Rogers has just announced that they are going to discontinue their usenet feeds; no more comp.lang.python.announce or comp.lang.vrml. This comes on the heels of their attempts to strongarm us into "upgrading" to digital cable (incompatible with the PVR software on the computers) for an extra $10/month (before the cost of the hardware to adapt the PVR systems).

Laughably, they are offering the Yahoo groups services as though they were a substitute for the usenet feed (hint: the point is getting to the communications forum in which you want to participate, the fact that you have some other forum available is irrelevant).

I know, I know, why not do something about it? Well, mostly because they are the only Cable provider locally, and the base connection speed is still decent (though not as fast as it used to be). I can read the newsgroups through web-sites (or email subscriptions, as I do for comp.lang.python), it's just less convenient for these "browsing" forums.

So, (to me), suck it up, they know they can get away with nickle-and-diming because in the final analysis no one else can compete with the base package yet. Until someone can, Rogers can force through new for pay "features" and can cut out whatever special operations they like, knowing that there's just no-one else who can offer the raw connection speed to the home.