[2628] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
The Cook Report on the NREN/Internet - Mission Statement
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Gordon Cook)
Mon Mar 23 21:16:07 1992
To: com-priv@psi.com
Date: 23 Mar 92 20:52:22 EST (Mon)
From: cook@tmn.com (Gordon Cook)
<<MESSAGE from>> Gordon Cook 23-MAR-92 20:52
cook@tmn
The Cook Report on the NREN/Internet
Mission Statement
Can anyone remember when this nation in the sixties had the vision to
adopt the goal of putting a man on the moon and the leadership to carry it
out? Can anyone blame Senator Gore for trying to make a vision of a
national computer network? Can everyone imagine the new startups and new
technology that could be gleaned from an NREN that actually had a
well-articulated vision and a plan for how to get from here to there that
the players could agree on?
There is no plan and beyond some hazy images there is no vision. This is
tragic. The Cook Report on the NREN/Internet is dedicated to the premise
that our goal must be the building of a global, interconnected network
where access can be afforded by everyone who owns a computer and a modem
as well as those who can use publically available terminals. Our goal
also should be to create an environment in the USA where state of the art
technology can be created, tested preliminarily on a nationally supported
education and research network and *then* moved onto commercialized
production networks.
Taking Congress at its word, the Report will be a forum for the
establishment of a network that is universally accessible by all Americans
in pursuit of research or education. Beholden to no one save its
subscribers, it hopes to serve as a seed bed for creative ideas and
provide nurture to anyone willing to try to lead the network to serve
*both* national goals of technology development and improved research and
education. Do this well and network growth and commercialization will
take care of themselves.
Twelve "hardcopy" issues of the Cook Report will cost $75.00 for
individuals and companies or government agencies with operating revenues
of $10 million or less per year. The cost for larger entities is $300.00.
The Cook Report will be available in electronic form to subscribers who
sign a hardcopy pledge not to redistribute it further. Subscribers at the
$300 level will receive for no extra charge the 35 page (170,000
characters) desk top published report: The National Research and
Education Network: Whom Shall It Serve? Others may order this document
separately at $25.
Issue one - target electronic distribution date of April 1 - will focus on
the NREN Hearings.
Future issues will focus on the Telestrategies April 21 -22 Conference in
Reston, the plans for a Community Learning Network, and the development of
EINet. Beginning with Report #2 I intend to offer with every issue a
listing of new institutional attachments to the network. Subscriptions are
payable by check to Gordon Cook. There will be an additional charge for
foreign hardcopy subscriptions.
Gordon Cook, President
COOK Network Consultants
431 Greenway Ave
Ewing, NJ 08618, USA
PS: It is my understanding that, as an announcement of a new product of
interest to research and education users of this network, this posting
falls within the NSF AUP.
