Permanet vs. Nearlynet

Clay Shirky has a good essay on wireless networking, contrasting two approaches to building out a network, roughly akin to the cathedral and bazaar methods of building software.

Comments

the problem with wireless networking

[potaz]

quote: For most of the past year, on many US airlines, those phones inserted into the middle seat have borne a label reading "Service Disconnected." Those labels tell a simple story -- people don't like to make $40 phone calls.

Well, duh. Most people don't like to spend $40 on anything, let alone a phone call. I don't understand how businesses think that hey, if we're dealing with other business people, they'll want to throw money around like it was candy! Treat them like other people (ie: cheap) and you'll find you have more realistic expectations.

Not Cathedral/Bazaar!

[mcrbids]

This is not really at all like "Cathedral/Bazaar" but rather, " Worse is Better. (now updated)

The underlying idea is that the "right" way isn't always the best, but rather, that the "best" way is what is "good enough" for cheap.

This is the same force that makes Linux compete against *nix, and is also responsible for the rise of Microsoft against vastly superior technologies.