[LINK] Benefits of a digital economy enabled by the National Broadband Network

[Stilgherrian]

On 22/09/2010, at 8:04 AM, George Bray wrote:
> Yes, I find the coalition's determination of the NBN's value in only
> financial terms to very tiresome. It surely plays well to the half of
> the country where nothing should be done if it won't be worth more
> dollars down the track. Turnbull's comparison between a
> corporate/shareholder investment and a national/citizen investment
> marks the delineation of left and right political mantras pretty well.
> 
> I saw this on the latest Q&A too, where Christopher Pyne phrased his
> comments in terms of taxpayers, not citizens. It's a fine point but it
> neatly shows who the intended beneficiaries are in any discussion on
> national investment and the "return" to those who pay.

And the other issue is the idea that the NBN will only make existing applications faster. There will obviously be new applications -- well, it's obvious to me and I assume some others -- but the questions when parliament resumes next Tuesday, and beforehand, will be "What are those applications. What's the ROI?" There'll be a lot of "I don't see any applications!", being the fallacious argument from personal ignorance. 

I got cranky with Wotif founder Graeme Wood's comments on Monday that were reported yesterday.

"If all you do is download the same stuff -- only faster -- how can you justify that as an investment? If the mix of the normal usage -- email, music, video, Facebook, gaming, stays the same, but just happens faster -- is there an economic or social benefit in that for the private user?"

If the mix stays the same...?

That triggered my piece last night.

"Why Wotif founder Graeme Wood is an arsehat"
http://stilgherrian.com/politics/why-wotif-founder-graeme-wood-is-an-arsehat/

Sigh.

Stil


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