Welcome to WebCoSy^(tm)

WebCoSy

WebCoSy builds on the classic, command-line based CoSy, extending it to modern web- and internet-enabled technology combined with up-to-date user interfaces.

CoSy

CoSY is the computer conferencing system originally developed by Alastair J.W. Mayer at the University of Guelph beginning in 1983. It rapidly became one of the most widely-used systems of its class, being deployed in major commercial contexts by BYTE Magazine as the basis of BIX, by Nikkei-Byte as N-MIX in Japan, and in England as CIX. It has also seen wide use in a number of universities for internal communications and delivery of course content. The number of CoSy users - at one time or another - probably numbers in the hundreds of thousands. Except for a few major sites (such as CIX), many CoSy installations moved to more graphic-oriented, web or usenet based systems toward the end of the 1990s, but there remain many active CoSy users.

Conferencing Collaboration Cooperation

The name "CoSy" was derived not only from the words "conferencing system", but also from "collaboration system", "cooperative synergy", and a few other co- and sy- words. From its beginnings, CoSy was designed not merely to support on-line conversations, as with Usenet or chat-type systems, but also to support collaboration on projects amongst distributed users. One such feature is the "conference workfile", a per-conference work area that all conference members have access to. The CoSy design also provided such features as embedded graphics in messages, but client applications to support this were never developed.

Messages

CoSy has several forms of messaging: traditional email from/to CoSy users; "conferences", named discussion areas comprising one or more named topics, each topic consisting of a collection of message threads; "conversations", like mini-conferences, generically named with a single topic; and chat, the latter based on underlying operating system facilities (eg Unix "talk") or other software (eg BIX's "CBix"). A system of privilege levels and access controls determines what users may read, write to, moderate or create.

History

A Brief History of CoSy outlines how CoSy came to be developed, became the foundation for BIX and others, and its current GPL status as the core of NLZero.

CoSy Is Not

CoSy is not the APL-based system "CoSy" developed by Bob Armstrong of Coherent Systems in the mid 1980s, referenced at http://www.cosy.com, nor is WebCoSy.

CoSy is also not the compiler development system "CoSy" developed by ACE Associated Compiler Experts bv, referenced at http://www.ace.nl/products/cosy.htm, nor is WebCoSy.