LinuxProgramming.com: Editor’s Comment: It’s Time for Directed Geekery

There’s a news item currently on the Reuters site that says that
people aren’t exactly giggling with delight over wireless web
access (paraphrasing slightly). I have to admit I’m having trouble
showing restraint on this one, and the urge to do a Homer
Simpson-esque “Doh!” or to draw a parallel to the infamous study
supposedly funded by the US government looking into why small
children fall off bicycles (tricycles?) or to Push Technology, is
just about overwhelming. But I’ll try to resist the urge and stay
on topic.

The reason I bring this up is that it’s one of the clearest
examples I’ve seen in a very long time of people, in this case the
techies and marketers behind the wireless web, “doing something
simply because they can”, a.k.a. random geekery. The idea of trying
to access the web on a PDA screen is a stretch, but using the
miniscule screen and input methods on a phone for web access is
just plain goofy. Yes, I’m sure there are certain very narrow
niches for which this technology makes sense, but general-purpose
web access, especially e-commerce, makes about as much sense as
downloading the latest TurboDebSlackRedManCalduSE Linux distro via
a 1200 baud modem.

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