begin quoting boblq as of Thu, May 05, 2005 at 11:58:24PM -0700: > On Thursday 05 May 2005 11:26 pm, Gabriel Sechan wrote: > > From: boblq <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > >On Thursday 05 May 2005 09:56 pm, Stewart Stremler wrote: > > > > Without the AT&T monopoly, the telephone would have taken a lot longer > > > > to become ubiquitous. > > > > > >Debateable. > > > > Maybe it would be for cities, but it isn't for rural areas. It takes a lot > > of money to run lines to out of the way areas, with a low expected return. > > Look at the problems electricity had, and that broadband has today. > > > > Gabe > > Rural electrification came along. Yup. Eventually. I didn't say that it _wouldn't_ be ubiquitous, eventually.
> Most of Europe and Japan were wired quite effectively by national PTT > note: Not regulated profit making monopolies. Government monopolies. > The US is practically unique in this. As well as being the the first to > recognize that breaking up the monopoly made a lot of sense. Point. Without the AT&T monopoly, we could have presumed some other monopoly, possibly a state-controlled monopoly. I suppose I should have put AT&T in parentheses -- "Without the (AT&T) monopoly..." -Stewart "AT&T gave us UNIX, so I don't mind 'em too much." Stremler
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