Re: The Great Exchange

["Perry E. Metzger" <perry () piermont com>]

"John A. Tamplin" writes:
> On Fri, 29 May 1998, Perry E. Metzger wrote:
>
> > Michael Shields writes:
> > > Despite preductions, very few resources have ever actually become "too
> > > cheap to meter".
> >
> > Television?
>
> A broadcast medium with no mechanism for measurement without additional
> hardware.

They *could* measure on cable. They don't. Ever wonder why?

> > Local phone service in many places?
>
> And the phone company most definitely wants you to switch to metered 
> local service.

They've *reintroduced* flat rate service in NYC.

> > Matchbooks?
>
> If i go to Walmart to get matches, they are most definitely metered.

Yeah, but no one bothers to buy them that way.

I'll point out, btw, that matches were once extremely expensive.

> Just because some places give them away for promotion doesn't mean
> they are free any more than caps and T-shirts are free.

Caps and T-Shirts are effectively free if you take them with advertising.

> > Sewer service?
>
> Don't know where you are from, but I pay for sewage based on consumption.

I don't.

I think you are missing the point, though.

There is no good long term reason for metered internet usage at the
end user level, and there is also considerable market pressure against 
it.

Perry