BBC Online has an upbeat and interesting article on Minitel, France’s telephone-based pre-cursor to the Internet. I have to admit that I had assumed the system was an archaic relic doomed to demise at the hands of a graphics-interfaced Web. But the article suggests that while phone-access has dropped dramatically the system itself remains popular for a number of reasons: security, adaptability to mobile platforms and non-credit-card billing. Particularly as this last week has been the occasion for my email account being flooded with spam mail, I’m starting to wonder if a move toward a more closed network might become more attractive to consumers.
One reason the Minitel interests me is that it’s a case study in government-led technological advance (the Concorde is another striking example). It’s clear that private investment does a better job at generating the kinds of productivity gains that we would like to see. But we shouldn’t be too quick to discount public investment, particularly that centered in institutions of higher education. For that reason, I’m not sure I agree with Steve Bailey’s reasoning that public investment should never go where venture capitalists don’t, particularly in a recession, even if I agree with his assessment that Thomas Finneran’s proposed technology fund for MA is misguided.
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