When a state government announces that it is bringing the Net to the people for the price of a local call, you've got to ask two questions: What parts of the Net? and How much is it really going to cost?
Maryland's Sailor gopher, a statewide freenet, contains an evolving mix of state and federal government information and library catalogs - just the kind of tedious, lackluster flapdoodle people now schlep to libraries to look up. Sailor's magic menu item, however, is "Search the Internet."
Sailor's users don't need an account or a password.
And the price? The federal government is kicking in almost US$2 million of everybody's money, spread over two years. This isn't new money from a suddenly generous US Congress. The source is a long-standing US Department of Education program to help libraries construct new facilities.
The start-up money will be gone by September 1995, when Sailor's captains hope to have pried $885,000 - around 17 cents per Marylander (it is not known how many have modems) - from the state legislature to run it and expand it. Marylanders who cannot live without e-mail, ftp, telnet, newsgroups, and all the other toys will be able to add them for just $100 per year.
Are commercial Net access providers peeved that the government is horning in on the action? Not a bit. They figure that once people get their feet wet with Sailor, they'll want more. Because the Maryland system currently offers only 192 dial-up connections for the whole state, providers figure the first to desert will be frustrated would-be Sailors fed up with busy signals. The annual cost of the cheapest commercial full Net connection is only $20 or so more than what Sailor is planning to charge. The providers also expect to inherit a flood of former novices who are eager to move on to Mosaic and other entertainments. To check out Sailor, gopher to sailor.lib.md.us.
ELECTRIC WORD
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