Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!world.std.com!bzs From: bzs@world.std.com (Barry Shein) Newsgroups: comp.protocols.tcp-ip Subject: billing for use Message-ID: <9002200013.AA23205@world.std.com> Date: 20 Feb 90 00:13:28 GMT References: Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Organization: The Internet Lines: 26 Well, I always say you can either bake more bread or organize bread lines. I like to listen to the bread bakers myself. I'm not sure simple conservationist ethics scale very well into the computer biz. The wierd thing about networking (and computing in general) is the stuff costs just as much whether it's being used or not. Actually, it costs more if it's not being used, sorta the same reasoning one would make about idle land to a farmer, lost opportunity and all that. I suppose if one postulates that there will never be enough so we may as well make sure only the rich get fat. Let's face it, any charges which are rational in the large will be a pittance to the wealthier clients. That's why conservation has its limits, you can't charge enough to stop the gluttonous without killing the starving. The economics of networking are very subtle. But I do know one thing, the BOCs don't increase charges soas to get everyone to simply use less. It doesn't really work that way with infrastructure economics, it just ain't that simple, or that depressing. -Barry Shein Software Tool & Die | {xylogics,uunet}!world!bzs | bzs@world.std.com Purveyors to the Trade | Voice: 617-739-0202 | Login: 617-739-WRLD