In MANY cases, the companies ARE monopolies, because they DO control the entire market in an area. For instance, Comcast is the only cable internet service provider in Albuquerque, New Mexico, so they have a monopoly on that market.
The term is used correctly, and just because there are multiple companies doesn't mean there can't be multiple monopolies.
This has been goiong on for a while now, and in all but a few big cities, a single company has the monopoly on broadband... If it's even availible.
Something we need to realize is how the companies veiw this situation (which the salon article does a wonderful job of NOT exploring). Most comapanies who provide broadband service are not making any money off of it yet. The demand is high, but the cost of bandwidth is currently higher. Many of these companies see the only way that they can turn a profit is to be the sole provider in a service area; which, to an extent, is viable.
I saw another comment which touched on the long-distance carriers. This is a perfect example of what may or may not go wrong. On one hand long-distance service is cheaper and more versitile than ever, but on the other hand these companies have had a similar situation to their current on for some time now, and it has only been recently that the large carriers are providing the 'low, low rates' that one sees today.
It's hard to say whether or not deregulation like this could bolster the industry. On one hand the demand exists everywhere, while at the same time the per capita demand is often not great enough to warrant a company to provide service in an area (as with ruby ranch). On the other hand, deregulation could spawn an explosion of service in areas which the cable companies and 'baby bells' (which aren't small in any sense) in areas they once thought to risky to warrant the investment of time and materials.
I'm all for it, because I know that a big part of what's holding back many telco's and cable companies in rural areas is the fact that they have to share their lines (which means they make the investment, but get no return). These companies could make an investment and have a guaranteed return, (provided their business analysts have studied an area well enough).
Hopefully, regardless, cable internet service will be availible in my area by the end of september, after 6 years of 'cable for christmas'.
The TCC (Tech Computer Center) has every workstation set up to boot into either win95 (the school has no funding to upgrade) or a semi-custom flavor of Linux. The Linux works well, except for the fact that you have to know how to use SaMBa to print from Linux...
Also, to type papers or anything office related, one has to use windows....
It works well, but would work better if anyone cared to allow easy printing under Linux...
This is especially good for people like me, who reside in rural areas. One of the biggest bottlenecks on geting broadband up in the mountains is the fact that trenchs are expensive to dig (damned granite) and that there is no line of site.
Hopefully something useful is done with this and some committee in congress doesn't deem it a threat to 'homeland security'.
Of course, that's assuming that the streaming videos have any image quality, and aren't compressed to all hell using ASF or some other such crappy compression scheme.
As the pr0n industry, who so kindly allows us to make us of their internet (:P), has demonstrated, you don't have to say who you are or where you're from, but only that you have a valid credit card and a complete and total unwillingness to wander down to the pr0n shop (or Hastings...)
I remember in 6th grade my teachers (2 interns) wanted to implement a 'math groups' program so that they didn't have to teach at the slowest students level, but rather that every student would be taught at their own pace.
It sounded great, except that many parents thought that this program was "racist" because their hispanic children were no going to be taught algebra.
What they didn't (or didn't want to) realize that the reason their kids were going to have to be taught remedial math was because they has been too busy making fun of the fat kids, participating in extracurricular activities (not always school sponsored *COUGH*), harassing the teachers, and just generally goofing off.
Once again, the many suffer due to the stupidity of the few...
That's all well and good, but restricting activities doesn't help to encourage anybody to do anything. PE should be an important part of a childs education, but more than that, kids should be taught to enjoy it. Get kids backpacking, hiking, biking, running, whitewater rafting, kayaking... Just because there is a sports team doesn't mean that a kid is interested in playing. (I hated playing basketball and the only thing being forced to do it did was make me bitter).
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In MANY cases, the companies ARE monopolies, because they DO control the entire market in an area. For instance, Comcast is the only cable internet service provider in Albuquerque, New Mexico, so they have a monopoly on that market.
The term is used correctly, and just because there are multiple companies doesn't mean there can't be multiple monopolies.
This has been goiong on for a while now, and in all but a few big cities, a single company has the monopoly on broadband... If it's even availible.
Something we need to realize is how the companies veiw this situation (which the salon article does a wonderful job of NOT exploring). Most comapanies who provide broadband service are not making any money off of it yet. The demand is high, but the cost of bandwidth is currently higher. Many of these companies see the only way that they can turn a profit is to be the sole provider in a service area; which, to an extent, is viable.
I saw another comment which touched on the long-distance carriers. This is a perfect example of what may or may not go wrong. On one hand long-distance service is cheaper and more versitile than ever, but on the other hand these companies have had a similar situation to their current on for some time now, and it has only been recently that the large carriers are providing the 'low, low rates' that one sees today.
It's hard to say whether or not deregulation like this could bolster the industry. On one hand the demand exists everywhere, while at the same time the per capita demand is often not great enough to warrant a company to provide service in an area (as with ruby ranch). On the other hand, deregulation could spawn an explosion of service in areas which the cable companies and 'baby bells' (which aren't small in any sense) in areas they once thought to risky to warrant the investment of time and materials.
I'm all for it, because I know that a big part of what's holding back many telco's and cable companies in rural areas is the fact that they have to share their lines (which means they make the investment, but get no return). These companies could make an investment and have a guaranteed return, (provided their business analysts have studied an area well enough).
Hopefully, regardless, cable internet service will be availible in my area by the end of september, after 6 years of 'cable for christmas'.
it may be a troll, but he has a damned fine point.
This problem was resolved in 2K. Upgrade.
The TCC (Tech Computer Center) has every workstation set up to boot into either win95 (the school has no funding to upgrade) or a semi-custom flavor of Linux. The Linux works well, except for the fact that you have to know how to use SaMBa to print from Linux...
Also, to type papers or anything office related, one has to use windows....
It works well, but would work better if anyone cared to allow easy printing under Linux...
If this were the case, we'd all be running solaris 7, nt 4 service pack 3, and kernel 2.2
This is especially good for people like me, who reside in rural areas. One of the biggest bottlenecks on geting broadband up in the mountains is the fact that trenchs are expensive to dig (damned granite) and that there is no line of site.
Hopefully something useful is done with this and some committee in congress doesn't deem it a threat to 'homeland security'.
because /. is the ultimate psychological experiment?
It's nice to see that A.L.I.C.E. got an award under the CS category. It's really neat, and you should check it out.
http://alicebot.org/
It's nice to see a set of awards given to people that deserve them.
I'm tired of seeing hollywood awards shows that are given so the ultra-rich can feel better about themselves...
It's a horrible crime, second only to software piracy.
wtf mine gets modded down for say this and his gets modded up?
go suck a nut you damned mods...
3) personal hygiene in any form means you must not be a geek, so by proxy are evil.
2 reasons:
1.) It's COMPLETLY FREE
2.) I can download VCDs and SVCDs of new movies and watch them on my TV. Screw you towelheads, I'm going home.
Of course, that's assuming that the streaming videos have any image quality, and aren't compressed to all hell using ASF or some other such crappy compression scheme.
DivX por VIDA!!!!
As the pr0n industry, who so kindly allows us to make us of their internet (:P), has demonstrated, you don't have to say who you are or where you're from, but only that you have a valid credit card and a complete and total unwillingness to wander down to the pr0n shop (or Hastings...)
Jeeze, no wonder they can only charge a dollar, do you know how many movies are illegal in Iran?
And the lag must be atrocious, I mean, what are they running the site off of, a T1? Come on guys...
I still can't get over the iran part...
er...
:)
will cause...
Should preview, but don't
IT'S MICROSOFT AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER!!
Wonder what incidents the security holes in this wonderful flying elephant are...
Well, your response made perfect sense in regards to the parent, albiet it made little sense in response to mine ;)
This, unfortunately, is the god awful truth.
I remember in 6th grade my teachers (2 interns) wanted to implement a 'math groups' program so that they didn't have to teach at the slowest students level, but rather that every student would be taught at their own pace.
It sounded great, except that many parents thought that this program was "racist" because their hispanic children were no going to be taught algebra.
What they didn't (or didn't want to) realize that the reason their kids were going to have to be taught remedial math was because they has been too busy making fun of the fat kids, participating in extracurricular activities (not always school sponsored *COUGH*), harassing the teachers, and just generally goofing off.
Once again, the many suffer due to the stupidity of the few...
That's all well and good, but restricting activities doesn't help to encourage anybody to do anything. PE should be an important part of a childs education, but more than that, kids should be taught to enjoy it. Get kids backpacking, hiking, biking, running, whitewater rafting, kayaking... Just because there is a sports team doesn't mean that a kid is interested in playing. (I hated playing basketball and the only thing being forced to do it did was make me bitter).
Not to mention such wonderful cobinations of games as 'Nuclear Risk' (a delightful combination of the card game 'Nuclear War' and Risk).
I used to play UT on a pentium 200 MMX, and win.
Give me some good reasons as to why those 'games' are any better than those played on a LAN.