Linux and the Internet of Things

Posted May 2, 2014 21:27 UTC (Fri) by khim (subscriber, #9252)
In reply to: Linux and the Internet of Things by Baylink
Parent article: Linux and the Internet of Things

Complexity could be bane or salvation. When you mentioned Katrina I immediately recalled the funny fact: after Katrina New Orleans had no electricity, it had no running water (except on streets), all broadcast channels were not available, broken, but it had an Internet—although, obviously, not everywhere.

It's about points of failure, not about complexity. As for switch which sometimes does not work… you don't need electronics for that. Good old wear and rust work just fine. We don't even notice when that happens. We just replace the thing (eraser can help for a short time if you can not replace defective switch or light-bulb right away), but if the same thing happens with “clever” light switches… we just have no idea what to do. It's not because they are more complex or less reliable, that's because they are unfamiliar.

This being said Internet lately becomes both more complex and dangerously centralized. That is problematic combination, it's true.