Internet Access (The Lack Thereof) At ITEC (was Re: regarding "just plain works" as a goal)

[Leo Mauler]

--- On Wed, 10/8/08, Billy Crook <billycrook at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Tue, Oct 7, 2008 at 16:46, Leo Mauler
> <webgiant at yahoo.com> wrote:

> > Secondly, every year for the past three 
> > years there hasn't been reliable free 
> > wireless Internet on the ITEC Exhibitor 
> > floor.  This means that the option of 
> > showing people the Internet on the demo 
> > Linux PC will most likely not be available, 
> > which prevents people from seeing the
> > "blinkenlights" Internet (for good or bad).
> 
> Bring a wire.  Find a hole to stick it in.  
> Convention halls usually have ethernet.  I 
> guarantee there's not going to be hundreds of 
> people there, and no internet.  Not in 2008.  

You've clearly never been at ITEC if you feel you can make the claim that the Internet is available at the Overland Park Convention Center.  I've been there for three years.  Personally I can't even remember the Microsoft booth having Internet, to drop a name of a vendor with deep pockets and a vested interest in the 
Internet itself.

Its all business cards, paper forms, business-card-sized CDs, and sneakernet flash memory keys at ITEC, even back in 2007.  Internet availability would mean you would get the ITEC attendee to type in their information for you, saving paying a data entry operator back home, but still no one has Internet at ITEC.

> If they want to charge, bring a 300 foot cable, 
> and a router, and walk around telling other
> vendors your a nonprofit, and beg for bandwidth.
> If you really want it, bring a sign for whoever 
> agrees that says "we support the KCLUG" for 
> whoever cooperates.

Well, the coffee shop 100 feet away from the entrance to the Exhibitor hall (so we'd need more like a 300 foot Ethernet cable plus another 200 foot Ethernet cable plus some form of signal booster between the two and a power outlet there as well) has Internet kiosks available for free.  Everyone at ITEC who needs Internet goes there.  I figure if Microsoft couldn't convince a coffee shop which runs Microsoft OSes on PC hardware to share its Internet with their booth, that Internet must not be available.

Again, I've been to ITEC.  Clearly you haven't, if you think that admission to ITEC is expensive for *everyone*, even to Basic ITEC Attendees.  Sometimes they even throw in the Conferences for free.

BTW, wouldn't calling KCLUG a non-profit be untruthful?  I thought it was just a "not expected to make a profit" organization.  Claiming to be a nonprofit while not being a nonprofit can bring on legal troubles.