?End of Internet as we know it

[Michael Holloway]

In article <1993May29.202600.22118 at news.vanderbilt.edu> (R. N. DuBois) writes:
>According to Science (21 May, v. 260, p. 1064) the NSF will quit providing
>the internet for everyone to use in the near future.  The network service
>will become a commercialized affair which will be taken over by private
>companies.  Doe anyone know when this will happen and who is responsible
>for this decision? 

According to the article it will be in 1996 isn't it?  Can you believe the 
comments made by Stephen Wolff?  Hey, we can charge use of the commercial 
network to our NSF grants!  Of course!  My NSF grant!  Now where did I put 
that little bugger?  He says that universities can bill the charges to 
indirect cost accounts.  Quick, somebody alert Stanford!  

Isn't progress great?  I'll be able to have movies on demand at home (gosh!)
but I won't be able to ask anyone for help with PCR.  I'll be able to send
a message across campus to see if a friend wants to go out for pizza but I'll
be unable to collaborate with someone in California via the net.  Ok, so 
maybe I'm spoiled.  Maybe I should be paying for this somehow but the fact of
the matter is I can't and I'm sure many people are in the same boat.  I don't
understand why in turning over the NREN to commercial interests the NSF 
necessarily has to abandon research users.  Can't they subsidize university 
usage?  Can't they make a deal with the new landlords to give academic 
centers special rates?

Mike