And rightly so... if the OSS company is selling the software. Anyone that charges money for a product should be held accountable for its impact on consumers. Automobile makers need to make sure their cars are safe. Software companies should be required to make sure their software is reasonably safe (secure) and performs as advertised. It doesn't matter whether that product was open source or closed.
We may prefer to buy an automobile that uses recycled metal and US labor, just like we might prefer to use software that follows a certain ideology. Regardless of choice, the consumer needs to have assurances that they get what they pay for and be protected from the abuses of monopoly power. Just think what might happen if we had only one car manufacturer with no viable competition, and no laws to mandate a certain level of safety.
It would be super cool if these guys would build an amplifier/receiver with this functionality built in. An ethernet port, and a pcmcia slot to let you add your own 802.11 card would be keen. The perfect stereo component!
Possible solution to your last point... make the local wires cheaper to lease than the big pipes. That way it is in the company's best interest to route as much traffic as possible at the local level.
Another thought... This would definitely change the game for network caching, if the Data providers could install more that just switches in the big metal boxes. Instead of trying to build out a massive nation/world wide network, simply target a local community, selling to them the idea that paying a bit extra for a caching option would greatly improve their connectivity. It would create the potential for video on demand networks to become practical, perhaps even as the main content distribution system. Although, some would argue that the masses don't really want video on demand. Ramble, ramble...
All I know, is that I would love to have ubiquitous data access throughout my house. I really think government owned lines could expediate that process. Until all the different pipes get unified into one solid connection, I can't have my IP phones and net controlled toasters. C'mon... you know you want a 2324 compliant coffee pot integrated into your automated home.
Public Utility?
on
Why ADCo?
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· Score: 3, Insightful
Does anyone besides me think that making all data lines a public utility would be such a bad idea? Our roads are a public utility. Why not make our data the same?
I'm not advocating that the government-run everything. I think we all know that would be a nightmare for more reasons than one. If the government owns the cable, then there's nothing keeping different data service companies from using portions of it. This could work from the big pipes, all the way down to the last mile. On the backbones, companies would rent out X number of fibers, and Y amount of floor space wherever said fibres meet. The last mile would probably take a while longer to get set, but the same principle would suffice. Each local unit (neighborhood, apt building, etc) gets one of those metal boxes you see sitting around. The data companies just get to rent out space inside of those, to switch from the fiber to the copper that runs to your home/apartment.
No monopolies. Fair competition. And by leaving the operation to the data corps, the existing players still get to stay in the game. I'm sure someone here can come up with something, but I can find no reason why having the government own the physical layer only would be a bad thing. I realize that there is little chance that the telco lobbyists would let an Idea like this fly, but hey... I guy can dream of the perfect net access can't he?
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And rightly so... if the OSS company is selling the software. Anyone that charges money for a product should be held accountable for its impact on consumers. Automobile makers need to make sure their cars are safe. Software companies should be required to make sure their software is reasonably safe (secure) and performs as advertised. It doesn't matter whether that product was open source or closed.
We may prefer to buy an automobile that uses recycled metal and US labor, just like we might prefer to use software that follows a certain ideology. Regardless of choice, the consumer needs to have assurances that they get what they pay for and be protected from the abuses of monopoly power. Just think what might happen if we had only one car manufacturer with no viable competition, and no laws to mandate a certain level of safety.
It would be super cool if these guys would build an amplifier/receiver with this functionality built in. An ethernet port, and a pcmcia slot to let you add your own 802.11 card would be keen. The perfect stereo component!
Possible solution to your last point... make the local wires cheaper to lease than the big pipes. That way it is in the company's best interest to route as much traffic as possible at the local level.
Another thought... This would definitely change the game for network caching, if the Data providers could install more that just switches in the big metal boxes. Instead of trying to build out a massive nation/world wide network, simply target a local community, selling to them the idea that paying a bit extra for a caching option would greatly improve their connectivity. It would create the potential for video on demand networks to become practical, perhaps even as the main content distribution system. Although, some would argue that the masses don't really want video on demand. Ramble, ramble...
All I know, is that I would love to have ubiquitous data access throughout my house. I really think government owned lines could expediate that process. Until all the different pipes get unified into one solid connection, I can't have my IP phones and net controlled toasters. C'mon... you know you want a 2324 compliant coffee pot integrated into your automated home.
Does anyone besides me think that making all data lines a public utility would be such a bad idea? Our roads are a public utility. Why not make our data the same?
I'm not advocating that the government-run everything. I think we all know that would be a nightmare for more reasons than one. If the government owns the cable, then there's nothing keeping different data service companies from using portions of it. This could work from the big pipes, all the way down to the last mile. On the backbones, companies would rent out X number of fibers, and Y amount of floor space wherever said fibres meet. The last mile would probably take a while longer to get set, but the same principle would suffice. Each local unit (neighborhood, apt building, etc) gets one of those metal boxes you see sitting around. The data companies just get to rent out space inside of those, to switch from the fiber to the copper that runs to your home/apartment.
No monopolies. Fair competition. And by leaving the operation to the data corps, the existing players still get to stay in the game. I'm sure someone here can come up with something, but I can find no reason why having the government own the physical layer only would be a bad thing. I realize that there is little chance that the telco lobbyists would let an Idea like this fly, but hey... I guy can dream of the perfect net access can't he?