NBN Business Plan

I have been working in the IT Industry for nearly 35 years. I started exploring IT in 1975 when I was actually employed on a complex civil engineering project - and needed some software to do a specific task - but the software wasn't available.

So I wrote my own on a HP programmable calculator. In those days the only portable computers were HP calculators and we all had one. From memory I think it was an HP25c and it fitted in your back pocket but of course was too precious for that. And I was working in Asia which meant that I didn't have access to the mini computer in head office or the mainframe at the university. No NBN anywhere then either.

Reverse Polish Notation - or RPN was the language the calculator used and if you understood that and how the stack worked then you could design and build a fairly complex program to run in about the 8k bytes that were available.

We designed and built roads and bridges and stormwater and sewerage systems and infrastructure with those calculators. We didn't need PC's let alone a NBN. And most of that infrastructure is still in use today.

The increase in productivity was incredible. Previously we had been working with slide rules and pencil and grid paper - but the HP 25c changed all that and meant that we could design and document things much faster - often by an order of magnitude.

My view is that the NBN could become the HP25c of the 21st century. If we are lucky.

As a nation we spent the last 25 years of the 20th century playing catch up - there was always an opportunity to become the *clever* country or the *smart* nation but it never actually happened.

We even had (at least) four attempts by various State Governments to attempt the development of *Silicon Village* - and they all failed. Billions have been wasted in the pursuit of *cleverness* by a range of Australian governments.

And the reason is that we aren't very clever - politicians and bureaucrats who try to *pick winners* usually end up by *picking losers*. It's a grand tradition of our state governments Virginia ;-)

And that is why the NBN is so important - it is ENABLING technology. It will enable the 21st century version of the HP25c user.

So we might argue about why it is necessary and debate the costs and think we need a business plan but I say go for it - because if we don't then we will never know if we are the *clever* country or not.

And I for one don't want to die wondering ;-)