[1008] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: some dumb questions from the gallery
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (tal@Warren.MENTORG.COM)
Mon Jul 15 21:02:08 1991
To: nren-discuss@psi.com, com-priv@psi.com
Date: Mon, 15 Jul 91 21:02:53 EDT
In-Reply-To: <9107151908.AA11623@psi.com>; from "Martin Lee Schoffstall" at Jul 15, 91 3:08 pm
From: tal@Warren.MENTORG.COM
> many schools are there in NewYorkState, or Texas for that matter. How
> many libraries are there in NewYorkCity or Dallas?
If every person from K-12, undergraduate, graduate, research,
and staff starts using email as a regular part of their life,
how will we find enough bandwidth?
It's sort of like talking to Alexander G. Bell a hundred
years ago and saying, "If it looks like everyone is going to
install one in their home, THEN we'll deal with having enough
bandwidth."
WHAT IF email becomes as pervasive as the telephone?
Well, I don't think I've ever tried to estimate the total
daily bandwidth used by the telephone system. Honestly, I
don't want to.
- -
This relates to something I've been thinking about:
How long did it take for social constructs surrounding the
telephone to evolve to a steady state? That is, the social
constructs surrounding who in the household will answer the
phone, proper way to take messages, dealing with teenagers
hogging the line, calling 411, 911, the white pages and the
yellow pages, and user education about long-distance vs. local
calls, etc. How long did it take for a ringing phone to evolve
from a magical special event, to a hassle of modern life?
The phone system evolved slowly. The NREN will see a similar
history; not the same problems, but the same evolution.
I think we've basically gotten ahead of ourselves technology-wise,
I hope a lot of the future funding and research is concerned with
the users. Will it?
Tom
--
Tom Limoncelli -- tal@Warren.MentorG.Com
Mentor Graphics, Warren, New Joisey.
"Is it immoral to edit your '.emacs' file with vi?"
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