Dialup ISP suggestions?

[dan at geer.org (dan at geer.org)]

In a word, Barry Shein is a lunatic who has gone
off the deep end and taken "The World" with him.
(You are aware, that he introduces himself, as
the President of The World, are you not?)

That said, I maintain an account there as I seem
to often need a UNIX shell in another place to test
this or that, e.g., ping times.

Note that their version of UNIX is Irix.  As I
understand it, world.std.com is at 6.2 [1]

As I understand it, 6.2 has been in maintenance since
June 1998 and has been retired since January 2003. [2]

As I understand it, shell.theworld.com is at 6.5.9f [3]

As I understand it, IRIX 6.5.x is released quarterly
such that 6.5.9f, while current in August 2000, is now
long retired whereas the current version is 6.9.29 [4]

Given that SGI's energy is going into Linux clusters,
that world.std.com is more than eight years out of rev,
that shell.theworld.com is more than six years out of
rev, and that both are long-since officially retired.

I asked, repeatedly, in early **2004** for clarification.
As those familiar with The World will know, they are
hostile to a freaking fault and **never** answer mail
that requires an executive thought much less an executive
decision.  That they are still in business is part miracle
and part obsolescence.  If anyone knows a dialup service
that offers an unadorned UNIX shell, I'd personally
appreciate it and would drop theworld.com in a eye-blink.

--dan

[1]
world% uname -R
6.2

[2]
http://support.sgi.com/content_request/20021220132833-NewsAnnouncement-7268/

[3]
shell% uname -R
6.5 6.5.9f

6.5.1 - Aug 1998
6.5.2 - Nov 1998
6.5.3 - Feb 1999
6.5.4 - May 1999
6.5.5 - Aug 1999
6.5.6 - Nov 1999
6.5.7 - Feb 2000
6.5.8 - May 2000
6.5.9 - Aug 2000 <--- where shell.theworld.com appears to be
6.5.10 - Nov 2000
6.5.11 - Feb 2001
6.5.12 - May 2001
6.5.13 - Aug 2001
6.5.14 - Nov 2001
6.5.15 - Feb 2002
6.5.16 - May 2002
6.5.17 - Aug 2002
6.5.18 - Nov 2002
6.5.19 - Feb 2003
6.5.20 - May 2003
6.5.21 - Aug 2003
6.5.22 - Nov 2003
6.5.23 - Feb 2004
6.5.24 - May 2004
6.5.25 - Aug 2004
6.5.26 - Nov 2004
6.5.27 - Feb 2005
6.5.28 - Aug 2005
6.5.29 - Feb 2006 <--- where IRIX appears to be today

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