I’ve been thinking about the end of the
Internet. No, not its collapse, but as in the"End-to-End"
(E2E) argument, put definitively by David P. Reed, J.H.
Saltzer, and D.D. Clark and in their seminal article, End-to-End
Arguments in System Design. The concept is simple: whenever
possible, services should not be built into a network but
should be allowed to arise at the network’s ends. For example,
it’s a good thing the Internet designers didn’t build searching
into the Net itself because then we wouldn’t have gotten
competition and Google and whatever good idea comes along
that’s better than Google.
This is a powerful principle, and not only
for its implications for network design…

Three
Class Sessions: The topics of some classes I gave
at MIT.

I taught a three-session course at MIT
as part of their January independent study curriculum. I
tried to get at the ideas of Small Pieces Loosely Joined
in a different way. I posted my notes before each session
met (Session
1, Session
2, Session
3), so rather than repeat them here, I’m going to try
putting them yet differently.
The Web is a conundrum: it’s both weird
and familiar. What does the weird Web world remind us of?
…

CEO
Speak: CEOs, the future and flowery language. How
could it be bad?!

InformationWeek gives itself over to essays
by the World’s Leading CEOs on what to expect in the next
year. One after another they engage in language as rich
and evocative as Tang’s list of ingredients ("Real-time
ROI, enhanced with Polysorbatol!") and visions that
never seem to look past their own wallets…

Two
Phone Acronyms: UNE-P and semi-explained
Eroding
Digital Freedom: Snippets about how they’re ruining
it for us.
Misc.:
Misc.
Wifi
Notes: Lots going on in the wireless world.
Political
Notes: Too much going on.
The
Anals of Marketing: Astroturfing, analysts’ predictions
and more.
FotoFun:
Metadata illustrated and more
Walking
the Walk: The feds, believe it or not. Sort of.
Cool
Tool: Opera is my browser, and it’s about time.
What
I’m playing: Ghost Recon add-on.
Internetcetera:
Email non-responsiveness.
Links:
Places you think are worth a visit.
Email:
You write it, we all read it.
Bogus
contest: Bart’s Blackboard