5 ms·

It's considered old-fashioned because in the olden days, you didn't really have a choice. Programs started on mainframe systems (client/server with a very dumb

by gamache 16y ago

It's considered old-fashioned because in the olden days, you didn't really have a choice. Programs started on mainframe systems (client/server with a very dumb client) then moved to PCs once they had enough horsepower. For most applications, a network architecture was just not feasible. About the same time the Web was spinning up, network bandwidth and computer performance both started to drop in price, giving software designers the option of retaining a portion of the processing on their end. While it does not replace the standalone desktop app, a "cloud" app affords many advantages which are too great to ignore. (Compare Google Maps to the Road Atlas CD-ROM.) You make a good point about "what happens when we're offline". We suddenly can't use those awesome cloud apps, but that's the nature of the game -- these apps do things which are just impossible for a standalone app to do. Networking is the price of admission. I hope we'll see a popularization (commercialization?) of mesh networking in the not-too-distant future. Pervasive mesh networking becomes more and more feasible as we have more and more wireless devices around us, and while it comes with its own set of unique technical constraints, it would go a long way to achieve a self-healing network at its outer edges.

count 16y ago
WIth 3G GSM and Wifi, there is hardly a time when a modern American would not be able to be 'online' but be able to use a phone/pad/laptop/whatever. The only time in recent memory I can recall NOT having on-demand, relatively high speed internet access (or cloud access if you will) is during takeoff/landing on a flight. I wasn't allowed to use my gear then ANYWAYS.
- obsaysditto 16y ago
  that's great and all but that's not everyone. Often, especially while skiing or taking road trips far away from a major city I can have horrible service if not none at all
- pyre 16y ago
  I'm sure you can look at a coverage map and see that 3G service does not cover 100% of the continental USA let alone the world. Just because you live in a city (or major metropolitan area) doesn't mean that it's the only way of living. It's like talking about how easy it is for Americans to get a variety of foreign foods nowadays because you happen to live in an area that has a diversity of people and food markets, while ignoring that there are places in America where those foods aren't in enough of a demand to make a speciality store feasible (or profitable enough for a major supermarket chain to carry them). [i.e. Just because you live in an apartment above an Indian food restaurant doesn't mean that it's just as easy for someone on the other side of town to get the same food from the same restaurant. -or- "It's sooo easy to get good organic food these days for all Americans, you just have to go to a Whole Foods! What? Whole Foods aren't in every city in America?"]
- Groxx 16y ago
  Some of us don't like paying for internet access twice to get it over our cell phones. Nor paying $100+/month for access that doesn't exist everywhere anyway. As to encountering lack of internet access (ignoring cell access, which I don't have), how about all the time while driving? Or 95+% of the time when stopped, and not near a free, unencrypted wifi location? If you want to use your computer to get directions, you could save them locally... or lose access to them the moment you lose internet access, and nuts to you if you're lost.
pyre 16y ago
> Networking is the price of admission. Obviously it is, but there are way too many people that seem to assume that networking is a given. I have an internet connection at home and at work, but I do not pay for 3G on my cellphone or just for my laptop. Where do I fit into the world where all our computing happens 'in the cloud?' Will I be forced to start shelling out money for 3G in addition to the other costs that I incur to access the internet already? What happens when my carrier has a dispute with me over billing and they cut my 'everywhere' wireless access? Am I now powerless to get any work done on a computer, until I patch things up with them? Should this be considered some sort of blackmail since they are threatening my ability to use my computer when they threaten to take my internet connection away from me?
- steveklabnik 16y ago
  I'm sorry in advance, this comment is worded poorly. I don't mean this as an insult. This line of reasoning sounds like "As the world moves to computerized bookkeeping, am I expected to take on the extra expense and burden of buying a computer so i can keep up?" In the 80s. Times change. Technology marches on. You can't always do the same thing forever.
  - pyre 16y ago
    I view it as an apples to oranges comparison, because you are comparing a fixed cost with a variable cost. Why should I pay $40-$50/month for home Internet and just to pay another $50/month for 3G Internet (which isn't even 'everywhere Internet' because it only covers certain areas; metropolitan areas better than rural obviously)? Keep in mind that these are monthly costs, not fixed costs. > Times change. Technology marches on. You can't always do the same thing forever. Things aren't always better just by virtue of being new.
    - jodrellblank 16y ago
      Why should you? Because you want the advantages that doing so brings. Why shouldn't you? Because you don't want the advantages that doing so brings. But it's expensive! So make the decision more carefully. But I want it to be cheaper! And?

by gamache 16y ago

count 16y ago

WIth 3G GSM and Wifi, there is hardly a time when a modern American would not be able to be 'online' but be able to use a phone/pad/laptop/whatever. The only time in recent memory I can recall NOT having on-demand, relatively high speed internet access (or cloud access if you will) is during takeoff/landing on a flight. I wasn't allowed to use my gear then ANYWAYS.

obsaysditto 16y ago
that's great and all but that's not everyone. Often, especially while skiing or taking road trips far away from a major city I can have horrible service if not none at all
pyre 16y ago
I'm sure you can look at a coverage map and see that 3G service does not cover 100% of the continental USA let alone the world. Just because you live in a city (or major metropolitan area) doesn't mean that it's the only way of living. It's like talking about how easy it is for Americans to get a variety of foreign foods nowadays because you happen to live in an area that has a diversity of people and food markets, while ignoring that there are places in America where those foods aren't in enough of a demand to make a speciality store feasible (or profitable enough for a major supermarket chain to carry them). [i.e. Just because you live in an apartment above an Indian food restaurant doesn't mean that it's just as easy for someone on the other side of town to get the same food from the same restaurant. -or- "It's sooo easy to get good organic food these days for all Americans, you just have to go to a Whole Foods! What? Whole Foods aren't in every city in America?"]
Groxx 16y ago
Some of us don't like paying for internet access twice to get it over our cell phones. Nor paying $100+/month for access that doesn't exist everywhere anyway. As to encountering lack of internet access (ignoring cell access, which I don't have), how about all the time while driving? Or 95+% of the time when stopped, and not near a free, unencrypted wifi location? If you want to use your computer to get directions, you could save them locally... or lose access to them the moment you lose internet access, and nuts to you if you're lost.

pyre 16y ago

> Networking is the price of admission. Obviously it is, but there are way too many people that seem to assume that networking is a given. I have an internet connection at home and at work, but I do not pay for 3G on my cellphone or just for my laptop. Where do I fit into the world where all our computing happens 'in the cloud?' Will I be forced to start shelling out money for 3G in addition to the other costs that I incur to access the internet already? What happens when my carrier has a dispute with me over billing and they cut my 'everywhere' wireless access? Am I now powerless to get any work done on a computer, until I patch things up with them? Should this be considered some sort of blackmail since they are threatening my ability to use my computer when they threaten to take my internet connection away from me?

steveklabnik 16y ago
I'm sorry in advance, this comment is worded poorly. I don't mean this as an insult. This line of reasoning sounds like "As the world moves to computerized bookkeeping, am I expected to take on the extra expense and burden of buying a computer so i can keep up?" In the 80s. Times change. Technology marches on. You can't always do the same thing forever.
- pyre 16y ago
  I view it as an apples to oranges comparison, because you are comparing a fixed cost with a variable cost. Why should I pay $40-$50/month for home Internet and just to pay another $50/month for 3G Internet (which isn't even 'everywhere Internet' because it only covers certain areas; metropolitan areas better than rural obviously)? Keep in mind that these are monthly costs, not fixed costs. > Times change. Technology marches on. You can't always do the same thing forever. Things aren't always better just by virtue of being new.
  - jodrellblank 16y ago
    Why should you? Because you want the advantages that doing so brings. Why shouldn't you? Because you don't want the advantages that doing so brings. But it's expensive! So make the decision more carefully. But I want it to be cheaper! And?