What is interesting is to overlay the concepts of "cloud computing" over this development.
Cloud Computing is a term for the transfer of most computing applications and data away from end user devices (i.e. your own PCs) to networked computers somewhere else. Examples include online banking, remote data backup, web-based applications such as Google Documents, and streaming audio/video. Cloud Computing is rapidly growing, yet introduces the paradox that information is no longer distributed (over zillions of individual computers), it's concentrated amongst the data centers of a few IT service providers. This concentration is a reversal of the principles under which ARPAnet (the forerunner of the Internet) was originally designed. The concepts of security or "trust" are big ones in the development and propagation of cloud computing...and, from corporations' perspectives, a hybrid model is likely to develop -- service providers create isolated environments for highly sensitive data, and service providers compete over their ability to keep this data secure. A reversal of this trend would likely occur only if some sort of apocalyptic event were to occur. As was seen with the financial industry's week-long adventure, the global economy is highly intertwined, and any event of apocalyptic proportion would take the developed world down with it; it is likely that governmental entities would intervene if such an event were looming. What is interesting is to see how the IT industry has transformed its disaster response planning in reaction to the 9/11/2001 terrorist attacks and Hurricane Katrina in 2005. In both instances, there were widespread corporate disaster declarations in a specific geographic location which required the providers of disaster recovery services to scramble mightily to meet the recovery objectives of their clients. As a result, most financial services firms that arranged for "shared" disaster recovery space -- where multiple firms might buy the same seat, figuring the odds are that only one firm would need them at any one time -- have since changed to setting up dedicated disaster recovery space. I am not sure how all this directly translates to the "marketplace of ideas", but I believe there always will be a thirst for reliable sources of information from alternate perspectives -- and that's the reason most of us bother with shortwave program listening nowadays. This lamentation has nothing to do with the existence of WRMI / WMLK / WTJC / WBCQ or other domestic religious / commercial broadcasters; their motivations (and those of their listeners) are different. Richard Cuff / Allentown, PA On Fri, Sep 19, 2008 at 12:57 PM, Kevin Anderson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > It will be replaced by something not yet more technological, but the > opposite, in a return to less technological means of communications, for > which basic analogue radio will be well suited again. And this will be due > to other forces, also economic in nature, but driven more by resources (or I > should say the lack of), rising costs, and "security." I just hope > international radio hangs on to see that day. Otherwise a very huge vacuum > will develop for the average person in getting international news and > programming. _______________________________________________ Swprograms mailing list [email protected] http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/swprograms To unsubscribe: Send an E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED], or visit the URL shown above.
