Is Kazaa distribution part of the answer? (was: Python and p2p)

[David Garamond]

Carlos Ribeiro wrote:
> On Thursday 06 February 2003 12:31 am, you wrote:
>>Even simpler, why not put copies of free Python eBooks on python.org?
> A very good idea (and it should be done), but it does not address one of the 
> problems here: many people still 'don't get it'. Many of the younger people - 
> teenagers at high school and college freshmans - were introduced to the 'Net 
> by Napster, and then migrated to Kazaa. For these people it's pretty much as 
> if Google didn't exist; 

i find that very very hard to believe. please find for me one "teenager 
at high school" or "college freshman" that:
- uses napster/kazaa/whatever popular p2p app is out there;
- doesn't know what the Web is; or
- never uses Internet Explorer; or
- never visits a porn site.

> in the worst cases, the Net is about IRC, ICQ and P2P 
> software, and the Web is about looking for cracks using astalavista.box.sk 
> and similar sites. 

isn't astalavista.box.sk a _web_ site? sure, lots of people may never 
(and never will, probably) visit www.python.org but neither will the 
same people be looking and downloading python books :-)

> That's not to say that they're not smart, just that 
> they've got the 'Net from a very different perspective from ours, and with a 
> completely different set of priorities.

oh please. i can buy younger people don't know a thing about newsgroup 
or even email, but the web? of all things, "the Web" is one thing that 
gets synonymized with "the Internet" the most.

-- 
dave