I wonder what the future of El Paquete Semanal will be once Cuba inevitably gets less ridiculously priced and more available internet access. As it stands, there could be a large percentage of users who don't even have NICs, as all you'd need for El Paquete Semanal is a USB port.
I'm also interested in whether it's more of a loan/library service where this org has hundreds or thousands of hard drives that get loaned out once a week and swapped out for new content or if someone has to physically sit and wait for the subscribers to copy data over. The logistics of this are so fascinating, I just want more!
El Paquete Semanal is not at all unlike the combination of sneakernet and shareware CDs that I enjoyed in semi-rural western Canada, during the 80s and early 90s. We were crippled by long-distance fees, and very few FidoNet BBS' were available; IIRC, there was one in my local calling area, and it was hideously expensive.
The local community bookstore started by selling shareware discs, in 5.25 and 3.5; and when it came available, in CDs. They were professionally packaged, and they restocked every Tuesday. The demand for content was high enough that restocking so frequently didn't mean throwing out old content. If 1tb USB drives were available then we would have used those; but they weren't, and the most economical way to deliver content was through CDs and discs. Since burners were rare, and because disc and floppy medium aren't zero-cost, it made sense for the local bookstore to sell the packaged content.
With the advent of high-speed internet to our homes, we were a test area for the deployment of cable internet in around '96, the bookstore stopped selling shareware altogether.
Thanks for your input, this is a really interesting parallel. Although, you didn't have to worry about censorship and a repressive government in Canada, you're probably right that it will disappear.
Do you remember what kinds of software was available at the bookstore? Was it only media like games/simulations/etc or did they have business/productivity software and operating systems?
There was all manner of shareware; applications and games alike. There was also your regular boxed software, where the likes of Microsoft Works and Turbo C were available for purchase at obscene prices.
I picked up Linux at that same book store, it came on a CD with a book from SAMS publishing called "Using Linux". It was Slackware, iirc, using a 1.x kernel of some kind.
For me it was people bringing boxes full of 5.25" floppies and multiple external floppy drives...
The fun thing, though was the postal swapping, which developed into an art-form involving defrauding the postal service (wax over the stamps etc. to let you scrape off the post mark and reuse the stamp), and dropping the envelope entirely (affixing address labels and stamps straight onto the floppies and just tape a floppy cover in place - some didn't even use a proper cover, but just taped a small cover over the hole in the floppy to prevent dust).
All in the interest in reducing turnaround times and cost, given that top swappers would turn around a ridiculous number of floppies on a daily basis just to keep their network intact - slow down, and be unable to provide stuff that was new enough, and people would drop you in favour of contacts who provided newer stuff (which by the late 80's increasingly meant the best connected people expected "zero day" releases, and then went off into insanity where people expected cracks of games before they were released - some games were released in cracked form before they were even finished, with levels missing etc.)
This was more widespread in Europe than the US, where strict national telecoms regulation in most countries until the EU started deregulating it, coupled with per-minute billing for local calls, meant modem usage remained low until well into the 90's.
What if instead of a USB drive, it was a truck with wifi that would swing by the front of your house and rsync some files to your computer? To sign up, you'd give your address and wifi password.
Same I asked to some Cubans few years ago. Apparently it's illegal to start a hotspot there. You can end up in jail. in fact if you scan networks you wont find any.
There is some local wired intranets between neighbours though
Presumably this would be in areas where downloading over the internet is difficult/prohibitive, like in Cuba. Just connect to the truck's wifi, not the internet at large.
That actually makes a lot of sense. There's not a particularly good reason for OEMs to make specifically Cuban machines without Ethernet ports or WiFi adapters.
I'm also interested in whether it's more of a loan/library service where this org has hundreds or thousands of hard drives that get loaned out once a week and swapped out for new content or if someone has to physically sit and wait for the subscribers to copy data over. The logistics of this are so fascinating, I just want more!