[SLUG] Telstra and Cable Modems (fwd)

[Rachel Polanskis]

----- Forwarded message from Bob Bain -----

From: bobb@acslink.aone.net.au (Bob Bain)
To: r.polanskis@nepean.uws.edu.au
Cc: slug@slug.org.au (slug)
Subject: Re: [SLUG] Telstra and Cable Modems (fwd)
Date: Mon, 02 Jun 1997 09:40:48 GMT

Rachel Polanskis <rachel@juno.virago.org.au> wrote:


>Shame on Telstra :(

>I said it quite some time ago:

>Telstra and MicroSoft are in bed with one another.

>This is akin to a monopoly.


 It should perhaps be a consideration that Telstra are not unduly
concerned about providing an "Internet" service, but as
documented in lectures see the future dominated by integrated
voice, telephone, video, audio devices connected up via their
"cheap" fibre network cable.
 
 In my opinion they would prefer to "absorb" the Internet as we
know it ( ie a means of connecting computers globally ) and use
the cable channels to divert video and data streams to the end
user via their cables.  As a Telstra representative once told it
"there is no profit in the future in telephony. We once had
expensive cable, and cheap devices at the end. In the future it
will be releatively expensive devices connected by cheap ( "our
cable is being laid past one household every 20 minutes ")
cabling, hopefully one a global basis.
 
 At the Australian Computer Society meeting last month attendees
were shown one vision of the future via Web TV, bearing the name
"Sony".  These are the sort of devices contemplated by Telstra,
and the reason their offices now say "Telstra/Foxtel" ie the
delivery of video/data via cable, not necessarily via TCP/IP will
be more important to them in the future than the Internet.
 
 I previously worked with a company ( publishing ) who were
definitely "in bed" with Microsoft and interested in a future
disseminating their "publications" via such electronic global
means, providing it is "safe", "suitable for children" and "plug
and play".
 
 This is the sort of future envisaged by Telstra.
 
 They are not interested ( unduly ) in the Internet as we have
come to know it, nor in supporting arcane operating systems such
as Linux ( a community known for "hacking" and "know how").
 
 They almost certainly regard the Internet as a potential
historical oddity, much as we regard sending electronic telegraph
via Baudot code......
 
 I call their "firewall" a "security blanket".  It is a means of
protecting Australia from the outside world and providing a cable
model similar to TV and the cable network carried over the
Telstra cables via Foxtel; except in the future they anticipate
it being global in scope, with "video on demand".
 
 Hopefully Optus, and/or other providers will enable us to
connect computers together using Linux, although remember that
Linux and Unix users are seen as "educated", "aware" and a
potential risk...
 
                           Bob

Bob Bain, Sydney, Australia   
bobb@acslink.aone.net.au

----- End of forwarded message from Bob Bain -----
                 defghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz:  What? No ABC?
--
Rachel Polanskis                 Kingswood, Greater Western Sydney, Australia 
grove@zeta.org.au                http://www.zeta.org.au/~grove/grove.html
r.polanskis@nepean.uws.edu.au    http://www.nepean.uws.edu.au/ccd/
                Witty comment revoked due to funding cuts