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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."
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
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...
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
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
On my bookshelf
Cisco's "Voice over IP Fundamentals"
O'Reilly's "Practical VOIP"
Alan B. Johnston's "SIP Understanding the Session Initiation Protocol"
Cisco's "Deploying Cisco Voice over IP Solutions"
Douskalis's "IP Telephony"