Microsoft's Mundie: US Broadband Efforts 'A Total Policy Failure'

Craig Mundie is Microsoft's new chief strategic thinker, replacing Bill Gates in that role. He spoke recently about a number of Washington and technology issues: the failure of the U.S. to keep up in the worldwide race to extend broadband Internet service to its citizens, how the Federal Communications Commission should handle the "white spaces" in the radio spectrum, and what he thinks of "the cloud," an automaton receptionist being planned at Microsoft's headquarters and other matters on the frontiers of computing. Some of his strongest words were reserved for the country's lagging position in rolling out broadband Internet service. My view is the country has had virtually a total policy failure for more than the last decade relative to this," he said, and the situation is "getting worse faster than most people perceive." Like Google's top officials, Mundie is lobbying the Federal Communications Commission to allow the use of white spaces -- the portion of the radio wave spectrum in between the television stations -- for use of other devices.