On Thu, 28 Apr 2005, John Dupuy wrote:
But this analogy breaks down on so many levels, so I recommend not using it. The street system is a government controlled monopoly and...well lets not use this analogy.
If you really want some analogy for Internet independent of the telecom sector or governent infrastructure, best is to compare internet & ISPs to retail product distribution. In both cases you have produces (content or manufactures) with many different kind of products and brands consumers want and complex distribution channels to get from the produces to the stores (ISPs) where end-users actually buy it. But in majority of retail products, the origin product can not be contaminated or dangerous to end-users, but if you compare groceries (a subset) then its a lot more interesting and product can easily get spoiled or otherwise be dangerous and a lot more regulations exist to make sure what consumers get is good and supermarkets also routingly check themselve quality of products they receive (especially for produce and dairy). -- William Leibzon Elan Networks william@elan.net