Penn's NetNews Service to be Discontinued: Alternatives Announced

March 27, 2008 :: Mike Palladino, ISC Networking & Telecommunications

Penn's NetNews service - first offered at the University more than 25 years ago - will be retired on June 30, 2008.

Over time, the use of the service has declined dramatically as alternatives such as blogs, wikis, web-based groups, and RSS subscriptions have proliferated. Costs, however, have leveled off. While the service is still providing value to some users, given the existence of so many alternatives and recognizing the need to spend wisely on IT services, the decision was made to end the central NetNews service in June of this year.

Decisions to discontinue online services at Penn are considered carefully and are made with the broad input of IT professional staff from ISC, the Schools, and the majority of the University's administrative areas. Together, this group considered a range of services and costs and made set of decisions that they believe are in the University's best interest.

For information about viable alternatives to the NetNews service, please visit http://www.upenn.edu/computing/help/doc/netnews/alternatives.html.

If you have questions about the termination of NetNews at Penn, please contact your Local Support Provider (LSP).