As I write this, I am sitting as smack dab in the middle of the University of Michigan campus as you can be and still have your own private room and a drink of your choice (I know, students can only get one of those, if they’re lucky). Literally, I’m in a hotel that basically sits between two sections of the campus. You can’t get more “on campus” and yet be in a commercial hotel.
So sue me if I figure this hotel should be Internet-savvy. Wow, what an assumption in 2011. I co-wrote “Crossing the Internet Threshold” in 1992 (we gave it a copyright date of 1993, since it hit the streets in late 1992) — nearly 20 years ago! And perhaps even more surprising, we are definitely not talking about Tristan da Cunha, one of the most remote places on the planet according to “How Stuff Works” and others. But meanwhile, when having trouble with the hotel wireless network (the only option offered), I called down to the desk to get assistance. The nice woman at the desk sent up a nice man who didn’t know any more than she knew (as he easily admitted).
Color me astonished.
According to Wikipedia:
The Merit Network[15] was formed in 1966 as the Michigan Educational Research Information Triad to explore computer networking between three of Michigan’s public universities as a means to help the state’s educational and economic development.[16] With initial support from the State of Michigan and the National Science Foundation (NSF), the packet-switched network was first demonstrated in December 1971 when an interactive host to host connection was made between the IBM mainframe computer systems at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and Wayne State University in Detroit.[17] In October 1972 connections to the CDC mainframe at Michigan State University in East Lansing completed the triad. Over the next several years in addition to host to host interactive connections the network was enhanced to support terminal to host connections, host to host batch connections (remote job submission, remote printing, batch file transfer), interactive file transfer, gateways to the Tymnet and Telenetpublic data networks, X.25 host attachments, gateways to X.25 data networks, Ethernet attached hosts, and eventually TCP/IP and additional public universities in Michigan join the network.[17][18] All of this set the stage for Merit’s role in the NSFNET project starting in the mid-1980s.
OK, let me get this straight…the University of Michigan has been networked to some degree for like 45 years?! And yet hotel help is apparently as helpless as they were 45 years ago. I really doubt that Singapore, which advertised itself as the “Intelligent Island” — referring directly to the Internet in so doing, way back in the 199os — has let itself languish like this. Sure, maybe it’s really only hotel staff. But come on, where do business people and scientific researchers stay when visiting a campus like this? Way out in the boondocks in a Motel 6? Not likely. But don’t get me wrong — I’m not trying to blame Ann Arbor, or the University or Michigan, or even this hapless hotel where I happen to be staying. I blame us all.
We need look no further for the source our malaise than inside ourselves. When China blasts past us as a world power, when New Zealanders win more software contracts than Texans, when American cities are nearly a footnote in an article on “The 10 Most Connected Cities in the World”, then shame, shame on us. Because we had the lead — we most definitely had a solid, distant lead — and we squandered it.
About Roy Tennant
FWIW, apparently I can post this but I can’t Tweet about it. Certain ports are being blocked, like https and who knows what else. Like I said.
Roy,
Mostly I just wanted to post and agree with you, but I am stunned by one thing you wrote- that is, you called the front desk and *they sent someone up*!! Quite apart from his uselessness, *they sent someone up*!! I’ve never had that happen. On a good day I have been given a phone number for (offsite) help.
But unfortunately, this: “we had the lead — we most definitely had a solid, distant lead — and we squandered it” is true on so many fronts. Because we were careless, or didn’t value the training or the investment in infrastructure of all kinds.