UseNet news is a collection of discussion groups on thousands of topics, from computers to literature to sports. Users can connect to read messages, reply to them, and post new ones. These messages are available to literally hundreds of thousands of people daily.
The UseNet news network is made up of many hundreds of machines of different types. Some of these machines are servers, which store messages and forward them to other servers, other machines are only equipped with news readers, that take messages off of a server, and send replies and new posts to the server. These machines can be of almost any type, as long as they can connect to a network that UseNet can use. News reader and server software exists for Unix, VMS, VM, Macintosh, IBM, and other platforms.
How do people read UseNet News?
To read UseNet news, a user must have access to a machine connected to a UseNet compatible network, such as the Internet. A newsreader program must be run, which will connect to a news server program, either on the same machine, or somewhere else on the network. The reader program will check for unread postings, new newsgroups, and other information of interest and display to the user who can then choose which information to view. The format for displaying/replying/posting will vary according to the news reader used. Check with your systems people for details as to available programs at your site.
