Techman21
join:2005-04-14
Richmond, VA
| reply to G_Poobah
Re: Copps wants bigger USF; I say kill it
But they will still work. Just because they depreciate in value does not mean they depreciate in use. Schools used Apple IIs for the longest time. Why? Because they had a HUGE contract with Apple. And what happened after it ended? All the schools went to PCs. Of course after a particular president ordered that EVERY room in EVERY school would have a computer. What did this accomplish? Well from my first hand experience not much. Well, I suppose I did learn about a lot of java game sites I wouldn't beforehand. This is what happens when you put PCs into schools and in the classrooms. They *gasp* become a distraction. Granted some teachers let it become distractions, but it wouldn't have in the first place if they weren't there.
At any rate just because something loses monetary value in the computer world does not mean it is useless to function. Cisco is first and foremost a business and they will ALWAYS push for their clients to buy the newest and latest even if they do not need it. Heck Cisco stock just went up yesterday if the news was correct. And I hope the school bought some routers for those switches or they are going to be in a hurt when they try to wire everything up.
Honestly at my work we are using older Cisco equipment and they keep on ticking. Completely nothing wrong with that. If you are worried about the IOS vulnerabilities there are patches, although I'm sure there are bugs still to be discovered as always. |
calvoiper
join:2003-03-31
Belvedere Tiburon, CA
| reply to cdigioia
1) is essentially the same argument used to justify the postal service (and "post roads", now known as US highways) in the Constitution. An understandable argument, but one which fails when you view government's role as ensuring minimal access to the communications network, not the best access possible. Using this argument to justify universal broadband is like saying that every hamlet and homestead deserves not just a road and rural route mail delivery, but its own 4 lane interstate highway and a 24-hour post office offering special delivery on weekends. If you need more than dial-up, make that a part of choosing where you live.
2) is closer to a routine "economic development" argument than to traditional utility or highway justifications. Broadband may well be in the same category as community development--but then it can compete for funding with other "community development" projects, be they community driven development of office or industrial parks or modification of local conditions to favor deployment. Many communities, for instance, modify zoning laws to encourage various types of economic development. They can similarly modify street and road right-of-way conditions to encourage broadband development, for example. They can grant tax breaks for broadband facilities. But the underlying theme here is that localities can do this in the context of more general programs--not that we should create another huge federal slush fund.
(This is not to say that locally controlled economic development funding is automatically good just because it's locally controlled. One need only review the history of Walmart using locally controlled but federally funded [via federal tax exemption] "industrial" bonds to build retail outlets to see how quickly and far federal funding can wander.)
calvoiper
--
VoIP--the death knell of remaining voice monopolies! |
