ALTP News July 15, 2000
Edited by Richard Brincefield

Recent ALTP News

Reminder: ALTP BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING (OPEN)

Thursday, July 27, 2000
7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. 

• Phoenix: US WEST, 3033 N. Third St., Room 208.09
• Tucson: US WEST, 333 E. Wetmore, Room 323

Dial-in attendance: contact tkraver@qwest.net

ACTION AGENDA         Saturday,  July 15, 2000

Arizona Learning Technology Partnership, Inc.
Governors Strategic Partnership for Economic Development

EMERGING NATIONS COULD BE MODELS FOR K-12 EDUCATION

With the technology needs of K-12 education being vastly under funded, maybe a look at how emerging nations are dealing with the same problem, lack of adequate funds. One focus is on wireless communications the other on windows operating systems.

GETTING BROAD BAND TO RURAL SCHOOLS???

"Last week, US West said it would expand its DSL service to 30 more cities ranging from Twin Falls, Idaho, to Laramie, Wyo., most of which fall in the rural and small-town category. However, executives at the Baby Bell phone company say that "everyone" is likely to stop with this round of small cities, at least for now. "This is about as far as we go," said Teresa Taylor, US West vice president of integrated services. At this level, there are still enough people--and, more specifically, enough people with personal computers--to justify the investment, she said. "We have done our homework there." [How about Bisbee, Douglas and thirty other "small cities" in Arizona?]

SPECIAL REPORT: SMALL TOWNS IN FAST LANE???

Although the numbers remain small, high-speed Internet services are beginning to take off in rural areas and small cities where industry experts once questioned whether demand would exist and communications carriers would ever install the technologies. For now, most of the improvements have come in smaller cities with substantial populations. [Where is Arizona’s fast lane?] http://2.digital.cnet.com/cgi-bin2/flo?y=esH0Zlya0U0CoQL

TONGA (SOUTH PACIFIC) IS WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY PROVING GROUND

Tonga, a monarchy, is no cradle of democracy. The king has decreed that this Fourth of July, the multi-island nation leapfrog the developed world in its telecommunications. Dwayne Hendricks is the project leader and created the Bay Area wireless network in 1996. The crown prince of Tonga, Silicon Valley, liked what he saw and decided to give it a try. Dwayne is also working with Indian reservations and Tucson Amature Packet Radio http://www.dandin.com/projects.html.

The project will deploy a nationwide wireless network based on Internet communications standards. Tonga's 100,000 residents will end up with a system that combines voice, video and data running at data-transfer speeds that the rest of the world will envy. Tonga is a proving ground for wireless technology that could shatter the status quo here. It will advance the field and show the world what can be done when regulation is relaxed and technology tried. When the royal family decides to do something, it doesn't have to convene a committee.

The nation has an aging and inadequate telecommunications infrastructure, but not enough money to repair and upgrade the wire-based system, with an 8-year wait for phone service. Without regulatory restraints or ``legacy systems,'' there's a great opportunity to start from scratch. An ultra-wideband, fixed-wireless communications system will provide the backbone for Tonga's future needs.

After Tonga, Dwayne is planning to install similar systems on Native American lands in North America -- places that are notoriously and shamefully underserved by our telecommunications industry. But by working the inside and outside the system -- inside, he's a member of the FCC's Telecommunications Advisory Committee and calls himself a ``wireless wonk''.

Another expert in the same business is Pat Lanthier, CEO of Wireless Networks Inc. http://www.wireless-networks.com/ who is installing networks in several countries.

Dan Gillmor Tuesday, July 4, 2000, in the San Jose Mercury News, weblog.mercurycenter.com/ejournal

[May we should adopt the Monarchy model for Arizona, and without a legislature, go for an effective telecom and educational technology system? Ted the Ed.]

GEORGIA'S DISTANCE LEARNING COMMUNITY ECLIPSES 100,000TH VIDEOCONFERENCE VIA TWO-WAY INTERACTIVE MULTIMEDIA NETWORK WITH 350 SITES.

VTEL Website: http://www.vtel.com

GSAMS Website:http://www2.state.ga.us/departments/doas/gsams

[Georgia!!!? And so it goes….Ted the Ed.]

LINUX HAS WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY IN CHINA:

Li Mingshu could well pose a greater long-term threat to Microsoft than the US Department of Justice. As the deputy director of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Software, he launch of the world's first Chinese-language 64-bit Linux operating system. This system is the result of 15 years trying to develop an indigenous Chinese computer operating system. An authentic copy of Microsoft Windows 98 retails for the equivalent of half a year's wages. Beijing's obsession reflects the Central Government's determination to maintain control of the country's rapidly developing computer culture.

Chinese PC are sales now at 10 million a year and will shape software development. Penetrating the Chinese software market is also extraordinarily difficult because of rampant piracy. The China Software Association estimates about 80 per cent (low) pirated software has fostered Windows as the dominant computer operating system. But now, open-source systems like Linux are more Chinese-language friendly, and it is safe, stable, friendly and free. Linux (200,000) already outsells authentic Windows programs (1000) [for 10 million new computers!!!] Compaq Computer Corporation has been working closely with the Chinese Academy of Science on its Red Flag Linux operating system. Micheal Dwyer, Hong Kong

LINUX ALSO SUITABLE FOR INDIA

LINUX is a powerful, scalable and reliable operating system that is well suited for the Indian environment. For India, it is important to leap frog generations of technology and go straight for the cutting edge one. The greatest advantage of Linux over other operating systems is that it is free. Even all the development tools bundled with it are free. One issue is total cost of ownership. Linux has lower hardware requirements; it can run on older, cheaper computers.

Prakash Advani FreeOS.com and prakash@freeos.com

LIFE’S WISDOM REDUCED TO A FEW WORDS

...the more original a discovery the more obvious it seems afterwards.

-- Arthur Koestler

Nothing is so firmly believed as what we least know.

-- Michel Eyquem de Montaigne

Men resort to talking only when they haven't the power to enforce their convictions upon others.

-- Lin Yutang

The ALTP News/Action Agenda is produced by the Arizona Learning Technology
Partnership http://altp.org, and edited by Richard Brincefield rbrincefield@softrain.com.

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