Fergie's Tech Blog

Three Cheers for the 'Sufficient' Internet

David Needle writes on internetnews.com:

The amazing power of the Internet as an information and communications source is trumpeted every day. But just talk to some of the guys who helped make the Internet what it is today, and the reviews aren't quite as glowing.

"Windows crashes, cell phone reception is horrible and the Internet drops packets left and right," said Ethernet inventor Bob Metcalfe. "And those are three of the technologies we rely on the most."

Metcalfe, who joined a panel of distinguished tech leaders here Thursday at an event at research institute SRI, said the Internet remains popular because it's "sufficient" in giving most people what they expect from it, and is certainly better than no Web at all.

"Reliability is expensive, and people won't pay," he said. In Metcalfe's view, the Internet is hamstrung by the ideology of its builders, who generally "treasure anonymity" and won't allow a system in which online identity can be readily verified.

posted by Fergie @ 9/28/2007 05:26:00 PM