The government does not invest in these things because it has never seriously invested in technology for education, entertainment, or information access. Technological investment has always been for the technology itself, not for software applications. The government must begin investing in new software ideas now, unless it wants a highway devoid of cars. Today the software development business is rather primitive. Not only are there no new and innovative cars, there are no tools to make such cars.
Software development is still in the horse and buggy stage.
The dominant software companies have concentrated on spread sheets, operating systems, and word processing for so long they have long since forgotten how to innovate. The federal government had better start recognizing the need for rethinking what rides on the information highway or there will be a lot of abandoned toll booths along the way. Take me to the outline for the book .