Re: COVID-19 vs. our Networks

[Mark Tinka <mark.tinka () seacom mu>]

On 17/Mar/20 19:43, Keith Medcalf wrote:

> If by "device" you mean "computer", then you are correct.

"A computer? What's that?" said the kids :-).


> Never in 57 years.

You caught it early :-).


> Never because I don't have any.  But I don't either.  Babbling idiots don't do anything for me.
>
> And before you ask, I get "important news" directly.  If the building next door falls over, I notice.  Otherwise I 
> don't think there *IS* such a thing as *important news*, or I can only think of a couple of "important news" that 
> have happened in my entire lifetime on one hand.  In no case was a babbling idiot or propaganda purveyor of any 
> particular use.

Even if you're a generation or two behind, you're not that far off from
how the kids treat acquisition of information in 2020 :-).


> Never used any of those.  They are just hangouts for yet more babbling idiots.  Some of them are even named 
> appropriately -- like Twitter -- which as I understand it is the place where all the twits congregate.

And it's what's driving all this madness. Sadly, if we want to keep
eating, we have no choice but to follow it and engage with the kids.


> Correct.  No value there.  Just more babbling idiots.

Again, just what the kids feel. Are you sure you're 57 :-)?


> I have an e-mail app on my phone that is connected to my (not someone else's) e-mail server that handles e-mail, 
> contacts, and calendaring in a distributed fashion that is the same on every "device" I own.  If a device will not 
> work with my e-mail server, does not function as I need it to function, or is not safe and secure to my requirements, 
> I do not buy that device (that means that the list of devices that I refuse to buy and will not permit in the same 
> room as me is VERY VERY VERY long).  Most of the other rubbish has been banished because it is nothing more than yet 
> more piles of babbling idiots.

In that way, you're on your own.

Most kids aren't into e-mail; perhaps only because they need one to
install and use Instagram :-).


> Send e-mail.  Or provide an e-mail list.  I will not fiddle faddle with going to websites chock full of malicious 
> websites nor will I let any Tom Dickhead send their malicious crap to me.  By the time the malicious crap infestation 
> is filtered out, there is nothing left.
>
> Then again I am an old fart.

You may very well be, but your perception of value (although in the
alternate universe) mirrors how the kids treat the networks we build for
them today. They don't care about your products. They just want to
achieve their value.

Telco's (and ISP's) are very product-based organizations. "Here's a list
of products, they each cost that, tell me which one you want", said the
Head of Sales. But all the kids want to do is share a bunch of
champagne-popping videos on Instagram, force a bank manager to return
wrongly-billed fees via Twitter, and show the world how badly a police
chase ended on WhatsApp. They don't care whose network they use to share
what gives them "value", and the first chance they get, they will switch
away from your sacred 5G to some random wi-fi hot spot.

What's even wilder is that as consumers of these apps ourselves, we
emulate a value-based need rather than one based on products. But
somehow, as service providers and businesses, we do not seem to know how
to offer value in lieu of product. It fascinates me.

Mark.