Pembroke, ON - In a bid to "streamline consumer electronics policy with environmental goals," Hon. Misty Dunfien, Minister of Science, announced yesterday the introduction of a bill that aims to see the desktop PC become a thing of the past in households across Canada. The announcement took place outside the St. Pierre Community Hall during a ribbon cutting for a new low-income housing co-op.
"These boat anchors demand considerable levels of electricity to power all their cooling fans and hard disk drives and whatnot. With the advent of clown computing and a general shift toward the remote provisioning of processing power, we feel that the average Canadian should have no need to continue running these energy hungry boat anchors in their homes."
Bill C-21, known as the "Green Computing Initiative" seeks to impose a licensing framework around the purchase and use of desktop computer components.
"Unless you're running a small business, do you really need a laser printer or a terabyte of disk storage? Most laptop computers today have more than enough internal storage for most home-based applications."
Professor of Mathematics Ray Khan expressed concern over the legislation, saying that it would present challenges for students who's course list includes data-intensive programs.
"It's worrisome. It seems counter intuitive that a minister of science would promote such an intrinsically anti-scientific bill," he laments, "for many students, desktop PCs provide the affordable customization needed for specific kinds of number-crunching applications. Not to mention their usefulness in web development."
The proposed legislation would include a one-time registration / licensing fee and a tariff on any electronic goods associated with desktop PCs.
"This bill will only affect a tiny segment of the population, but we feel it's the responsible thing to do if Canada is expected to take a leadership role in the reduction of greenhouse gasses," the minister said before concluding the Q & A.
"These boat anchors demand considerable levels of electricity to power all their cooling fans and hard disk drives and whatnot. With the advent of clown computing and a general shift toward the remote provisioning of processing power, we feel that the average Canadian should have no need to continue running these energy hungry boat anchors in their homes."
Bill C-21, known as the "Green Computing Initiative" seeks to impose a licensing framework around the purchase and use of desktop computer components.
"Unless you're running a small business, do you really need a laser printer or a terabyte of disk storage? Most laptop computers today have more than enough internal storage for most home-based applications."
Professor of Mathematics Ray Khan expressed concern over the legislation, saying that it would present challenges for students who's course list includes data-intensive programs.
"It's worrisome. It seems counter intuitive that a minister of science would promote such an intrinsically anti-scientific bill," he laments, "for many students, desktop PCs provide the affordable customization needed for specific kinds of number-crunching applications. Not to mention their usefulness in web development."
The proposed legislation would include a one-time registration / licensing fee and a tariff on any electronic goods associated with desktop PCs.
"This bill will only affect a tiny segment of the population, but we feel it's the responsible thing to do if Canada is expected to take a leadership role in the reduction of greenhouse gasses," the minister said before concluding the Q & A.
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