Ricochet Modems == Wireless LAN?

dpease writes: "Metricom, purveyor of Ricochet wireless networking, died today. I understand that, sans infrastructure, a Ricochet wireless modem can call another Ricochet modem, and that modem-to-modem range is nearly a mile. Is the hardware this company leaves behind a viable solution for a really cool, really cheap wireless LAN?"

Comments

A simple plan...

[Scoria]

So we all want an open and free network...

The next time a large network like this shuts down and auctions their network off (unfortunately, we can't do this with Ricochet because they've already registered the bidders), let's all pitch in and bid on it.

Sure, there are a lot of inherent problems in purchasing this. For example, who would maintain the hardware?

It's still a decent idea, and if we all pitch in a little, it just might happen...

Re:growing momentum of a collapsing economy

[GigsVT]

I'm not looking forward to my eventual lowering of salary due to there being more and more techies available

Ah, supply and demand. This is all natural and necessary of course though. We were in a period of rapid and unfounded growth in many areas, such as Metricom's attempt at building an infrastructure that not enough people really wanted or needed.

In all, to 95% of the people out there, the Internet is just a suppliment, like a glorified fax machine. Sure the potential is there, but the only killer app I have seen so far (from a business standpoint) is really email.

I think if metricom had started like most businesses, real business, and started small, in limited market(s), then reinvested those profits, and grown slowly, we might not be seeing them falling on their face right now. A lot of this venture capital feeding frenzy created this idea "if you build it, they will come", and that is rarely true.

So a message to all of the people out there that have to fend in this new-new economy, start small, work the bugs out, and don't try to do everything at once.