About Time!

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm not one to praise Fortune 500 companies that often. I think they are some of the biggest impediments from having more progressive legislation passed at both the Federal and State level.

This afternoon, however, I saw this story in the UT regarding AT&T's decision to ask the North Carolina Utilities Commission to "allow the company to test the Web-based phone listings in Raleigh and Charlotte." According to the proposal AT&T will still distribute the Yellow Pages, but will only distribute the White Pages on either CD-Rom or hard copy on a per request basis. [Link] Finally! In my opinion this should have been done 10-years ago!

To me the phone book seems so archaic in the age of Google. Not to mention it is quite a waste of paper. Every year, I have delivered to large phone books, that sit around and collect dust until the next year, when I throw them in a recycle dumpster because I have just received two new phone books. Now I know there are people like my mother, who will not use a computer and phone books will continue to be necessary for them. But for the vast majority of us, Web-based White Pages are the way to go. How soon until AT&T brings this program to California?