Webtv

[Melissa Silvestre]

The "entry" fee in intellectual terms has dropped significantly as well.
That is, you now have a tool by which people who know nothing at all
about computers can access and participate in a *computer network*.
That may be good, but I can imagine all kinds of problems, starting
with the breakdown of the netiquette tradition.
People who don't understand anything at all about computers are unlikely
to respect social rules based on such principles as not wasting "bandwidth"
or other users' and hosts' "cpu cycles".

It's not practical, but it might be nice to imagine requiring a
"driver's license" on the "information superhighway". Up until now,
the "license" was the minimal training necessary to operate some kind
of computer, whether a pc or mainframe account on a dumb terminal. It
wasn't much, but it was something.


At 04:15 PM 1/13/97 -0800, Andrew Wohrley, Science & Technology Referen wrote:
>I think WebTV is a great idea.  What has happened is that the entry
>fee to the Internet has been reduced to a level of 1/4 the cost of a
>bare bones new computer, or to put it differently it costs as much as
>a high-end VCR.  I have not looked at the specs for these machines,
>but I was told that email is included along with a 33k modem at $400.
>It sounds like a winner to me.  I just hope that the competitive
>pressure drops the cost of PCs and accelerates the introduction of
>NetPCs.
>
>All of this is MHO, of course.
>
>I have now checked out the website for Webtv at:
>http://www.webtv.net/
>
>The only problem that I can see with Webtv is what happens when it
>becomes wildly popular and people are dialing in and the lines are
>busy?  I haven't seen an answer to how much bandwidth capacity Webtv
>has.
>
>I apologize for not having a lot of details about WebTV, but I do
>like the concept.
>
>Andrew Wohrley
>
>------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
>Date:          Mon, 13 Jan 1997 09:45:00 -0800
>Reply-to:      sbreiden at kiva.net
>From:          Susie Breidenbach <sbreiden at kiva.net>
>To:            Multiple recipients of list <web4lib at library.berkeley.edu>
>Subject:       Webtv
>
>This may not be an appropriate topic for this list--if not, I apologize.
>
>If anyone would like to discuss the pros and cons of Webtv, I would like to
>hear from you--especially if you have are using it yourself.
>
>Thank you.
>
>Susie Breidenbach
>Bedford Public Library
>Bedford, Indiana
>
>Andrew Wohrley
>Science & Technology Department
>Auburn University Libraries
>http://www.auburn.edu/~wohrlaj
>wohrlaj at lib.auburn.edu
>
Melissa Silvestre
silvest at umslvma.umsl.edu     http://www.umsl.edu/~silvest/
Reference Librarian, University of Missouri-St. Louis
(314) 516-6473