Comment Re:The fax machine used to be difficult as well (Score 1) 233
"Comparing a mature technology with one still in early adoption phase, and concluding that the latter has no chance, is to mistake the acorn for the oak."
In fact it is you who is perhaps guilty of 'mistaking the acorn for the oak'. It's clear from context that you meant to end your sentence differently, perhaps with "...is to forget that the mightiest oak was once an acorn." (admittedly a little flowery, but bear with me.)
But your malapropism, as it turns out, may be quite illuminating. It just so happens that only about 1 in 10,000 acorns ever grows into an Oak, mighty or otherwise [1]. To see in every nascent technology the seeds of greatness is to ignore the full-to-overflowing dustbin of history to which so many promising ideas are sadly consigned.
Don't get me wrong--I remain hopeful that VOIP can help smash the telco monopolies, but as others here have noted, the powers that be aren't taking any of this lying down. The restrictions on 'servers' in many TOS's are only the first line of defense that will need to be breached before we see real success. As has been noted by others here, one of the key difference between the dawn of fax and that of VOIP is that the phone companies were more than happy to have their customers sign up for extra fax lines and use their new gadgets to make long-distance calls. And there wasn't much FedEx could do about it. Contrast with the current situation, where broadband ISPs in many markets *are* the telcos who stand to suffer, and you see how you have opened yourself up to charges of observation bias.
You are not alone in your eternal hope, of course. A quick Google of 'poem mighty-oak acorn' should convince you of that.
[1] http://www.leo.lehigh.edu/projects/sam/trivia.html
In fact it is you who is perhaps guilty of 'mistaking the acorn for the oak'. It's clear from context that you meant to end your sentence differently, perhaps with "...is to forget that the mightiest oak was once an acorn." (admittedly a little flowery, but bear with me.)
But your malapropism, as it turns out, may be quite illuminating. It just so happens that only about 1 in 10,000 acorns ever grows into an Oak, mighty or otherwise [1]. To see in every nascent technology the seeds of greatness is to ignore the full-to-overflowing dustbin of history to which so many promising ideas are sadly consigned.
Don't get me wrong--I remain hopeful that VOIP can help smash the telco monopolies, but as others here have noted, the powers that be aren't taking any of this lying down. The restrictions on 'servers' in many TOS's are only the first line of defense that will need to be breached before we see real success. As has been noted by others here, one of the key difference between the dawn of fax and that of VOIP is that the phone companies were more than happy to have their customers sign up for extra fax lines and use their new gadgets to make long-distance calls. And there wasn't much FedEx could do about it. Contrast with the current situation, where broadband ISPs in many markets *are* the telcos who stand to suffer, and you see how you have opened yourself up to charges of observation bias.
You are not alone in your eternal hope, of course. A quick Google of 'poem mighty-oak acorn' should convince you of that.
[1] http://www.leo.lehigh.edu/projects/sam/trivia.htm
