Sprint's CEO mentioned a few highspeed trials already, along with FiOS so I assume we are talking comprable speeds. Listen to the testimony to get an insight into their plans I'd say. They are really looking at it from a perspective that they should offer what makes the most economic sense on an individual basis. Wireless in sparse areas, mixed networks in high density areas and fiber in the suburbs (for example).
Very interesting. Thanks!
I'd like to see how Seattle Wireless and other minimialist groups fare in the next few years. WiMax, using partially unlicenced spectrum, could push much of the business out of the current cell and land-line based servers.
After all, if WiMax eventually is only a few thousand per installation, it wouldn't take too many subscribers to pay for it...theoretically, network services ('cell', wired phone, video phone, internet,...) could drop to the price and popularity of ice in Anchorage.
If it didn't work for Sprint, what'd they do wrong? Why will the next company to try the same thing work?
Good points.
First, distance: A single WiMax router won't be practical since a 30 mile broadcast range can easily cover too many users. Instead, overlap them and route from there. Your distance from 1 router will be substantially below 30 miles.
Then maybe you can answer the question I have beeing trying to get answered (and no one knows). Will getting FiOS via another ISP mean the other ISP is just re-selling Verizon IP layer service (e.g. I get a Verizon IP address) or will this literally go through the other ISP network and I get the other ISP's IP address (or multiple addresses as the case may be)?
If it's like DSL, you'd get an IP from the ISP not Verizon. As the ISP likely rents the line and has colocated equipment at a CO, I don't see this all the sudden changing.
Follow this through with me...tell me what you think. Point by point; refute or agree with individual points as you see fit.
People will go for good enough over better for convienience and/or price reasons.
Fiber to the premises is an attempt at better...yet...
The bells are institutions.
Institutions are lothe to change and will fight it tooth and nail; institutions, once established, are primarily interested in perpetuating themselves.
Current bell company DSL offerings fit this pattern;
They really aren't trying to canabalize what they offer businesses (excessively expensive T1 lines with QOS while much cheaper lines with poor QOS...running over much of the same hardware).
The bells also fight sharing the line with anyone, and do not offer even 1/2 of the same speed connection when DSL is provisioned by some other group.
Look at #12 above: With WiMax (802.16a) hubs scattered around, why bother with a wired (or fiber) distribution system for anything?
Tie that in with cheap VOIP "cell" phones...and there will be panic in both the cell and POTS providers.
T1 was fine for many corporations 10 years ago. Many still use T1 lines...while wireless hubs are sprouting up either formally or informally. Driving around right now, it's trivial to get a wireless connection in many areas.
Say you are a co-operative group like Seattle Wireless, and you get some WiMax (or other equipment), why not just disconnect mostly or entirely from POTS and go peer to peer? Maybe you'll be able to offer the service for $10/month...after all, they are doing it now at lower speeds.
If you were a bell executive, what would you do? What would you do to keep your stock from tanking when WiMax (or any other tech) eats your customer base?
The missing piece for me would be the ability to use a standard telephone, with an ATA (eg like the SPA-2000) with their service. I have no interest in using a PC soundcard (however hi-fi it may be) as a telephone.
Do you want something like this? It's cheap, provides a standard RJ-11 phone jack, and supposedly is compatable with just about any VOIP service out there. I haven't heard any complaints about it.
The only gotcha is that it *does* use the sound jacks to do the conversion to/from RJ-11 plus a USB port for power only (no data). The result is that you can use any standard phone and do not have to use an analog headset or buy a much more expensive ethernet-to-RJ-11 converter.
Look at the Linux phones out there. None of the phone manufacturing companies supplying the OS on those things have released ANY code for those phones.
1. Has anyone asked for the source? Were they refused?
To be more specific;
2. Have people who
own one of the phones or had one of these phones distributed to them asked for the source? Were they refused?
Read the GPL (and any other licence that applies). The source code offer is based on distribution for most of these licences...though the details do indeed differ.
I read it more like apathy as opposed to making a point about PPC or x86 let alone Apple, Dell, or HP.
Hardware doesn't matter. That's the only important point. Hardware provides the ability to run software. That's it. Speed, capacity, and reliability are features. With Linux, compatability is no longer a big deal. While apple makes some very nice systems (I put them in the top tier), they are not the only ones making nice systems.
Landlines, as you point out, are not irrelevant _now_. But their the trend is definately moving in that direction.
Just like traditional cell phones are moving toward extinction. Seriously. If you have an IP phone and an open connection, why bother with paying monthly fees?
The only other thing that needs to be dropped is the concept of a 'phone number' that you have to rent from a telcom company so people can find you. DNS routes, so why not use that? IP:spoing.jones@myserver.home.voip
Unfortunately, it will take 10-20 years; 10 for practical tech to catch up and to be widely used, +10 more for bad habits to be dropped.
If a standard, everyday IT geek can read your submission without clicking on any links and be able to understand what's in store within those links, you've done a good job.
Agreed.
This particular submission is not an example of this.
This is the main innovation of version 2.0 of OpenOffice.org. Everything else is flavor.
The OpenDocument formats are the rough equivelent of HTML for documentation and covers;
Text Documents
Drawing Documents
Presentation Documents
Spreadsheet Documents
Chart Documents
Image Documents
Each document format is XML compressed in a zip file. Simple. Elegent. Easy to recover data from or to export/import/write using external tools of your choice. No propriatory libraries are required.
This means that no matter what happens to OpenOffice.org itself, you can always get your data. You can even switch to any application that also supports OpenDocument formats.
My two favorite podcasts are music shows and they don't sound like talk radio at all. I highly recommend Coverville and The Sounds In My Head. Both are very well produced and showcase fantastic music with very little talk between songs.
Agreed. For a while I listened to the 250 Million radio show -- http://www.acmenoise.com/temp/250millionradio.xml -- though it seems to have slowed down or has been cancled (or maybe I'm impatient).
If you dig through everything I wrote, there are quite a few other errors and/or overstated points.
After seeing how people here don't seem to 'get it' as far as audio blogs / podcasts, I didn't want to focus on all the details.
To add to that, (and re-using a previous post of mine);
1. Blog/show format vs. radio. While podcasting is referred to as a type of radio...it's not. It's an audio blog. If you don't like blogs, and could care less about talk radio or public radio, podcasting is a waste of time for you. NPR btw has a few podcasts. I suggest listening to IT Conversations as well...even has non-IT specific content that I haven't heard elsewhere.
2. You can take podcasts with you. That's the design. OK, you can also take shoutcasts with you though it's not as easy. Shoutcasting is designed for streaming and you can't stream if you're not connected to the source. The associated tags tend to make more sense with OPML/XML and embedded in the audio files themselves.
3. Podcasting is like a magazine or newspaper subscription. You pick what you want and it comes to you.
4. Podcasts can be fetched at odd hours of the day. While I have cable internet, I don't like to bog the connection down while playing Savage...so I schedule Bashpodder to fetch the podcasts before I wake up in the morning.
5. Podcasts do not require a high speed link. Got a modem and 'unlimited internet', fetch podcasts when you aren't there or late at night.
6. Podcasting is not limited to audio. Any data can be embedded in the RSS feed including video. I subscribe to Rocketboom this way.
While focusing on open source and Red Hat's take on it, the main concepts can be used so many places -- OSS or not. Watch it a couple times to really have it sink in; it's deceptively simple though the 'common wisdom' is to discard these ideas when 'reality' shows up (aka resistant managers who have gotten used to the status quo.).
Can anyone recommend some good podcasts? Are there any big popular podcasters that many people like?
The group I listen to needs to be purged (getting borred of a couple podcasts). IT Conversations has the best content, though The Peanut Gallery looks promising for short thoughtful stories. Openpodcast quite a bit -- both the worst and best.
For what it's worth, here's my complete current list (/. mangles it a bit);
There is all this hype about podcasting but nothing about shoutcasting or other forms of internet radio -- which have been aroudn longer and have more than quite a bit of a userbase...
The two are different enough that -- for traveling and other uses -- Podcasts tend to be more practical.
1. Blog/show format vs. radio. While podcasting is referred to as a type of radio...it's not. It's an audio blog. If you don't like blogs, and could care less about talk radio or public radio, podcasting is a waste of time for you. NPR btw has a few podcasts. I suggest listening to IT Conversations as well...even has non-IT specific content that I haven't heard elsewhere.
2. You can take podcasts with you. That's the design. OK, you can also take shoutcasts with you though it's not as easy. Shoutcasting is designed for streaming and you can't stream if you're not connected to the source. The associated tags tend to make more sense with OPML/XML and embedded in the audio files themselves.
3. Podcasting is like a magazine or newspaper subscription. You pick what you want and it comes to you.
4. Podcasts can be fetched at odd hours of the day. While I have cable internet, I don't like to bog the connection down while playing Savage...so I schedule Bashpodder to fetch the podcasts before I wake up in the morning.
5. Podcasts do not require a high speed link. Got a modem and 'unlimited internet', fetch podcasts when you aren't there or late at night.
6. Podcasting is not limited to audio. Any data can be embedded in the RSS feed including video. I subscribe to Rocketboom this way.
Too Much Google? When I googled google on the state of the google in google, I found that google is googling googlers about the emergence of google as a new paradigm in google's google of googles. This googles google on the google of google, by google. for google, with googles googling googles googled.
I'd like to see the vendors PICK ONE PROTOCOL/FORMAT and USE IT. So far, iCal has the best coverage, though it's not universal and can have problems between implementations.
(Current problem: Syncing calendars in Lotus Notes and Niku Clarity or Openworkbench. An iCal extention is available for Notes ($900 for 75 licences), but AFAICT none for Clarity or Openworkbench.)
The article is yet another clear piece of filler that pretends to build antagonism between two important figures of the kernel project. How does this stuff keep getting accepted by Slashdot?
My first clue was looking at the source of the story -- Ziff-Davis. Nothing to see here folks.
Slashdot Mirror
Thanks...if only I had one!
Very interesting. Thanks!
I'd like to see how Seattle Wireless and other minimialist groups fare in the next few years. WiMax, using partially unlicenced spectrum, could push much of the business out of the current cell and land-line based servers.
After all, if WiMax eventually is only a few thousand per installation, it wouldn't take too many subscribers to pay for it...theoretically, network services ('cell', wired phone, video phone, internet, ...) could drop to the price and popularity of ice in Anchorage.
Good points.
First, distance: A single WiMax router won't be practical since a 30 mile broadcast range can easily cover too many users. Instead, overlap them and route from there. Your distance from 1 router will be substantially below 30 miles.
Second: Latency. A quick search shows that Intel is interested in 802.16a. Intel says in a foot note on the linked page: "6 Latency may be unacceptable for real-time IP services such as VoIP during handovers but acceptable for TCP and VPN services as well as store-and-forward multimedia services." They do specifically mention issues with VOIP and games and that these are addressed. Other sources say similar things about latency.
Try this link! It's never failed me! Slashdot THAT! HA-HA!
What's the curve on that line? Curious. (I don't know for that version of Windows.)
If it's like DSL, you'd get an IP from the ISP not Verizon. As the ISP likely rents the line and has colocated equipment at a CO, I don't see this all the sudden changing.
I don't believe it. The numbers you quote don't pass the sniff test.
Wireless connections;
CO/WAN connections;
T1 was fine for many corporations 10 years ago. Many still use T1 lines...while wireless hubs are sprouting up either formally or informally. Driving around right now, it's trivial to get a wireless connection in many areas.
Say you are a co-operative group like Seattle Wireless, and you get some WiMax (or other equipment), why not just disconnect mostly or entirely from POTS and go peer to peer? Maybe you'll be able to offer the service for $10/month...after all, they are doing it now at lower speeds.
If you were a bell executive, what would you do? What would you do to keep your stock from tanking when WiMax (or any other tech) eats your customer base?
Do you want something like this? It's cheap, provides a standard RJ-11 phone jack, and supposedly is compatable with just about any VOIP service out there. I haven't heard any complaints about it.
The only gotcha is that it *does* use the sound jacks to do the conversion to/from RJ-11 plus a USB port for power only (no data). The result is that you can use any standard phone and do not have to use an analog headset or buy a much more expensive ethernet-to-RJ-11 converter.
To be more specific;
Read the GPL (and any other licence that applies). The source code offer is based on distribution for most of these licences...though the details do indeed differ.
Thank you. I'll be here all week....
I read it more like apathy as opposed to making a point about PPC or x86 let alone Apple, Dell, or HP.
Hardware doesn't matter. That's the only important point. Hardware provides the ability to run software. That's it. Speed, capacity, and reliability are features. With Linux, compatability is no longer a big deal. While apple makes some very nice systems (I put them in the top tier), they are not the only ones making nice systems.
Just like traditional cell phones are moving toward extinction. Seriously. If you have an IP phone and an open connection, why bother with paying monthly fees?
The only other thing that needs to be dropped is the concept of a 'phone number' that you have to rent from a telcom company so people can find you. DNS routes, so why not use that? IP:spoing.jones@myserver.home.voip
Unfortunately, it will take 10-20 years; 10 for practical tech to catch up and to be widely used, +10 more for bad habits to be dropped.
Agreed.
Yes it is. For the sake of Captain Crunch, it's a PBX! Go learn something if you consider yourself a geek or hacker!
Google is your friend; asterisk pbx scale lines.
Yeah, I'm with you. I don't see what makes his reply funny...or accurate.
This is the main innovation of version 2.0 of OpenOffice.org. Everything else is flavor.
The OpenDocument formats are the rough equivelent of HTML for documentation and covers;
Each document format is XML compressed in a zip file. Simple. Elegent. Easy to recover data from or to export/import/write using external tools of your choice. No propriatory libraries are required.
This means that no matter what happens to OpenOffice.org itself, you can always get your data. You can even switch to any application that also supports OpenDocument formats.
Agreed. For a while I listened to the 250 Million radio show -- http://www.acmenoise.com/temp/250millionradio.xml -- though it seems to have slowed down or has been cancled (or maybe I'm impatient).
If you dig through everything I wrote, there are quite a few other errors and/or overstated points.
After seeing how people here don't seem to 'get it' as far as audio blogs / podcasts, I didn't want to focus on all the details.
Ah, Wikipedia to the rescue!
To add to that, (and re-using a previous post of mine);
1. Blog/show format vs. radio. While podcasting is referred to as a type of radio...it's not. It's an audio blog. If you don't like blogs, and could care less about talk radio or public radio, podcasting is a waste of time for you. NPR btw has a few podcasts. I suggest listening to IT Conversations as well...even has non-IT specific content that I haven't heard elsewhere.
2. You can take podcasts with you. That's the design. OK, you can also take shoutcasts with you though it's not as easy. Shoutcasting is designed for streaming and you can't stream if you're not connected to the source. The associated tags tend to make more sense with OPML/XML and embedded in the audio files themselves.
3. Podcasting is like a magazine or newspaper subscription. You pick what you want and it comes to you.
4. Podcasts can be fetched at odd hours of the day. While I have cable internet, I don't like to bog the connection down while playing Savage...so I schedule Bashpodder to fetch the podcasts before I wake up in the morning.
5. Podcasts do not require a high speed link. Got a modem and 'unlimited internet', fetch podcasts when you aren't there or late at night.
6. Podcasting is not limited to audio. Any data can be embedded in the RSS feed including video. I subscribe to Rocketboom this way.
While focusing on open source and Red Hat's take on it, the main concepts can be used so many places -- OSS or not. Watch it a couple times to really have it sink in; it's deceptively simple though the 'common wisdom' is to discard these ideas when 'reality' shows up (aka resistant managers who have gotten used to the status quo.).
The group I listen to needs to be purged (getting borred of a couple podcasts). IT Conversations has the best content, though The Peanut Gallery looks promising for short thoughtful stories. Openpodcast quite a bit -- both the worst and best.
For what it's worth, here's my complete current list (/. mangles it a bit);
The two are different enough that -- for traveling and other uses -- Podcasts tend to be more practical.
1. Blog/show format vs. radio. While podcasting is referred to as a type of radio...it's not. It's an audio blog. If you don't like blogs, and could care less about talk radio or public radio, podcasting is a waste of time for you. NPR btw has a few podcasts. I suggest listening to IT Conversations as well...even has non-IT specific content that I haven't heard elsewhere.
2. You can take podcasts with you. That's the design. OK, you can also take shoutcasts with you though it's not as easy. Shoutcasting is designed for streaming and you can't stream if you're not connected to the source. The associated tags tend to make more sense with OPML/XML and embedded in the audio files themselves.
3. Podcasting is like a magazine or newspaper subscription. You pick what you want and it comes to you.
4. Podcasts can be fetched at odd hours of the day. While I have cable internet, I don't like to bog the connection down while playing Savage...so I schedule Bashpodder to fetch the podcasts before I wake up in the morning.
5. Podcasts do not require a high speed link. Got a modem and 'unlimited internet', fetch podcasts when you aren't there or late at night.
6. Podcasting is not limited to audio. Any data can be embedded in the RSS feed including video. I subscribe to Rocketboom this way.
Say smurf and I'll smack you.
(Current problem: Syncing calendars in Lotus Notes and Niku Clarity or Openworkbench. An iCal extention is available for Notes ($900 for 75 licences), but AFAICT none for Clarity or Openworkbench.)
My first clue was looking at the source of the story -- Ziff-Davis. Nothing to see here folks.