City Of Houston To Offer Free Email To Residents

Don Symes writes: "The City of Houston is getting ready to roll out 'free' email and web-hosted word processing. First to libraries and fire stations(!?), poorer areas, then to those who can afford ISPs." It would be interesting to compare the cost of Internet Access Technologies' multi-million dollar contract with private ISP access, especially for the dozen other cities considering similar deals.

Comments

Isn't that useless?

[MSBob]

''We expect to have (people) standing in line to use the Internet,'' says Denny Piper, the city's chief information officer.

No wonder. If you're only giving them 1000 access points (PCs) for the whole of Houston then no wonder they'll have to queue for or even book their internet access. What good is a free email account when you dont have easy access to it?

This will not help the poorest.

[Rimbo]

I noticed a small bit when RTFA:

"People who verify their residence will get a SimDesk account number to access the software, including word processing, and e-mail."

What precisely does "verify your residence" mean? My guess is that it means you will have to have a house, or an apartment, or some other solid place to live. People who are living out of a cardboard box need not apply. So although this is lowing the bar, certain people will still be denied access.

Despite that, this is a dramatic step in the right direction. Although some say that only a thousand access points is too few, remember that the majority of Houstonians won't be using the public terminals -- they have their own connections -- and they probably don't even go into the neighborhoods where these will be installed.

Anyhow, if people who can't afford the 'net are lined up to use these, that's a good sign to me. What I'd be most afraid of is that these people would simply have no interest in using them, either due to ignorance or because a particular library terminal is part of a gang's turf.

You have to see the good side of this

[PRIME]

As a resident of Houston, it's actually a breath of fresh air to hear about forward thinking initiatives such as this. NO, this does not = free Internet access (as some readers have concluded) but this does give many of Houston's less fortunate (read poorer) citizens access to resources otherwise reserved for those who can afford a computer and regular Internet access. In my eyes, every step to elevate citizens beyond their financial boundaries, through the use of technology, is commendable.

On another note, Houston is also experimenting with electronic voting tablets. They've already invested millions and have held a mock election. I hope this is the beginning of a trend. When I was in SF for training a few months back, I couldn't help but notice the "Peace Love and Linux" symbols on every other sidewalk corner downtown. The perception of a Linux loving community is pretty cool and very forward thinking.