Regarding Europe:
Being German myself I fully agree with the article I posted below - I cannot find words to describe how low-tech the average German household is. Just for your info: most folks are still on rotary dial mechanism, seriously! My folks have switched to ISDN for ease of use with fax and internet (my little sisters love to surf the net and send me emails). But, they are using P54-75 (don't tell them that I'm going to buy them a brand-new 'high-tech' <g> PC for XMas) - and were using 486 until about a year ago (they generally get an older one no longer needed from my dad's office)!
However, I assure you that the majority of Germany is just in the process of switching from rotary dial to tone dial at the moment. ISDN is miles away, and nowhere in the world are phone charges higher.
Example:
I call Germany from Singapore S$ 1.8/min => US$1.1/min
Germany calls me => DM3.5/min => US$2/min
Also, local calls are exorbitantly expensive!
K.
Interesting article below:
MIT Guru Scolds Europe (11/25/97; 2:45 p.m. EST)
By Matthew Slater, for TechWeb
BRUSSELS, Belgium -- France and Germany are "like the Third World" in terms of computer literacy, according to technology guru Nicholas Negroponte.
Negroponte, founder and director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab, used his keynote speech at the European IT Conference '97 here Tuesday to launch a blunt attack on what he said was the negative approach to the Internet by some European countries.
The MIT Media Lab is a multimillion-dollar research center focused on the study of future forms of communication. It is supported by U.S. federal contracts and more than 75 corporations.
"I am full of admiration for the situation in the Scandinavian countries," Negroponte said. Finland has the highest use of PCs per capita in the world, and Sweden has the highest tele-density, he said.
"But it is almost as though someone has drawn a line under those countries," Negroponte said, "because you look at France and Germany -- and to a lesser degree the U.K. -- and it is like the Third World."
Europe is letting its children down, said Negroponte, comparing the low figures for Internet use in European schools to the high percentage in American schools.
Negroponte called for government-subsidized programs to help young people become more comfortable with technology and the Internet.
"Access to the Internet should be a right, like breathing clean air. I don't care if you have to pay through the nose for it," Negroponte said. "I look at the model of Europe with an element of sadness, and when I hear that Deutsche Telekom has raised the cost of its local calls, I think that is a sin," Negroponte said.
Copyright (c) CMP Media, 1997.
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