[2035] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Press reports: 1991 TCP/IP sales .2 B & Conspiracy Editorial
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Gordon Cook)
Sun Jan 19 23:16:01 1992
To: com-priv@psi.com
Date: 19 Jan 92 22:46:29 EST (Sun)
From: cook@tmn.com (Gordon Cook)
<<MESSAGE from>> Gordon Cook 19-JAN-92 22:46
cook@tmn
Two pieces in the trade press this week caught my eye:
First: On page 9 of the January 13 Communications Week: "worldwide, users
spent $1.2 billion for TCP/IP hardware and software in 1991 versus $550
million for Open Systems Interconnection products, according to figures
from Infonetics Research Institute, San Jose california as cited by [the
Department of] Commerce."
Let me add that the 1990 figures for TCP/IP were $560 million and that the
1.2 billion figure was not expected to be reached until the end of 1992.
Second: an Editorial in Business Communications Review, January 1992
titled "Conspiracies, Coverups, and Myths."
"As Oliver Stone's JFK opens in movie houses around the country, most of
the national television news shows and magazines seem to be doing their
best to debunk Stone's thesis. Most of us have no way of knowing which
'expert' is right or wrong about the myriad of details of the
assasination, but the more you listen to the debate, the harder it is to
believe that official reports tell the whole story. So at least on one
level he movie has succeeded: it has rekindled long festering fears about
conspiracies and government coverups, even here in Chicago, where such
events are about as unimaginable as frost in winter."
"In the communications and information industries we have our own
conspiracies coverups and myths. . . . In short with apologies to
Pogo, we have met the conspirator and he is us."
"As 1992 - a presidential election year - gets underway, and with our
industry in a deep recession, it could be a fertile time for more
conspiracies and myths to hatch. . . . [two candidates from the RBOCs
and MFJ are mentioned.]"
"A controversy is also brewing over whether the NREN - the multimillion
dollar gigabit network that is to be built with federal funds during the
1990s will be open to competitive carrier services, or be controlled by an
MCI-IBM subsidiary called ANS CO+RE. About a week after the NREN
legislation was signed, the New York Times reported that ANS CO+RE's
competitors are complaining about being squeezed out."
"Perhaps these are nothing more than examples of capitalism's give and
take - in the marketplace somebody wins and somebody loses. No doubt,
when the decisions on these issues are announced, we will all be told how
good this is for our economy and our children's future, and how it
reflects nobly on our free enterprise system. But somehow, especially in
presidential election years, the 'invisible hand' that guides the
marketplace seems to be attached to a body that resides on Pennsylvania
Ave, Washington, DC."
"Fred S. Knight, Editor"
