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Peter Cochrane's Hard Drive 1998 Logging on for ever EARLY in the life of our technological society water supplies were delivered by pipe or pail from tanks pumped by waterwheel or steam engine. Gas was delivered by cast iron pipe, complete with air pockets, and electricity by open copper wires from a local generator that would periodically stop for want of fuel or maintenance. In remote areas, farms and cottages would be subject to a start-stop regime to conserve energy. Using water, gas, or electricity was not just a matter of turning a tap or flicking a switch, it meant a walk down the garden. We have come a long way, and we no longer have to think and plan ahead. Turn a tap and there is a reliable supply of water or gas, flick a switch and electric power is always there. The same is true of radio, TV and telephone. These have become worlds of instant gratification. If only it were true of computers. In this regime we have to boot up, log-on and take positive action to get online. Why? Would it not be far better to leave computers powered up and online 24 hours a day? Well, in offices this is often the dominant mode of operation. Just switching off the monitor, running down the hard drive, and leaving a machine "sleeping" is generally more reliable and more convenient. So what of home computers? Certainly having a computer in "sleep-mode" is no problem in the home as they consume so little power. But being online 24 hours a day would be expensive - or would it? In America local telephone calls are free in as much as they are cross-subsidised by the long lines business. This has led to a log-on and never log-off culture, the telephone network has become congested and the telephone companies suffer a significant loss of revenues. PC users are inadvertently affecting regular telephone users with a dual reduction in the standard of service and profitability dedicated to the expansion of services. And so, perversely, we see a growing lobby over there for the right to charge for local calls. In Europe local calls are generally not free and phone companies charge by the minute. This is entirely down to history and differing commercial regimes. Of course, their line and switching plant are being used, and so why shouldn't they charge, especially as they have no other mechanism to recoup their investment? Attempts to eradicate local call billing through a universal rental charge or levy always meet with significant protests from political, regulatory, and diverse social groups. So there has been little progress anywhere - it is stalemate. But none of this solves the problem for the computer user of wanting to be always connected. For sure, we ought not be transmitting our data through telephone switches principally designed for speech. Data traffic needs to be filtered off telephone lines before they enter the switch, and diverted directly on to a server. This can be done by placing data traffic at frequencies above the analogue telephone signals (multiplexing), or alternatively by digitally mixing the two. We then get the best of both worlds. Telephone calls charged by use, and computer connection by rental. Peter Cochrane holds the Collier Chair for the Public Understanding of Science & Technology at the University of Bristol. His home page is: |
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