Free-Nets

The rise and fall of NPTN

In September 1996, NPTN filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy and ceased operations. I wondered how this could happen being that NPTN was was funded through government grants and corporate largess. While the specifics leading to NPTN's downfall are still a bit murky, I think it was a lack of vision mixed in with arrogance that led to the fall. Cyberspace has evolved quickly over the past decade, but NPTN didn't evolve with it. When it started, being on the internet meant having an email address and perhaps text-only interface through a dumb terminal or a modem. Years ago, that approach might have made some sense when home computers like Commodore 64's, Atari's, and other crude 8-bit computers were commonplace that were impractical in a network environment but could be made to function as a dumb terminal attached to a networked host. But several things changed along the way and NPTN's failure to see these changes contributed to their demise. People begain discarding these "toy" computers and started using x86 platforms that were capable of working in a network environment. Phil Karn started a revolution in computing with NOS which bought TCP/IP connectivity to x86 platforms. While NOS remained an application used primarily by hobbyists, it did change the way how the industry viewed networking. Microsoft after years of struggle finally came up with a workable version of Windows and this allowed use of IP stacks that gave fairly transparent IP networking to these platforms using hardwired networks or modem connections.

In a way, NPTN's very own history blinded it to the future. NPTN had it origins back in 1984. Tom Grundner who was at Case Western Reserve University at the time set up a bulletin board system in the closet of his office. While BBS's were fairly common back then, Grundner's BBS was set up for people seeking answers to medical related questions. People could simply log on and leave a message pretaining to a medical question and within 24 hours, someone from CWR's medical staff would answer it. The response was overwhelming and soon hundreds of questions were being fielded daily. This inspired Grundner to think along the lines of "community networks." In 1986, the Cleveland Free-Net was started which took Grundner's original medical BBS idea and expanded it to a general purpose community messaging system. The idea soon spread to other areas and community systems were started up in a number of places. The internet back then was still just a network of systems primarily in academic institutions but being that the backbone network already existed and Free-Net systems in most cases were housed at universities, it made sense to "plug-in" into the network so these community systems could exchange information.

Grundner went on to form NPTN which would serve as a coordinating body for community networks, encourage the formation of new community networks and assist in getting grant money for new and existing community networks. Grundner's vision was that NPTN would be the computing equivilant of National Public Radio. They would oversee the expanding network of community systems and perhaps even become a content provider providing the cyberspace equivilant of "All Things Considered." Community networks would dovetail nicely with the universities community service ambitions, they could provide the sites, the hardware, and their valuble network connections. It was a lofty vision, bringing computing to the masses and making a huge quantity of information available a modem call away. But the internet was a sleeping giant and once it was unshackled, finally freed of its constraints, NPTN was lost in the malestrom of the internet revolution.

When the internet became an open network where anyone could plug in for a price, NPTN's cozy world was cast adrift. Commercial providers began to spring up which offered true IP connectivity at reasonable rates and people began to see the vast resources that the internet had to offer. Commmunity BBS's as well as private BBS's suddenly seemed redundant. Their limited resources paled to the vast world of the internet. The internet became available at reasonable prices almost everywhere and operating systems like Windows 95 made it easy to use. NPTN soldiered on with their Commodore 64 vision of the world and even many of the established Free-Nets realized where things were headed and began to offer "real" PPP connectivity. NPTN went on in their dated way of thinking and kept insisting that Free-Nets pay homage to NPTN by giving them marquee space as if NPTN affiliation was highly valuable and they use NPTN's awful, clunky, text-only "FreePort" server software. Many Free-Nets dropped their NPTN affiliation and new ones refused to join. NPTN trademarked the term "Free-Net" and threatened legal action against those systems who used the name. There weren't so many happy campers in the Free-Net world.

Some commercial providers of internet connectivity cast a suspecting eye towards community systems because their internet links were drawn from publically funded academic institutions which they received for free. Many thought this was unfair as commercial providers pay heavily for their bankbone connections and the community systems were getting it for free at taxpayer expense. A few suggested that such use of publically funded backbone services represented unfair competition against the private sector providers that had to pay for similar services. Grundner replied, "we have the lawyers, we have the money, we have the political influence to blow any such challenges away!" That sort of crass arogance only served to seal NPTN's fate. I think the commercial internet community shared the same goal as NPTN did, to make information as accessible and inexpensive as it possibly can be. Sure the commercial community wants to make a buck or two doing it, but their goals weren't so incompatible with NPTN's. They didn't see the future and now they have paid the price!!