Free Email access for Apple // computers until year 2000

[obsbedia2@aol.com (Obsbedia2)]

	There was a mention about email using an Apple // last week.  Does everybody
know (probably not) the best kept secret in the Apple // community?  Do you
know that it is FREE?  Do you know that it will disappear forever at the end of
DECEMBER 1999, unless we do something about it (our own Y2K problem)?

	When I obtained an Apple // for the classroom four years ago, one of the first
things that I did was hook up to the old FReD Mail system, now called Global
School Net.  There are nodes all over the USA and in some other countries that
you can dial up using your Apple II and a modem, often just a local call.

	The system was designed for students and teachers, but the SysOps love their
systems and are eager to show them off.  It's more than just email.  Each node
seems to vary a bit, but common newslists include Edupage (a summary of news
about computer technology and business three times a week), Proj.CHANNEL4 (an
Antarctica chat room), and the like.

	The Global School Net folks had a fire almost a year ago that took out their
phone lines, but they've farmed out pieces of their Network all over the
country so schools would not be cut off immediately.  They're moving toward
WWW-stuff, like everyone else, so they don't plan on maintaining the system
beyond the century.

	Is anybody interested in checking this out before it disappears, or am I just
spreading old news?  If there's interest, I can post a listing here of their
nodes and phone numbers (some are gone as schools have upgraded their
computers).

Jay