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Much of the groundwork for the internet and open software happened in the 1970s and 1980s thanks to influxes of government funding, including at many universiti
by jph 6y ago
Much of the groundwork for the internet and open software happened in the 1970s and 1980s thanks to influxes of government funding, including at many universities and research organizations.
I advocate for government funding for public good internet software, because the societal benefit can be so high, and the only alternative so far is monopoly-equivalent companies such as FAANG. In the United States, and in many other countries, there's plenty of precedence for government funding for public libraries, public broadcasting, public transportation, etc.
- kortilla 6y ago> Much of the groundwork for the internet and open software happened in the 1970s and 1980s thanks to influxes of government funding, including at many universities and research organizations. Sure, that’s one part of it. Then it was industry that came in and made it all useful. A significant portion of open source contributions to Linux are from people working for industry. Most of the advancements to make routing scale, etc were driven by the likes of Cisco, AT&T, etc.
- skywhopper 6y agoYeah, plus those folks actually had problems to solve and things to invent. These days 99.99% of VC projects and the stuff coming out of most tech giants is just throwing obscene amounts of money at creating new problems that no one knew they had, hoping some of it will stick and fund the next round of waste.
- guerrilla 6y agoYou mention FAANG but don't forget Bell Labs which was also supported by a giant monopooy at the time, so that supports your theory too.