[lbo-talk] Wi-Fi as "Dog Turd" Capitalism

Westrich, James james.westrich at umassmed.edu
Fri Aug 1 07:06:15 PDT 2003


Karen Lowry writes about the wi-fi bubble:

http://www.msnbc.com/news/944632.asp?cp1=1

Andrew Orlowski (one of The Register's many good writers) comments:

"What the hard-headed but naïve V(enture) C(apitalism) has ignored is a simple fact: computers are expensive, and hard to use, and messy when you use them, and so you can't honestly ask a friend to part with money to use a Wi-Fi hot-spot no more than you can persuade them to step in a dog turd for a dollar. This market is too sophisticated to fall for such stunts. "

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/69/32116.html

I owned a Wi-Fi PDA (alas it was stolen recently while on the subway) and was surprised at how few free/easy hotspots there are. Most shocking was my trip to Seattle at the end of May (great town, but not much non Starbucks Wi-Fi--it was easier to find a good free/cheap wired cafe than wireless). I found Wi-Fi in airports to be nearly useless even in Boston, Seattle, and Chicago.

Jim

"John Henry said to his captain: 'You are nothing but a common man, Before that steam drill shall beat me down, I'll die with my hammer in my hand.'"

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