Networking is still a complete mindfudge for the most of us, according to Gartner analysts. In a report that offers up the telegraphic title "Hype Cycle For Consumer Technologies," Van L. Baker makes clear that most consumers look at all that stuff about WHAP and SOD and 80b.11wtf and all that and get sick of dealing with it. Everyone knows what they want it for—sharing music, moving files around, wireless internet, and so on—but the complexities involved ruin the experience.
One good example: I spent two hours a few days ago wondering why my wireless set-top box couldn't see the server on which all my junk is held. After fiddling with every setting available, changing the network security settings, and searching for a way to blame Windows Media
Player 11's sharing implementation, I realized that I had not plugged the WiFi antenna into the damn thing. Actually, perhaps that's not so good an example, but there you go: networking is hard stuff, guys.
Gartner's report ties all this into the idea of a "Hype Cycle," which sounds quite common-sensical. A new tech appears, and is early-adopted by people who are happy to deal with all the nonsense involved to get it up and running. Their evangelic bullshit builds up the everyday users' expectations and feeds the marketing machine. Everyone buys it, ultimately leading to disillusionment when everyone once again discovers that nothing involving computers ever works properly.
Something like that, anyway.
Report: Home networking still too complex for most users [Ars Technica]
