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Wi-Fi, Linux, And VoIP In Canada
WEFUNK writes "Canadian Business magazine has a cover story promoting Wi-Fi, VoIP, and Linux as 'Stuff that Works: 3 hot technologies that live up to their hype.' The article goes on to describe a number of Canadian success stories, ranging from Spotnik Mobile's growing network of Wi-Fi hotspots to the Canadian National Railway's use of Linux since 1993, and quantifies the benefits of VoIP to a Canadian insurance company's call centre. The article also includes some shipment numbers for Linux servers in Canada, mentions the growing number of Linux apps, and nicely downplays the SCO debacle."
What are you talking aboot?
What no "Try the back bacon, eh"
I know that intel's facilities use VoIP for thier internal phone calls. I heard they had problems with the clarity, and had to add noise creation mechanisms to the chips because people thought the other party had hung up due to beautiful silence. :)
So this is one of those "look into the crystal ball" articles. A quick look at the numbers show that Linux adoption is levelling off, as are all server OSs across the board (with Solaris and BSD (is dying!)) actually decreasing in market share).
So you've got two technologies that are succeeding here, WiFi and VoIP. And you've got one that's doing okay, Linux.
It's certainly not 1998 and Linux is the new hot thing. It is 2003 and it is the old OS with a good rep. It hasn't lived up to all of its hype (it still sucks as a desktop OS despite your mama's running of it at home), but it has nicely fit a niche in server software that was completely dominated by some big names like IBM and Sun previously. That's not too bad.
I have been pwned because my
I would have been kind of annoyed if this was modded as funny. (Well it was.) But it irks me even more that it was modded as redundant ;-)
VOIP is illegal to run on Linux because its made by Microsoft. And I thought that VOIP is slower than DSL so why not just use to mics's to connect the telephones or just use cell phones, eh?
... therefore I conclude that all 3 technologies are useless.
And Wi-Fi would not reach the distance from my house to the house across the street, so unless I want to call myself it is useless
I bet I'll be modded down for dissing Linux, as always...
Spend a lot of time playing le Tux Racèr?
Didn't you mean, "I would have been kind of annoyed if this was modded as funny, eh?"
Can anyone recommend some good books on it - more overview stuff?
I'm serious - I'd like to read something good on it. I understand the basics - voice sent over IP, but want to read about whatever other abilities it has that makes it so damn complex. It seems pretty simple to me.
I guess a lot of the complexity comes from tying it into the POTS, but in my simple mind, a headset on a PC and some H.323/T.120/whatever spec it is software would take care of it on the client end.
Though it seems a lot of the stuff seems to be special network gear to tie it into the current POTS headsets. To me, someone could make a killing by just making a server with a PRI connector or two and client software. Sell headsets for $20 and profit.
Or am I really oversimplifying it?
This plus allowing gay marriage makes it sound like a nice place. The average /. raving technolibertarian might be at home. But there's still the gun laws.
-Libertarian secular transhumanist
the growing number of Linux apps
17000 text editors
12000 terminals
95000 programming languages
12000 web browsers
1350 assorted web servers and databases
500 window managers
200 clones of breakout & tetris
100 doom3d clones
0 practical applications
Stuff that works 2003 July
Three technologies that will live up to their hype
The bursting of the high-tech bubble a couple years ago sullied the prospects for new technologies--in some cases, for good reason. After all, many so-called tech revolutions haven't even come close to living up to their hype. Selling doodads on the Web is not an inexpensive way to make billions, and the malls are still jammed with shoppers. A new Web services economy, in which customized mini-software programs are licensed and distributed over the Internet, hasn't emerged. And remember convergence? Some of the tech world's highest flyers blew their brains out on that idea.
And yet, despite the many disappointments to businesses and investors alike, it's a mistake for either group to think the high-tech meltdown whitewashed the economic impact of all technological innovation. It's just that business models don't change overnight. So although the volume on the hype machine is now a faint crackle, there are some technologies once labeled "disruptive" that are entrenching themselves, if only quietly, in corporations and society at large. And the opportunities remain significant.
Broadband wireless data communications is making instant access to information anytime, anywhere, a reality. The open source movement, which encourages the free exchange of software for the Linux operating system, is transforming corporate IT departments. And the venerable phone is now tapping directly into the Internet, nearly eliminating long-distance fees and threatening upheaval in the telecom industry.
You may not be aware of it, but these technologies are here, they're being used by Canadian companies--and they may yet live up to their billing.
Wi-fi
When Starbucks announced in January 2001 that most of its outlets would offer wireless broadband Internet access to their frappuccino-addicted customers, skeptics questioned its plan. Turns out Starbucks was ahead of its time: the chain now has thousands of wireless cafés across the US, and space on the Wi-Fi bandwagon has become scarce.
Wi-Fi--short for "wireless fidelity"--is the palatable brand name for a standardized (802.11b) wireless data signal that broadcasts 11 Mbps of bandwidth within a 100-metre radius. Put the transceiver inside a building, and the distance of that wireless local area network, or wireless LAN, is reduced by as much as two-thirds. But that's enough for most eateries, hotels and airports that want to give patrons a wireless Internet connection inside a so-called hotspot. All users need is a Wi-Fi modem card or a built-in Wi-Fi radio like Intel's new Centrino chip.
If you believed the hype about 802.11b three years ago, you're no doubt disappointed that our cities aren't yet awash in wireless broadband signals--but that future's not too far off. The buzz has been loudest in the US, where Cometa Networks, an ambitious venture backed by IBM, Intel and AT&T, has vowed to launch 20,000 hotspots across America by 2008. Both wireline and wireless telcos are making a big push this year: Verizon is converting some 1,000 New York City phone booths into Wi-Fi hubs--an idea it got from Bell Canada, which is wrapping up its own six-month trial of public Wi-Fi service (branded "AccessZones") in train stations and airports across the country.
Independent and regional wireless ISPs are coming out of the woodwork in both the US and Canada, partnering with any establishment that wants to provide a value-added service. One start-up, Spotnik Mobile, has 49 public hotspots in Ontario (mostly in Toronto, where the company is based) and plans to have 500 by year-end. Spotnik's business model--which drew a $6-million investment from Telus--has the company making deals with the hospitality, transportation, property management and food services industries to set up hotspots. "We see it as a marketing tool for customer acquisition," says Murray McCaig, who co-founded Spotnik with MBA school chum Mark Wolinsky in 2001. "We drive traffic t
We have this too (University of New Brunswick), but we have specific labs for different purposes. Like the Linux lab, the Java lab (Windows 2000 with emacs and Sun j2sdk), but the public labs are all Windows 2000. It pisses me off to go into one of the public labs and have to kill:
- Realplayer tray app
- AOL instant messenger
- Yahoo instant messenger
- ICQ instant messenger
- MSN instant messenger
- Quicktime tray applet
- whatever else the last user of that particular computer decided to install.
It's so much nicer having a home directory in Linux that not only stores personal documents, but personal desktop settings, etc. Another thing I can't do on the Windows 2000 machines is kill messenger.exe (need Administrator access) so every once and awhile SPAM pops up from this stupid network tool.
It's nice to log into the computer and get exactly the same desktop that I, myself customized while the next person to log in gets his/her own desktop.
If I could go to a coffee shop and work on my master's thesis, I would, but for that, I would need a laptop, which I don't have enough money to buy. The people most lured by online-coffee shops, I think are students. Most working people would rather stay at home after a hard day's work, or would prefer to stay away from a computer, while enjoying a quiet evening, at say...a coffee shop.
Ofcourse, I'm not against perpetual connectivity, which Wifi promises to offer, but you can't expect a majority of people to actually sit at a coffee shop just to finish their work (this leaves out some students).
We should (or will learn to) treat Wifi as an ever available commodity (like pay phones are) but not one which we expect people to use 24/7. That is simply asking for too much. Wifi will catch on when it's time comes.
An Indian-American Hindu committed to non-violent thought/speech/action alarmed by the global explosion of radical Islam
In my city (~50 000 residents) we have one of the largest call centres in north america. For those of you who don't know, its telemarketing.
:-)
At any one time, there are 500 people actively dialing on the floor, and all are using VoIP for their outgoing call. It's quite amazing the network set up they have, as the only problem they ever seem to have is people knocking out fibre lines via car crashed
It's too late in the day - i'm an idiot.
Canadians have known about Linux since its inception. When RMS laid the first lines of code down for the kernel, it was the Canadians at the U.of Montreal that were the first to pick up on the GNU code (it's a pun!)
GNU and RMS are singlehandedly waging the war against Microsoft and proprietary software in America, but Canada is doing it's part too in North America.
So in summary, your post was on-topic, but it was incorrect.
haha "100% American product"
ever wondered where Linus comes from ?
clue: it aint USA
better dig out that map yanker
Linux is about as American as Volkswagen is
Not to be an MS fanboy, but if your Win2K user accounts are set up properly, normal users wont be able to install applications that modify the registry or global startup menu.
Your setup is equivalent making all Linux users on a system a member of the root group
sigh
Now that we know the last five characters of the data segment of every wifi packet will be ", eh?", it should be even easier to get those keystreams...
====
Crudely Drawn Games
Your post is contentless.
A portion of the transmit audio is also mixed in to the receive audio. If you don't do this, people think the phone is broken. Analog phones do this by unbalancing the hybrid that separates transmit and receive audio.
Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
*sigh*...
Not quite, he can't kill messenger.exe ;-)
There are always ways to hack Windows. In most system I could get full access with some tricks, in my university I can surf Internet without ristriction in Win2K machines that allow you to only run their special browser that only surfs university's web sites. With Linux that might be possible but I haven't heard it.
Selling doodads on the Web is not an inexpensive way to make billions, and the malls are still jammed with shoppers.
You know when you've got a double negative way up in the article's lead paragraph, that what you're about to read is gonna be slop.
When Starbucks announced in January 2001 that most of its outlets would offer wireless broadband Internet access to their frappuccino-addicted customers, skeptics questioned its plan. Turns out Starbucks was ahead of its time: the chain now has thousands of wireless cafés across the US, and space on the Wi-Fi bandwagon has become scarce.
How exactly has space on the Wi-Fi bandwagon become scarce? And even though Starbucks has thousands of wireless cafes up and running, what kind of profits, or losses, are being made? We don't get any kind of analysis here, because the article just breathlessly jumps ahead and asks this question:
How much are people willing to pay? Can the many service providers work out access-sharing agreements with competitors so consumers don't have to shell out for multiple accounts?
Sorry, but that's the wrong question to ask. The question isn't how much people are willing to pay. The question is if they're willing to pay at all. I suspect that Wi-Fi will be the ultimate loss-leader for businesses who profit when their customers linger. Lose money on the Wi-Fi; gain it back by selling an extra $2.00 coffee. But again, the article doesn't even bring up this idea. Instead, we get:
These details should be sorted out in the next year or two, and consolidation is pretty much guaranteed. Once that happens, Wi-Fi will be even more widespread than a certain chain of cafés.
Sure, but will Wi-Fi still even be available at that certain chain of cafes? Will a large enough portion of paying customers keep Starbuck's network financially viable? See, for instance, the rather sobering third item published a couple months ago on this page.
I use a wireless network all the time. It's truly a useful and earth-shaking technology. Which makes it galling to see such a superficial analysis of its vast possibilities. There's no doubt that Wi-Fi will produce amazing changes in how we live and how we work, but the author of this article did a terrible job of backing up his suppositions.
I'm generally "Interesting," "Insightful," and even "Funny" here. What the hell happens to me at parties?
And, of course, I use Linux for all serious tasks on my home network. Gateway, router, DNS, email, desktop, printserver. I have a couple of Winboxen for lite gaming, but that's it. Still trying to get Linux in the door at work. I know Citrix runs on Unix, but does anyone know if it has a Linux port yet?
You are not the customer.
I believe you are totally insane
I work at an insurance company, with offices in the US, and VoIP has been in use for a while now. I won't profess to know too much about it other then the fact that it's there, but it does save a lot of money for the company. This could all just be hype created by my bosses, but they've been giving us a couple of perks lately. We don't get perks normally. Hey...if it get's us perks, then I love it!
LOL. Considering that there is 0.007 difference in the ranking between 1st and 8th place, this is hardly anything to be concerned about.
Can't do that on a W2K machine to which you don't have admin access, numbnuts.
Anyways, they're also building up a campus-wide wireless network for students and staff to use. This makes it so much easier to play online games during lectures :-)
I must say, Linux and WiFi have made my life easier and I hope it spreads even further.
Well, if the government is ever looking for this guy, all they have to do is look for the guy on the train with the linux laptop and the hard-on.
I'm not sure what else to say about the parent post. Immagine a hacker Gollum....
More than enough BS
lighten up, eh?
There are a ton of reasons to use wifi in a coffee shop, much less anywhere else. Perhaps you should learn to treat wifi as a powerful tool which people can use 24/7. It is not too much. Wifi has alrady caught on, and begs for others (like yourself) to get onboard.
This is my digital signature. 10011011001
Linux and WiFi make a great combination.
Here's a HOWTO (soon to be published at the Linux Documentation Project) about using Linux as a WiFi Access Point.
Oh no, other people happen to like using programs you don't like!
It's a PUBLIC computer. If you want a pristine environment, bring a laptop.
It's like if you don't like using public washrooms: hold it in till you get home.
Does it make you happy you're so strange?
It's toque. Put that in yer poutine and smoke it, bub ((8^(|)
As far as quality of life, you need to decide what's most important for you, not what the UN tells you...if you prefer USA or Sweden or Norway or whatever, that's up to you.
For a bit more information on the UN rankings, try this article, from a little more reliable source.
It's true - Canada fell from near the top spot to 8th based on some dubious numbers about school enrollment, which may still get revised.
((8^(|)
Hooohmer!
FRANCOIS: Hey Jerome! .... ey f-f-f-rancois... ...it'sss ok what's up?
JEROME:
FRANCOIS: This crap is lagging, eh!
JEROME:
FRANCOIS: It's aboot the SARS! The SARS is coming, eh!
JEROME: not our big...st problem.....eline returning from L...s..egas... run away...
FRANCOIS: Oh shit, eh! I'm oot of here!
Heh, this article is somewhat apropos for me. I just returned from Montreal, where I stayed for ten days in a condo. I brought my laptop and wireless card with me, thinking I might go to a hotspot and check my mail.
As it turns out, I had access to wireless right in the condo. It wasn't exactly a very strong signal, but it was good enough to surf and check my e-mail.
I noticed that the poor bastard that was running it happened to have the same wireless AP (an SMC Barricade) that I have. On a hunch, I checked the web server it runs, and he hadn't even set a password!
Had I known where it was coming from, I would have told them about it. As it was, my French sucks, and I didn't feel like knocking on a bunch of doors trying to explain wireless security. At any rate, they hadn't set up their timezone properly, so I did that for them....
It's not a public computer, it's a university computer. At least at my university and other universities I know of there are usage restrictions: for study purposes only. And you are not allowed to install tools like you want, you could also be excluded from university when you get caught.
If you think you really need a tool for your student work then you have to go to the computer center, ask for it and let them install it. You are only allowed to install software in your home directory which does not need any modifications of the windows registry and fits into your small home directory (<= 40 - 100 MB usually. Enough for data and coding).
If the workstations (NT, 2000) are adminstrated properly, you are not even able to install software - as somebody mentioned before.
But the real point is: Even if it is considered to be a public computer, you expect it to be clean and usable. This is more of an attitude problem regarding public stuff and public places people seem to have. If people are able to install these tools then they should uninstall it when they leave the computer. It's like taking your empty bottles with you when you go for a picknick - which a lot of people just leave there.
That's a first! (I know, I must be new around here.)
Well, you could always bring a Knoppix CD to the lab and keep your home directory and personal settings on a USB Keychain type device. Instant personalized Linux workstation wherever you go. Of course, your university may not allow this, but what they don't know . . .
When you lose something irreplaceable, you don't mourn for the thing you lost, you mourn for yourself. - Harpo Marx
good, show everyone how you ignorantly bypassed the hacker ethic and caused the kind of havoc that gives hackers a bad name. That is a really sad tale.
Having recently gotten electricity up here, VoIP is a very nice touch indeed! Now we can communicate between igloos much more easily.
Life is good.
What are you talking about? Those X terminals in the math building suck, a lot. I just stay home and use my linux box rather than dealing with the twm, Netscape 4.7, xterm nightmare they have going on down there. Just because it's unix doesn't mean it has to have an insanely annoying interface.
I guess I'll have to bite the bullet and figure out how to get WindowMaker to run on those things one day.
xhosting isn't that great either compared to VNC. Those machines run about as smooth as oatmeal.
Don't get me wrong, I agree...I do the same, I stay home and work in Linux. Hence, Linux has makes my life easier :-)
I've run into several issues lately with them not having installed things properly...IST isn't all it's cracked up to be, but it's FAR better than the Nexus or *gasp* old Polaris system they got everywhere else on campus.
Just wait and see what that high Canadian dollar, inflation, SARS and BSE will do to the Canadian economy. I've lived in both places (US and Canada) and I can assure you that quality of life can be as high in the US as in Canada, if not higher. Plus, there is an imbalance in the Purchasing Power Parity which basically makes Canadian goods much more expensive than their US counterparts right now.
ever seen a michael moore documentary? 'nuff said.
Newsie, Moderator, www.tauniverse.com
Three words: Big fat deal. Maybe even a hairy one. Instead, combine cheap Linux-based routers (you could of course use just about any open source operating system.) Do mesh network routing. I don't know how to do that part but I'm sure some people have some ideas.
This would be the equivalent of Al Gore's Information Superhighway being replaced by homebuilt skycars running on biodiesel. Land links will always have their place but if we can come up with ways to route traffic around through multiple links simultaneously (possibly with some redundancy in the longer trips) then I think the wireless mesh network with few links to the current network can still be fast. There is of course always room for being able to pay to use some kind of high speed link, I would certainly be planning to have some kind of flexible access control. And you can have any kind of backup network you like, of course.
Anyway I also need not belabor the point that this is a way to get VoIP. Provided you have some reasonably reliable links near you (people on UPSes connected to DSL would be excellent, or commercial sites with faster connections and ups + generator, etc) you can be fairly certain that as long as you provide power to your equipment, you can get access. People in remote locations can do point to point links over distances as great as two miles and still get over a megabit of bandwidth in each direction.
Imagine using waste on a network like that. It's a litlte bit like heaven, isn't it? When are we getting a fup on waste?
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
I've rarely seen it where I was in the US. I've lived in California and rarely did I feel unsafe. Most of the time that type of crime is pretty well delineated into good areas and bad areas, and mostly from folks who are involved in illegal activities (e.g. drive into East Palo Alto at night...not smart...). In fact, back in Edmonton, Alberta, there is a lot of gang violence and a lot more home invasions than I ever remembered in the Bay Area.
As far as Michael Moore goes, I think some folks need a bit of a reality check.
"Imagine using waste on a network like that. It's a litlte bit like heaven, isn't it? When are we getting a fup on waste?"
Hehe. Always notice how geeks want to use your equipment, and connection? Instead of the technical aspect of mesh networks. Why not address the people part of it? Why should they be alturistic towards a complete stranger with unknown intentions?[1] Especially when they will be the ones who take the fall for any mischief that happens on their network. There's a reason people rarely pick up hitchikers anymore.
[1] And I haven't even gotten into the resource abuse angle. Let's see how much we can push this T1?
VoIP and WiFi make a great combination, too. They, together with 3G, make near ubiquitous communication?
This is more of an attitude problem regarding public stuff and public places people seem to have. If people are able to install these tools then they should uninstall it when they leave the computer. It's like taking your empty bottles with you when you go for a picknick - which a lot of people just leave there.
Damn thats a good one! Half the people who install the crap on there probably don't even know HOW to uninstall it when they are done. This is why it all goes back to not allowing people the access to even install it in the first place. If it is a public computer then it should have restrictions setup on it.
p.s. and when I say public I mean NOT private.
The telecoms seem to be more conservative on the VoIP and Wi-Fi. The telecom guys think in different way from Internet people. I worry the traditional telecoms may obstruct the development of Internet telecommunction.
A very interesting read, since I'm researching the possibilities of WiFi (802.11g). Because a friend of mine wants to use WiFi to supply his village in Hungary with Internet access.
Once we have a working plan, we can reimplement this truout his country. And maybe even implement it to supply Internet access to hard to reach areas in my country (Holland).
Success stories like these only help us with the exceptance of our idea, and possibly even help to get (more) investors/sponsors.
At least the Canadian version doesn't cause confusion as to the true destination of a packet by adding 'y'all' ;-)
Sending server: 'This data here is for y'all'
Receiving server: 'What do you mean y'all? There's just one of me'
Sending Server: 'That's what I said, it's for y'all'
Receiving Server: 'Ah, an American server *puts on stereotypical Canadian accent* Okee bye. Send what you got there bye eh?
So when do we get voip over ipv6 over wifi under linux?
Sending server: 'This data here is for y'all'
Receiving server: 'What do you mean y'all? There's just one of me'
"Y'all" is singular.
"All y'all" is plural.
Look it up.
Where would I do that? In 'The Bastardization of the English Language Dictionary'?
VoIP technically would mean that some segment of the path between the two end points traverses on IP or maybe some form of packet or data networks. (say ATM frame). There are what are called Next generation end points like SIP phones that use IP network (or data networks) throughout. There is no traditional class 5 anywhere in a voice call between two SIP phones. Then there is what is called tandem replacements where the class 4 switches are being switched with what is called a softswitch and a media gateway that converts cicuit voice to packet till the class 5 at the other end. In this case the last mile is still the same. So the investment in the class 5 is safe and VoIP solutions dont have to contend with the five to six 9 reliability the the class 5 switches provide today. Then there are solutions like VoB (or voice over broadband) that uses VoDSL technology. Now here again the calls would by pass the 5E in the sense that it goes with packet traffic that passes through a DSLAM (DSL access multiplexer). All these options are at various stages of trial and adoption and none of them is a success. Now what does all this mean? It means that when somebody says VoIP is a success, it is understood differently by different people as VoIP as a business is still not defined in a standard way. If somebody says that carrying voice on data networks in part or in full is successful I would say it is premature to make this statement. Even today more than 99 % of voice data passes through pure voice/ss7 controlled networks (though SS7 is a packet network). So what can be said is that VoP (Voice over packet) holds promise which has been said before and with that I agree. my 2 paise. shak
(Just wanted you to know that some of us do agree) :)
You probably also think that if something doesn't have a price tag on it, it's free for the taking.
Just because something's not marked PRIVATE doesn't mean it's available for everyone to use as they please.
At Acadia Univerisity, everyone gets a laptop.
If you request it, you can get a Linux/WinXP
dual boot machine. There are network drops
all over the place.
sure he can. Rename it and change permissions on the folder for no access to anyone
Hey what ever happened to the billion dollar donation (worth of Windoze) from Gates? Perhaps that's why the Eng department uses Win2k?
When you refer to a "Texan" accent (there are many) do you mean like GWB or Dr. Phil, or something else?
My other car is a 1984 Nark Avenger.
Well, no, they were using that before. The money from M$ only funded research for a math formula recongnizer for the Tablet PC, and it created a course in C#...VERY controversial, but most of the engineers could care less, it's only us CSers that really cared about it, and it doesn't affect us. The day the Math faculty (or School of Computer Science) sells out to M$ is the day the entire University will be in revolt.
Just don't think of it as a double negative. You can do that by thinking of "inexpensive" as synonymous with "cheap" as you suggest. Is that really so hard to understand?
And as for the article's content, they didn't give actual figures where it wasn't necessary. Figure that one out. It's not that hard.