<p>I agree with a lot of what you said, but i also want to say that many brick and mortar stores can actually compete with online stores. They are just too old fashioned and greedy to do it. I know because i own one and we can compete and win against newegg on most things. :) but some product is easier to do this with than others. Book stores would have a harder time than me I'm sure. </p>
<p>--Sent from my android.</p>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Mar 30, 2011 10:13 PM, "Michael Mol" <<a href="mailto:mikemol@gmail.com">mikemol@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br type="attribution">> My concern isn't that people in the boonies don't have access to<br>
> high-speed Internet, my concern is this:<br>> <br>> 1) For those on the Internet, the Internet makes a huge amount of<br>> things cheaper.<br>> 2) For those on high-speed Internet connections, assumptions about the<br>
> quality and nature of the web differ from those of people who are not<br>> on high-speed Internet connections.<br>> 3) The "makes things cheaper" nature of the Internet puts services<br>> which are exclusive to Internet presence at an advantage over those<br>
> which maintain a IRL-only or a mixed presence, and eventually those<br>> services with IRL presence fold. Look at Western Union. Look at what's<br>> happening to book stores.<br>> <br>> What happens when (not if) this happens to essential services? I<br>
> expect to see a large amount of disruption as systems and services<br>> essential to current culture become very difficult to use without good<br>> network access.<br>> <br>> Yes, the people who live in the boonies choose to live in the boonies.<br>
> However, _someone_ has to, because dense population centers such as<br>> cities can't exist without large areas of agriculture, and that<br>> agricultural region isn't going to be without a human population. New<br>
> York can't live in a vacuum.<br>> <br>> On Thu, Mar 31, 2011 at 1:54 AM, Bob Kline <<a href="mailto:bob.kline@gmail.com">bob.kline@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>>> That's basically it. More performance,<br>
>> in the most general sense, will cost more,<br>>> but it's up to the individual to decide what<br>>> they want to spend their money on. It's<br>>> no different than how people decide what<br>
>> kind of car to drive, or how big a TV they<br>>> have to have.<br>>> For those in the boonies, some chose to<br>>> live where it's not economic to run the<br>>> faster wires. But there's still HughesNet.<br>
>> -- Bob<br>>><br>>> On Wed, Mar 30, 2011 at 9:32 PM, Joseph McLaughlin <<a href="mailto:jwm8351@yahoo.com">jwm8351@yahoo.com</a>><br>>> wrote:<br>>>><br>>>> Are you advocating Government involvement?<br>
>>> Should the market place relegate this fair city to the bottom of the heap?<br>>>> And why do cows need high speed Internet?<br>>>><br>>>> There is still a bug in the program must use RAID!<br>
>>><br>>>> ________________________________<br>>>> From: Michael Mol <<a href="mailto:mikemol@gmail.com">mikemol@gmail.com</a>><br>>>> To: "Mailing List for LUG in greater Grand Rapids, MI area."<br>
>>> <<a href="mailto:grlug@grlug.org">grlug@grlug.org</a>><br>>>> Sent: Wed, March 30, 2011 9:10:56 PM<br>>>> Subject: Re: [GRLUG] Google and Kansas City<br>>>><br>>>> I have a real, genuine fear that we're going about this with a<br>
>>> *severe* case of myopia.<br>>>><br>>>> I had difficulty navigating the web in 2007 on dial-up, with image<br>>>> bugs, large banner ads, huge JavaScript loads, large CSS loads,<br>>>> fifteen 5k or so avatar images whenever you visit a forum thread--even<br>
>>> auto-play video video advertisements...Imagine how bad it is now.<br>>>> There are places within twenty miles of here which can't get cable,<br>>>> DSL, or even a reliable cell signal.<br>
>>><br>>>> Those involved in designing web services purchase very high-end<br>>>> network connections, get accustomed to those connections, and then<br>>>> *design* for those connections. It's a really bad self-reinforcing<br>
>>> loop. Much like how software got slower as computers got faster, but<br>>>> it's much harder to raise the median Internet connection speed than it<br>>>> is to raise the median computer speed.<br>
>>><br>>>> There is a not-insignificant fraction of the population in America<br>>>> itself which is still going to be completely out of reach of even<br>>>> 10Mb/s Internet commercial services in ten years, and people gripe<br>
>>> that our municipality isn't acting like those which take out a 25-year<br>>>> mortgage on their own essential services infrastructure to "give" us<br>>>> access to gigabit broadband connections below cost.<br>
>>><br>>>> I can't be the only one who's noticing this. In order for a<br>>>> bound-to-the-Internet economy to be sustainable, Internet services<br>>>> need to be virtually ubiquitous, and essential activities need to be<br>
>>> manageable on lower-end Internet connections.<br>>>><br>>>> On Wed, Mar 30, 2011 at 9:46 PM, Bob Kline <<a href="mailto:bob.kline@gmail.com">bob.kline@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>>>> ><br>
>>> ><br>>>> > <a href="http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/03/google-bestows-1gbps-fiber-network-on-kansas-city-kansas.ars">http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/03/google-bestows-1gbps-fiber-network-on-kansas-city-kansas.ars</a><br>
>>> > This gives a good summary about<br>>>> > why Google is doing this. It thinks<br>>>> > it needs higher speeds to support<br>>>> > future projects. And it clearly sees<br>
>>> > that the existing big providers are<br>>>> > digging in, not providing higher speeds,<br>>>> > and not above not letting others do<br>>>> > it either.<br>>>> > It will be interesting to see how this<br>
>>> > plays out. Chattanooga, TN, already<br>>>> > has a 1Gbps system.<br>>>> > -- Bob<br>>>> > --<br>>>> > This message has been scanned for viruses and<br>
>>> > dangerous content by MailScanner, and is<br>>>> > believed to be clean.<br>>>> > _______________________________________________<br>>>> > grlug mailing list<br>>>> > <a href="mailto:grlug@grlug.org">grlug@grlug.org</a><br>
>>> > <a href="http://shinobu.grlug.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/grlug">http://shinobu.grlug.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/grlug</a><br>>>> ><br>>>><br>>>><br>>>><br>>>> --<br>
>>> :wq<br>>>><br>>>> --<br>>>> This message has been scanned for viruses and<br>>>> dangerous content by MailScanner, and is<br>>>> believed to be clean.<br>>>><br>
>>> _______________________________________________<br>>>> grlug mailing list<br>>>> <a href="mailto:grlug@grlug.org">grlug@grlug.org</a><br>>>> <a href="http://shinobu.grlug.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/grlug">http://shinobu.grlug.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/grlug</a><br>
>>><br>>>> --<br>>>> This message has been scanned for viruses and<br>>>> dangerous content by MailScanner, and is<br>>>> believed to be clean.<br>>>> _______________________________________________<br>
>>> grlug mailing list<br>>>> <a href="mailto:grlug@grlug.org">grlug@grlug.org</a><br>>>> <a href="http://shinobu.grlug.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/grlug">http://shinobu.grlug.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/grlug</a><br>
>><br>>><br>>> --<br>>> This message has been scanned for viruses and<br>>> dangerous content by MailScanner, and is<br>>> believed to be clean.<br>>> _______________________________________________<br>
>> grlug mailing list<br>>> <a href="mailto:grlug@grlug.org">grlug@grlug.org</a><br>>> <a href="http://shinobu.grlug.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/grlug">http://shinobu.grlug.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/grlug</a><br>
>><br>> <br>> <br>> <br>> -- <br>> :wq<br>> <br>> -- <br>> This message has been scanned for viruses and<br>> dangerous content by MailScanner, and is<br>> believed to be clean.<br>> <br>
> _______________________________________________<br>> grlug mailing list<br>> <a href="mailto:grlug@grlug.org">grlug@grlug.org</a><br>> <a href="http://shinobu.grlug.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/grlug">http://shinobu.grlug.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/grlug</a><br>
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