Goodbye M.O.N.A., We Hardly Knew Ye!


On Thursday, November 30, 1995, we finally pulled the plug on MONA, which was the original MUUG Online server. (MONA was an acronym for MUUG Online Network Access.) The system, an old Sun Microsystems 386i belonging to the University of Manitoba Computer Service department, went into service for MUUG in June, 1992. The Great-West Life Assurance Company donated a 1GB SCSI disk to the cause, which allowed us to set up accounts for over 100 users, and provide a reasonable subset of USENET news groups.

After an initial free trial period, MUUG began charging for access in October, 1992. Membership soon swelled, as word got out, and as interest in Internet access grew in Winnipeg. Out of this frenzy of interest in the Internet, MBnet set up a commercial service of its own, and other commercial providers eventually followed. As viable commercial alternatives to MONA became available, MBnet and MUUG had to rethink their initial agreement, and MUUG was now faced with the same potential charges for network and modem access as any other commercial service. It was then that MUUG decided to phase out login access to MONA.

At the end of October, 1994, about two years after we started charging for use of MONA, modem access to it was terminated, and users were given refunds and the option to sign up with MBnet with no initial fee. Logins were still permitted to MONA via the Internet, to allow users to transfer files, unsubscribe from mailings lists, and so on. Remaining services on MONA were gradually tranfered over to a new machine (code named Lisa), which also acts as our World Wide Web server. The last of these services was mail forwarding, which was transfered over on November 22, 1995.

Former MONA users can no longer login and set their own .forward files, since the new server does not have the former users' accounts. If you are still receiving mail via the muug.ca mail server, and would like to change your forwarding address, simply let us know by sending e-mail to postmaster@muug.ca.

The 1GB disk lives on, and will soon be transfered to the new MUUG Online server, to expand the anonymous FTP area, and allow us to carry more UNIX and Linux software.

The Manitoba UNIX User Group gratefully acknowledges and thanks its corporate sponsors. Their financial support or donations of equipment or services have helped MUUG provide the services it does.


* Go to the MUUG Home Page.