Michiel van der Vlist (2:280/5555) wrote to Steven Horn at 15:39 on 21 Jan 2003:

 MvdV> My experience with free services is that they never are. Somehow,
 MvdV> somewhere, someone has to pay for it and 9 out of 10 times that
 MvdV> someone turns out to me. That one time left turns out to be the
 MvdV> case where I pay for someone else.

Even if they were paid from taxes, any tax hike would be smaller than you
would have to pay if the service was not subsidized. 

 MvdV> The subscription is raised, the taxes are raised, there is a levy
 MvdV> on the booze, somehow I pay. What I gain is nothing, what I lose
 MvdV> is the choice to not pay for it by not using the service.

Do you derive any pleasure in life from public services?

 MvdV> Bill Gates ain't Santa Clause. He is going to want something in
 MvdV> return. He is going to want people to spent more money on his
 MvdV> products. The customers will pay for it in the end. And as I am
 MvdV> one of those cusomers, that will be me again. What I gain is
 MvdV> nothing, what I lose is the choice.

If you got free access as a result, you would have gained something. 
Furthermore, since the money comes from a foundation, Microsoft will not
need to raise its prices.  It may get more business but that's gravy.

 MvdV> Besides, as I understand it from other posts, the Gates
 MvdV> foundation provides equipment and training, not the connection.
 MvdV> It is the connection that makes for most of the cost. Equipment
 MvdV> isn't a big problem. A five year old PC running Win95 will do
 MvdV> fine for surfing the web. Most companies scrap their PC's after
 MvdV> three years, so there are plenty of these oldies to be had for
 MvdV> next to nothing. We don't need Bill Gates for that.

But connections are cheap as borscht and cost even less when the library
piggybacks on a government connection.  As for your five year old Win95
box, it would not give it house room.  It does a mediocre job of surfing
the net even when it is blessed with a fast connection so I would not wish
it on the public.

 MvdV> Nah, I am not complaining. There is nothing wrong with the system
 MvdV> of a direct relationship between what you pay and what you get. I
 MvdV> prefer that over "free" services that aren't.

I believe strongly that some services provided by the state should be
subsidized by the state.

 MvdV> I just observed that the kind of InterNet access that is provied
 MvdV> by libraries and InterNet cafes isn't suitable for FidoNet over
 MvdV> IP.

It's not ideal but I suspect it could be made to work.

 MvdV> There reason the floppy drives (and the CD rom drives for that
 MvdV> matter) aren't accessible to the public is fear for viruses.

A good virus checker takes care of that.

 MvdV> Oh, they perform a function and I never meant to imply their
 MvdV> prices are unreasonable. It is just that they aren't suitable for
 MvdV> FidoNet over IP. 

You could certainly use both library machines or Internet cafe based
machines to access web-based BBSes such as Fidotel with Fidonet data bases.
 That would give you the opportunity to read your mail, send your mail and
otherwise keep up with what was happening.

Remember that Fidonet started as a network of BBSes and that very few users
had direct access to mailers.  So what's the difference in calling in to a
BBS are accessing the BBS over the Internet.

Take care,

Steven Horn (steven_a_horn{at}yahoo.ca)
Moderator, ALASKA_CHAT 
--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+