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Inbox: Antique computing, Segway protest and ID cards

'Has this member of parliament nothing better to do?'
Written by silicon.com staff, Contributor

'Has this member of parliament nothing better to do?'

The weekly Inbox column collects the best and most thought-provoking of the reader comments silicon.com receives each week.
A story concerning fibre broadband in every UK home caused a storm this week, while silicon.com also took a trip down memory lane with photos of the Elliott 803 business PC, prompting discussion among vintage-loving readers. And there were plenty of comments flowing in concerning the story of the Segway-wielding MP. Read on below for more…

Don't forget to post your own response to any of these stories or comments by clicking here.


£29bn bill for fibre to every UK home
The cost of building a full end-to-end fibre network across the UK may create a compelling case for getting on with rolling out fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) in the next few years instead.

BT bashing
Much BT bashing here but I don't see Virgin Media stepping up to the mark here and offering to cable up the UK.
Anonymous, Birmingham

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BT vs Virgin
As far as I remember Virgin Media were not 'given' an existing nationwide copper network as BT were when they were 'privatised'.
Adrian Carey, Hants

Cabinet lacking
Fibre to the cabinet is not enough in my mind. The whole infrastructure needs upgrading...either that or I want to be able to plug my DSL modem/router directly into the local cabinet!
Richard Davies, North Yorkshire

Road digging trouble?
I can't see how it would be possible to replace the copper to a lot of houses without digging up their roads, driveways and/or gardens. Older estates, where the cables are overhead on poles, might be easy but who wants more digging up of roads, driveways and gardens. Maybe a wireless link from the local cabinet to every house would work.
Anonymous, Enniskillen

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Photos: Britain's first business computer
The Elliott 803 was developed in the early 1960s and until 1965 it was the single most popular British computer for big businesses and universities.

Blast from the past
What a blast from the past! I can recall "playing" with an old 803 in my formative IT years as an operator working at Keele Uni - messing about with the instruction set and the mag film to program tunes on the console speaker etc.
Rog, Hants

Space efficiency
I too started my programming career on one of these machines at BP's Research Centre. Amazingly it had an Algol compiler which had to be front loaded from tape before a program could be entered. We certainly learned to be efficient with memory space.
Ian Beaty, Berkhamsted

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MP risks arrest for Segway use
MP Lembit Opik braved arrest on Tuesday as he teetered along on a Segway at a cool 12mph outside the Houses of Parliament.

Nothing better to do?
Has this member of parliament got nothing better to do? I hope his constituents get him back working on more important matters soon.
Craig, Newcastle

School run?
Think about the number of school buses used to transport children from villages to ever consolidating schools. In many cases the distance is a matter of a few miles but cost enormous amounts in terms of impact on the environment, congestion and money. Segways would be perfect for the school run, assuming the unit cost could be brought down to £950, the representative cost of a bus pass for village-based children.
Nigel Montgomery, Oxford

Standards compliant
"The Department for Transport says it would be "difficult" for scooters such as Segways to meet the standards required to be classified as road vehicles."

Just suppose the bicycle was just invented. Surely it would also not meet today's standards, would it?
Graham Moore, Chonburi, Thailand

Menace
The Segway would be a menace to cyclists on the pavements. They shouldn't be allowed.
Charles Smith, London



Ad gurus called in to help ID cards
The Home Office has enlisted the help of advertising agency M&C Saatchi to promote the national ID card scheme.

Gloss and glitter over substance
This says it all really - a cool and trendy approach to everything is all our media conscious government seem to aim for... Gloss and glitter over substance.
Radical Meldrew, Suburbs

Adding to the waste
The scheme is a waste of money and this advertising scheme will simply add to the waste.

In a time like this where hard working people are struggling, I see it as a kick in the teeth to keep on taking and then wasting taxpayers money.

If the government had a sensible scheme that the UK public backed it wouldn't need to advertise it would it?
Richard Davies, North Yorkshire

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