etc.) you won't have to install a single piece of software.

Occasionally you may find that your Internet access provider has blocked your NNTP newsreader from connecting to the newsgroups. NNTP newsreaders traditionally use the "119" port to communicate with news servers, and your Usenet access can be prevented by blocking that port. Some NSPs offer alternate NNTP port numbers as a helpful workaround, but Internet access providers are usually adept at locating and blocking those alternate ports over time. Web based newsgroup access is more difficult to prevent because it uses the same port (80) that all other Web access utilizes. If an Internet access provider chooses to block port 80, not only will they prevent Web access to the newsgroups, but they'll block everyone's access to the Web as a whole.

While I'm not suggesting that everyone trade-in their NNTP newsreaders or park them in the garage, you may want to consider reaping the benefits of both worlds by selecting a NSP that offers NNTP and Web based newsgroup access. There are a few providers out there that do a nice job of offering both access options, and you may be surprised with how quickly a good Web reader can grow on you.

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