It strikes me that this whole idea is an attempt to treat the symptoms, not the real problems.
Problem 1 -- Technical threats from the internet (worms, virii, etc). This should be treated by putting pressure on software vendors for increased security, as well as client-side security measures such as virus scanners and mail servers that block suspiscious attachments, etc.
Problem 2 -- People wasting time on non-work-related activities. As other posters have pointed out there are *lots* of ways to waste time at work without an internet connection. Take a long hard look around the office the next time the office has an internet connection outage. There won't be any magic upswing in productivity happening around you. The same people who goof off online will be doing it offline.
One flaw in that article that jumped right out at me is the claim that Intel has shown no software support for Linux.
Intel has put software support behind Linux where it counts: device drivers.
For most Linux device drivers, I scour the web or my distribution media for third-party written drivers. When I need Intel networking or graphics drivers for Linux, I go to support.intel.com.
Slashdot Mirror
It strikes me that this whole idea is an attempt to treat the symptoms, not the real problems.
Problem 1 -- Technical threats from the internet (worms, virii, etc). This should be treated by putting pressure on software vendors for increased security, as well as client-side security measures such as virus scanners and mail servers that block suspiscious attachments, etc.
Problem 2 -- People wasting time on non-work-related activities. As other posters have pointed out there are *lots* of ways to waste time at work without an internet connection. Take a long hard look around the office the next time the office has an internet connection outage. There won't be any magic upswing in productivity happening around you. The same people who goof off online will be doing it offline.
One flaw in that article that jumped right out at me is the claim that Intel has shown no software support for Linux.
Intel has put software support behind Linux where it counts: device drivers.
For most Linux device drivers, I scour the web or my distribution media for third-party written drivers. When I need Intel networking or graphics drivers for Linux, I go to support.intel.com.