| Domain | Definition |
| Computing | BITNET /bit'net/ n., obs. [acronym: Because It's Time NETwork] Everybody's least favorite piece of the network (see the network) - until AOL happened. The BITNET hosts were a collection of IBM dinosaurs and VAXen (the latter with lobotomized comm hardware) that communicate using 80-character {EBCDIC card images (see eighty-column mind); thus, they tend to mangle the headers and text of third-party traffic from the rest of the ASCII/RFC-822 world with annoying regularity. BITNET was also notorious as the apparent home of B1FF. By 1995 it had, much to everyone's relief, been obsolesced and absorbed into the Internet. Unfortunately, around this time we also got AOL. Source: Jargon File. |
| Aerospace | 1: Because It’s Time Network. (references) |
| 2: An acronym standing for Because Its Time NETwork: an international academic computer network linking IBM computers (see PC), now known as CREN in the U.S. BITNET supports e-mail, mailing lists (see Mailbase and Listserv), and FTP. Does not support remote login (telnet). (references) | | Environment | (Because It's Time NETwork (or Because It's There NETwork)) A network of educational sites separate from the Internet, but e-mail is freely exchanged between BITNET and the Internet. Listservs, a popular form of e-mail discussion groups, originated on BITNET. At its peak (the late 1980's and early 1990's) BITNET machines were usually mainframes, often running IBM's MVS operating system. BITNET is probably the only international network that is shrinking. See also: Internet (Upper case I), Listserv, Network. (references) |
| Technology | Because It's Time NETwork is an early network of academic and research professionals. Most users have shifted to e-mail gateways. See also Internet and Networks. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | Top |
