I was a fan of the ICON computers as a high school student in that era, and feel what happened with that initiative was unfortunate. Later I was the Authorized Commodore Repair person for Eastern Ontario. While I was a fan of the technology, and the more open availability of documentation compared to Apple or Atari, I wasn't a fan of the fact that all of these were distant foreign corporations that weren't all that concerned with what was happening around where I lived.
In the early 2000's I tried to alert the federal government to the problem of allowing non-owners locks on computer (so-called technological protection measures) and the centralizing impact that would have on Media, and now we have the same antique political thinking confused about "big tech" and the tech oligarchies they helped create.
Note: My first introduction to microcomputers was a "computer mobile" (like a bookmobile), which was a single classroom set of PET computers that was shared with the schools in Sudbury that visited my school when I was in Grade 8. Changed my life entirely.
I was raised on PEI and my running joke is "Welcome to PEI... set your watch back 50 years."
My first two years of public education were in a one-room school house heated by a wood stove in the middle of the room... and no plumbing... One teacher; students from grades 1 thru 6. No telephone mainly because telephone service hadn't yet been installed in the area.
When I tell people this, it really seems unreal yet it's true!!
Computers? The consolidated high school didn't have a computer lab. I wonder if they do now?
The parliamentary records from that era are full of debates about rural isolation. MPs from the Maritimes used to constantly hammer the government about the lack of telephone lines. The federal response was usually that the cost per mile was too high. It took years of arguing in the House of Commons to get those basic services funded. Now the debates in Hansard have just shifted from telephone poles to broadband internet.
Going from memory (I'm early GenX) the telephone lines were strung in 1973. Initially it was all party lines but eventually upgraded to individual. Even now, the nearest cellular tower to my parent's house is several kms away and only 4G, I think. My place is closer to town so I have Bell fiber-optic internet, good cellular coverage but no cable or ADSL.
I'm considering moving to Starlink as I'm getting tired of Bell cranking up the price. Now the low earth orbit satellite constellation coverage is so solid, it's hard for rural communities to argue for gubbermint intervention to bring in broadband. Individuals could buy their own Starlink... or a local vendor would get a commercial connection and resell to their neighbours instead of demanding gubbermint action.
Oddly enough, I feel the same way about safe water on reserves. I have my own well at my rural property. I'm lucky in that the water is very good. I chose to add a water softener to protect the hot water tank I installed. If my water wasn't good, there is no other source; I would need to sort it out myself.
I've worked on Reserves with "boil water" issues. When I asked what they were doing to resolve the issues, they shrugged and said the gubbermint will fix it eventually. Not sure whether that's "learned helplessness" or what??
I was a fan of the ICON computers as a high school student in that era, and feel what happened with that initiative was unfortunate. Later I was the Authorized Commodore Repair person for Eastern Ontario. While I was a fan of the technology, and the more open availability of documentation compared to Apple or Atari, I wasn't a fan of the fact that all of these were distant foreign corporations that weren't all that concerned with what was happening around where I lived.
In the early 2000's I tried to alert the federal government to the problem of allowing non-owners locks on computer (so-called technological protection measures) and the centralizing impact that would have on Media, and now we have the same antique political thinking confused about "big tech" and the tech oligarchies they helped create.
Note: My first introduction to microcomputers was a "computer mobile" (like a bookmobile), which was a single classroom set of PET computers that was shared with the schools in Sudbury that visited my school when I was in Grade 8. Changed my life entirely.
I was raised on PEI and my running joke is "Welcome to PEI... set your watch back 50 years."
My first two years of public education were in a one-room school house heated by a wood stove in the middle of the room... and no plumbing... One teacher; students from grades 1 thru 6. No telephone mainly because telephone service hadn't yet been installed in the area.
When I tell people this, it really seems unreal yet it's true!!
Computers? The consolidated high school didn't have a computer lab. I wonder if they do now?
The parliamentary records from that era are full of debates about rural isolation. MPs from the Maritimes used to constantly hammer the government about the lack of telephone lines. The federal response was usually that the cost per mile was too high. It took years of arguing in the House of Commons to get those basic services funded. Now the debates in Hansard have just shifted from telephone poles to broadband internet.
Going from memory (I'm early GenX) the telephone lines were strung in 1973. Initially it was all party lines but eventually upgraded to individual. Even now, the nearest cellular tower to my parent's house is several kms away and only 4G, I think. My place is closer to town so I have Bell fiber-optic internet, good cellular coverage but no cable or ADSL.
I'm considering moving to Starlink as I'm getting tired of Bell cranking up the price. Now the low earth orbit satellite constellation coverage is so solid, it's hard for rural communities to argue for gubbermint intervention to bring in broadband. Individuals could buy their own Starlink... or a local vendor would get a commercial connection and resell to their neighbours instead of demanding gubbermint action.
Oddly enough, I feel the same way about safe water on reserves. I have my own well at my rural property. I'm lucky in that the water is very good. I chose to add a water softener to protect the hot water tank I installed. If my water wasn't good, there is no other source; I would need to sort it out myself.
I've worked on Reserves with "boil water" issues. When I asked what they were doing to resolve the issues, they shrugged and said the gubbermint will fix it eventually. Not sure whether that's "learned helplessness" or what??