[9304] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: The annointed
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Ed Tully)
Tue Dec 28 15:01:21 1993
From: tully@cscns.com (Ed Tully)
To: postman@lists.psi.com (Sheldon Mains 612-297-2376)
Date: Tue, 28 Dec 93 12:56:38 MST
Cc: com-priv@psi.com
In-Reply-To: <9312281909.AA25552@host-natasha.lmic.state.mn.us>; from "Sheldon Mains 612-297-2376" at Dec 28, 93 1:09 pm
I read the implication as applying to those who would sell the Internet in
a box, not the neighbor who manages the warehouse. Those that are
proposing to sell Internet in a box are *not* bringing anything to the
net. All the stuff we now take for granted as free - datbases from
universities, gophers, Wais, etc., were built by people who reap no
financial return of any consequence - unless there are some Internet
millionaires out there that I don't know about! The internet in a box guys
take advantage of gophers developed by everybody else, etc. This note is
not intended to state my opinion on the "morality" or "immorality" of the
internet in a box; it is only to provide my calirification of the
attached mail.
>
>
> There has been a number of postings that seem to imply that the people on
> internet now are better than those who could come on in the future.
> Examples include the assertion that UNIX is fine and anyone on the net
> should know it to the complaint that those who buy "Internet in a Box" will
> not bring anything to the net nor know that they should.
>
> First, for something like internet to survive the changes in the industry,
> there has to be more than just computer junkies, academics and government
> types on it. People like my neighbor who manages a warehouse need to find
> value in the net. It can not be an elitist system.
>
> Second, we don't know what people will bring. Some of it will be trash,
> some of it will be wonderful.
>
> Third, the system has to be easier to use. How many of your friends can
> not program their VCR?--and we expect them to understand UNIX, let alone
> DOS?
>
> Finally, any step that gets more people to understand the value of two-way
> electrionic communications as opposed to the one-way model of broadcast TV
> and cable, is useful. So what if nbc.com is only e-mail, it is better
> than nothing.
>
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