Yesterday afternoon at the Kickstart Forum up in Queensland, there was a bit of a panel discussion about the government’s IT policy over the past 12 months. You know, NBN, Internet Filter, structural separation of Telstra… All those things that mean we get to have a “Conroy” tag. On the panel were (among others) Senator Scott Ludlam from the Greens and Exetel chief John Linton, who thought the discussion would be a perfect opportunity to call all Labor voters “stupid” and argue that gamers have no life.
While discussing the NBN and its potential 100Mbps speeds, Linton said that the only people who wanted 100Mbps speeds were people with no life, like gamers.
Shay over at Kotaku has more details, but if you’re an Exetel customer who wants 100Mbps speeds, how do you feel about the fact the boss of your ISP thinks you have no life?
[Kotaku]
Matt
March 1, 2010 at 1:28 PM
Once again John Linton opens his mouth to let the brown stuff flow.
Report Permalinkbrettk
March 1, 2010 at 1:33 PM
I don’t quite see how it’s “gamers” who want 100Mbps speeds, when “gamers” really only need good latency…not necessarily high bandwith…I mean, i’d like 100Mbps speeds…but whether I do or not won’t impact my latency in cod6…
Report PermalinkStevoTheDevo
March 1, 2010 at 2:14 PM
He didn’t say gamers wanted 100mbps connections, he said people with no life want 100mbps connections…
Then went on to give an example of a person with no life.
:-)
He’s a bit of a fruitcake, it’s cool that he runs a business yet talks like this, but I’d never be a customer of his!
Report PermalinkYou never know when he’ll crack, and one day he surely will!
Dave Leong
March 1, 2010 at 1:38 PM
I dont get this guy. He’s the head of a TECHNOLOGY company and he doesnt want BETTER and FASTER speeds that will and can have applications that we can’t even dream up at the moment? Its like he was the owner of a car company when cars were first invented and only wanted the car to go as fast as horses! What an imbecile!
Report PermalinkClive
March 2, 2010 at 2:27 AM
I think the analogy similar to the car company is why build a four lane super highway that requires billions of dollars down every street of every suburb, for cars that no one wants anymore.
Why not instead just tell everyone to ride in personal wireless helicopters that are the new technology for the end user that everyone is taking up in droves.
Report PermalinkLyndon
March 2, 2010 at 2:31 PM
Because those wireless helicopters are still relatively slow, still don’t offer shaping once data usage is met, and still cost a freaking fortune… that’s why :)
Wireless has its uses – on the road. ADSL still rules the home internet world.
Report PermalinkWilson Cheng
March 1, 2010 at 1:49 PM
I failed to see how a gamer leads a “no life”. I would say more life then some CEO who work their ass off for money they don’t have time to enjoy.
Report PermalinkMark
March 1, 2010 at 2:55 PM
Sure I’d love to have 100Mb speeds but first I’d like to be able to actually get broadband. We’re on the border of broadband in Queensland, so we’re stuck on satellite. Latency is horrific, and it drops out in bad weather etc. I’m in IT and I need to be able to use it for work, let alone games!
Report PermalinkShane
March 1, 2010 at 3:08 PM
The people who want 100mbps are the people who stream content…while gamers do download a fare bit, i’d say they don’t download nearly as much as people who stream music and video.
Personally, I think that these people need to take a long hard look at their own lives before that start passing comment on others.
Report PermalinkRowan
March 1, 2010 at 5:35 PM
I’ve posted a topic about this on the Exetel Forum asking for a ‘please explain’…I’d bet it gets removed.
http://forum.exetel.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=288&t=35413
Report PermalinkSam Brady
March 1, 2010 at 7:24 PM
Quote from a response to Rowan’s forum post
“The number of people who want 100 megabits are [pause] almost none today and aren’t going to be very many in five years time… Probably 40-50% of people today will never want to use a piece of fibre at its huge expense compared to using a free wireless signal…
There’s probably well in excess of three million people using wireless, mainly for different applications at the moment.
And they’re certainly not gamers playing, or those other things. They’re the other half of Australia that has a life [pause] rather than a half life.”
It doesnt sound too bad really when directly quoted. Sounds more like hes being a cheeky bugger after making a valid point than dismissing the potential of higher-speed internet as largely pointless and going on to make fun of nerds.
Report PermalinkJohn Kirkham
March 2, 2010 at 10:09 AM
Top work Rowan ! You just made the boss close the thread. Was there really a need for you to be so direct and not expect it could stifle any chance of productive dialogue ?
Besides, you could see he was making a ‘half life’ joke therefore, misquoted. It’s a throw away term that’s been said before. The bloke isn’t prone to having Latham moments.
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