3 ms·

Then they should have at least tried to read/interview a couple of experts.

by smcin 2y ago

alephnerd 2y ago
The Economist does. I've been in convos with their writers a couple times. Usually for an article like this they'll chat with 10-15 people. For more expansive articles usually 40-50 dedicated conversations. Why are HNers so overly dismissive about non-SWEs (even though plenty were former SWEs), especially the types who tend to give unsubstantiated comments.
- smcin 2y ago
  They didn't cite any sources and it's a short article that doesn't answer its own question that it poses ("Why isn't this getting fixed?") I don't buy that it's about costs. Look how radically and how quickly the world financial system was changed in response to 9/11. > Why are HNers so overly dismissive about non-SWEs I don't even understand what that comment is supposed to mean, is it directed at me, or who? I was not dismissive and I never said they must only cite SWEs. Don't put words in my mouth please. I merely said experts. If you assumed that meant "SWEs", that's your incorrect assumption. Ask questions instead of making assumptions.
  - alephnerd 2y ago
    > They didn't cite any sources They are a news source, not a published journal. The NYT does not publish sources or citations either. Also, I absolutely would NOT want to be cited when I chat with journalists from a competitive standpoint (I've given a signal to my portfolio's competitors who I'm targeting), conflict of interest standpoint (the owner of the publication I'm talking to might have a financial interest in a competitor or my products), and a journalistic standpoint (anonymity of sources allows us to speak honestly). > it's a short article that doesn't answer its own question that it poses ("Why isn't this getting fixed?") It literally did - "Few want to make it harder or costlier for data to flow from their network into others." Margins are low in the telecom industry (11.4%) [0] versus Software's 80-90% margins due to the massive capital expenditures needed to build out a 5G backbone and deprecate older 2/3G infrastructure. Adding traffic filtering (basically a SSE style Deep Packet Inspection functionality) is legitimately expensive because building this functionality in house is a multi-million venture which is difficult to justify with such low margins, and the vendors like ZScaler, Fortinet, Cato, Cisco, etc in this space all know they can arm-twist telcos while keep the price below that to build in-house. > is it directed at me, or who Yes, but a lot of other HN commenters like you. I used to be a SWE as well before I went into product/sales and later finance, and I hate it how a subset of SWEs like you assume us "non-techies" don't know jack. Journalism is built on top of sources and experts who want to remain anonymous. Trust it or don't. And writers at The Economist absolutely do interact with experts in the fields they write articles about. A lot of us just don't want to be named for the reasons I mentioned above. [0] - https://www.mtn-c.com/product/telcos-pay-5g-price-higher-debt-lower-margins-in-2022/ https://www.mtn-c.com/product/telcos-pay-5g-price-higher-deb...
numpad0 2y ago
I'm sure they did judging by mentions of SS7 and Diameter. The phone system has became way too distributed to be done in an article.
- alephnerd 2y ago
  Yep. SS7, Diameter, and the whole telco stack has really become the cyberphysical equivalent of tech debt. Everyone knows that and wants to migrate towards a virtualized stack, and has been in the process of doing this for at least 15 years now, but you are faced with some very hard accounting questions around how to eat the financial cost of deprecating legacy (physical) infrastructure without incurring a massive financial penalty. It's a hard problem, and countries like SK, China, and India weren't hit by it because they are greenfield deployments. It's similar to how Germany and Finland lags in fiber because they went gung-ho very early in copper broadband back in the 90s. It's a ridiculously complex system. (And that complex system is increasingly being replaced by equally complex K8s, but it makes sense given the dynamic scaling that comes with telecom)

Then they should have at least tried to read/interview a couple of experts.

by smcin 2y ago

Then they should have at least tried to read/interview a couple of experts.

The Economist does. I've been in convos with their writers a couple times. Usually for an article like this they'll chat with 10-15 people. For more expansive articles usually 40-50 dedicated conversations. Why are HNers so overly dismissive about non-SWEs (even though plenty were former SWEs), especially the types who tend to give unsubstantiated comments.

smcin 2y ago
They didn't cite any sources and it's a short article that doesn't answer its own question that it poses ("Why isn't this getting fixed?") I don't buy that it's about costs. Look how radically and how quickly the world financial system was changed in response to 9/11. > Why are HNers so overly dismissive about non-SWEs I don't even understand what that comment is supposed to mean, is it directed at me, or who? I was not dismissive and I never said they must only cite SWEs. Don't put words in my mouth please. I merely said experts. If you assumed that meant "SWEs", that's your incorrect assumption. Ask questions instead of making assumptions.
- alephnerd 2y ago
  > They didn't cite any sources They are a news source, not a published journal. The NYT does not publish sources or citations either. Also, I absolutely would NOT want to be cited when I chat with journalists from a competitive standpoint (I've given a signal to my portfolio's competitors who I'm targeting), conflict of interest standpoint (the owner of the publication I'm talking to might have a financial interest in a competitor or my products), and a journalistic standpoint (anonymity of sources allows us to speak honestly). > it's a short article that doesn't answer its own question that it poses ("Why isn't this getting fixed?") It literally did - "Few want to make it harder or costlier for data to flow from their network into others." Margins are low in the telecom industry (11.4%) [0] versus Software's 80-90% margins due to the massive capital expenditures needed to build out a 5G backbone and deprecate older 2/3G infrastructure. Adding traffic filtering (basically a SSE style Deep Packet Inspection functionality) is legitimately expensive because building this functionality in house is a multi-million venture which is difficult to justify with such low margins, and the vendors like ZScaler, Fortinet, Cato, Cisco, etc in this space all know they can arm-twist telcos while keep the price below that to build in-house. > is it directed at me, or who Yes, but a lot of other HN commenters like you. I used to be a SWE as well before I went into product/sales and later finance, and I hate it how a subset of SWEs like you assume us "non-techies" don't know jack. Journalism is built on top of sources and experts who want to remain anonymous. Trust it or don't. And writers at The Economist absolutely do interact with experts in the fields they write articles about. A lot of us just don't want to be named for the reasons I mentioned above. [0] - https://www.mtn-c.com/product/telcos-pay-5g-price-higher-debt-lower-margins-in-2022/ https://www.mtn-c.com/product/telcos-pay-5g-price-higher-deb...

numpad0 2y ago

I'm sure they did judging by mentions of SS7 and Diameter. The phone system has became way too distributed to be done in an article.

alephnerd 2y ago
Yep. SS7, Diameter, and the whole telco stack has really become the cyberphysical equivalent of tech debt. Everyone knows that and wants to migrate towards a virtualized stack, and has been in the process of doing this for at least 15 years now, but you are faced with some very hard accounting questions around how to eat the financial cost of deprecating legacy (physical) infrastructure without incurring a massive financial penalty. It's a hard problem, and countries like SK, China, and India weren't hit by it because they are greenfield deployments. It's similar to how Germany and Finland lags in fiber because they went gung-ho very early in copper broadband back in the 90s. It's a ridiculously complex system. (And that complex system is increasingly being replaced by equally complex K8s, but it makes sense given the dynamic scaling that comes with telecom)