Negroponte switch

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Professor Nicholas Negroponte of the Media Lab at MIT originated the meme,[1] which has since been associated with his name. As more mobile devices need connections to the data network, and bandwidths required and deliverable in wired or fibre-optic systems grow, it becomes steadily less sensible to use wireless broadcast as a way of communicating with static installations.

At some point the switch takes place, as the limited radio bandwidth is reallocated to data service to mobile equipment, and television and other media move to cable.

Cory Doctorow an author and also sometime Electronic Frontier Foundation activist has described the process of the switch as unwiring.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Speaking at a Northern Telecom meeting with George Gilder. Negroponte called it "Changing places" Gilder called it "The Negroponte Switch". From Being Digital, 1995, Negroponte, N. ISBN 0-340-64930-5 p 24.