I think we've nailed this one. >I get the impression you define "front edge" as greatest market penetration >or most sales or most copied. I define it as the being the one that takes >off on their own and tries what everyone else is NOT doing.
We've found common ground ... in that we recognize that we each want different things. I'm not looking for "the most fun", or the "fanciest or latest technology" or "choice to do whatever I want." I define best as what serves the most people at the best price. I further define what I believe is the best decision basis by my government as what best serves the American people and American industry. As you pointed out, sometimes American industries do not correctly perceive what is in their own best interest (they sometimes make poor choices) and they suffer. I agree, shame on them. But I really think it's awful when America loses whole markets ... that's lost jobs ... not just for the manufacturers, but their suppliers, transporters, etc, across the entire American workforce. It doesn't matter whether they're cutting technology or not (while many of these lost markets WERE cutting technology at the time). This has hurt all Americans in so many ways. BTW - While I understand our perspectives differ, the only point I'd challenge in your last reply is: >But I would bet that, like WCDMA, the better ideas come from here. No, it didn't. WCDMA is the European Wideband CDMA selected by ETSI for 3rd generation cellular. European standards organizations go out of their way to not intentionally select anything from America. Like all standards bodies, it is moved to what they perceive as to the advantage of its members. And if you think this is "evolutionary" from GSM/GPRS -> WCDMA I don't know what to tell you. I tried to point out the jump in technology that they are bridging in the last post, and to me it's completely "revolutionary." regards, Rich p.s. I have to admit that I used to think in complete agreement with your line of argument when I was much younger. I don't know whether you're younger than me or the same age, but for me 30 yrs in industry changed many of my perspectives! :-) ----- Original Message ----- From: wispa To: WISPA General List Sent: Saturday, March 03, 2007 4:56 PM Subject: Re: [WISPA] Some "unlicensed" history.... On Sat, 3 Mar 2007 14:01:32 -0600, Rich Comroe wrote > >Sort of off topic, to be sure, but, exactly what does having a universal > >standard do for us? > > Aren't all the toilet paper rolls the same width for your roller? > Donn't all the toilets mount in the same size base fitting? :-) Actually, not at all. > > >How long... or, should I say, what, is even the remote possibility, that > >Europe will switch should we invent something far better than GSM? Size > >creates inertia. Inertia and mass create friction and friction resists > >movement. > > Oh, contrair. With the size of the worldwide GSM there is lots of > momentum behind its evolution. You confirmed exactly what I said. "Evolution". Not "revolution". GPRS happened and was available in > the same time-frame as US based 2&1/2G solutions. Next, GSM is > migrating to WCDMA (the "standard" version of the EVDO's we're > seeing being deployed around here). > > >But what's the chances of > >getting every nation of the EU to move, other than minor evolutionary > >movements with full backward compatibiilty, for some time to come? > > WCDMA is hardly a minor evolutionary movement. GSM is essentially > switching from a 300KHz or so TDMA to a 5MHz CDMA (as I said, it > looks very much like the EVDO's you see deployed around here). What's to say it isn't "minor"? Only that nobody has stepped up to the plate yet with something big? There is no market in Europe for something big, only "evolution". That's not good enough for me. > Every nation in the EU, and for that part, most every other nation > on the planet that adopted GSM will move. They enjoy the benefits > of price that only come from the power of volume manufacturing far > beyond any non-standard US specific technology. Hmmmm... I can't find any price benefit. Really, I can't. I've attempted to find the price of airtime and phones in Europe... and all I can find costs more than here. > > >Ahh, but you see chaos and disorder. I see opportunity knocking and > >excitement. > > Yes, very exciting indeed. I worked for a US manufacturer that slid > from #1 in world sales down to perhaps #3 in handsets (and off the > chart in infastructure) in that very market. All the dominant world > manufacturers in cellular today are foreign and riding the GSM world > standard. We all know the US has completely lost numerous high > technology markets forever. We lost computer memories, automobiles, > TVs, VCRs, and cellular (among many others). Behind each lost > market is a unique story. In the case of cellular, the > fragmentation of the US standards for cellular technology is a > direct cause of losing an entire US market. We can all thank the > FCC, and a pair of US manufacturers for that. I disagree. There's only one place where revolution is possible... HERE. As far as "losing those markets forever", I'd like to know what's cutting edge about a VCR? Or TV? Not much. Nothing really revolutionary about DDR2-400 ram either. It's a mundane commodity. I'm sorry your company wasn't prepared for real competition. Sometimes nobody is. It happens. But we'll never lead ANYTHING if all we do is follow what someone else does. Or insist we remain stuck to what everyone else does. > > >We HAD a standard, a nice, comfy, understood, universal standard for phone > >service... copper. A user-friendly monopoly phone company that had nice > >operators and everyone's phone worked like everyone else's. > > And then the justice department stepped in (circa 1975). Then there > were 3 distinct long distance carriers building essentially > completely redunant competing networks, where each could (by the law > of averages) reap only a third of the customer base of single > unified network. I love competition. Long before wireless, the United States quickly > slipped from #1 to behind all other advanced countries which > maintained a unified PTT (Postal Telephone & Telegraph ... typically > government operated in most countries). Huh? You're going to need to explain this one, as I have no idea what you're talking about here. Again, we quickly slipped > from leadership to almost last place among advanced countries in > ISDN and other advanced services ISDN was an answer in search of a problem. A problem that never really existed. ... back when ISDN would have still > been fast compared to alternatives. Essentially no single company > could be profitable enough in a fragmented market to keep the US on > the front edge. I get the impression you define "front edge" as greatest market penetration or most sales or most copied. I define it as the being the one that takes off on their own and tries what everyone else is NOT doing. > > >It's always interesting... > > Hey, I love this ... it's been near and dear to my heart through > about 30 yrs in the industry (I spent almost 10 yrs of it in > standards group participation). I don't know how others on the list > think of the topic. If we're boring others maybe we should continue > any follow-up off-line. Actually, at this point in our industry, I think this is a good debate to have. You long for the one-fits-all approach and want to be that one. I absolutely refuse to follow anyone else. I'm going to do my own thing, and I admire those who try new and different. If there was only one type of wireless gear, what room is there for the little guy? None. The people with the deepest pockets will own it all, because there's no significant advantage other than size and financing. You point out that when cut loose from the position of a monopoly, many American businesses were unprepared to compete in the open market of concepts and ideas and had little appetite for "making the next big leap". But we'll win that. Living in a harsh world makes us stronger. Frankly, I don't want to pay the price of a cell phone mass produced here. It's a commodity. But I would bet that, like WCDMA, the better ideas come from here. And I'm willing to bet that the NEXT real jump in technology comes from here, too. And that some single cellular provider here... will pioneer it first. And eventually, the rest of the world will follow. Or maybe not. But here is where opportunity lies. Not there. Here, where opportunity is open. I think this is why there's a WISP industry at all. Because the "standards" types can't think that far out of the box. Someday, I predict, the big boys will come to our way of thinking. But we'll already be on to the next wave, the next horizon, the next challenge. I think we, as a loosely associated industry, should not be seeking 'standards' and "sameness", but instead, should already be looking that next big leap. That next mountain to climb, that next chasm to leap. I know personally, I'm already thinking beyond wireless internet. What next? What "unknown" can I think up, and dive into? That's where we should all be. -------------------------------------------- Mark Koskenmaki <> Neofast, Inc Broadband for the Walla Walla Valley and Blue Mountains 541-969-8200 -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ -- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
