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."

Comments

Wifi and why it hasn't caught on

[GillBates0]

The basic reason why Wifi, inspite of promotion by widespread chains like Starbucks hasn't caught on is that people (or most of them anyway) look at traveling or spending time at coffee shops as a way of getting away from work.

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.

Re:Cool

[Anonymous Coward]

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

Re:*will* live up to the hype

[sixdotoh]

It's certainly not 1998 and Linux is the new hot thing.

I can't argue with statistics that show that Linux adoption is leveling off (I'm trusting you on that one). However, while Linux may not be the "new hot thing" for the IT world and geeks everywhere, I think that Linux is a new and interesting product/alternative in the general public and business' eyes. It has only been in recent months and year that Linux has captured many headlines in mainstream newspapers and magazines. I mean, really, show me a nontechnical article in a major newspaper that does not provide some sort of description/explanation of what Linux is.

truly awful analysis of Wi-Fi

[Schlemphfer]

I stopped reading after the Wi-Fi analysis because this was superficial, poorly written crud. Italicized stuff is from the article.

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.