Scott Hanselman's ComputerZen.com

Republican people scare me.

Without getting into the politics, this doesn't seem that dumb to me. The RF interference issues sound like they're real (http://601am.com/conventions/2004/07/08/convention_notes). When you match up a tiny signal from a wireless card with a TV broadcast antenna on the same frequency, the result is a lot of frustration from the laptop user.

But let's assume that could be corrected, maybe by placing the TV antennas somewhere better. Yes, Wifi does support encryption, but a lot of users don't how to use it correctly. See this article for the security risk raised by Wifi at the DNC:

http://www.internetweek.com/allStories/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=23905152

Now let's just assume that it's possible that hackers could circumvent even properly configured Wifi security (http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/09/01/2344253, http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/09/01/2015222, etc.). Do you think there might be at least one hacker in NYC that would like to DDOS, crash, infiltrate, etc., the DNC's network? Maybe grab something of a journalist's unsecured laptop as they fumble with getting on the network, etc. How big of a prize would it be to say you'd hacked the RNC?

Also, look at the press implications. If the RNC doesn't have Wifi, what's your headline? How about if someone DDOS's the RNC network, or hacks it? Let's try to think up some fun headlines there, while Bush is pushing himself as the nation's best hope for safety and security.

So in the risk / reward match-up, I'd say it's not a bad decision.

That "unproven technology" quote is worrying, though...

Boo!

:P

OT:
I have Republican leanings more so than Democratic, but I must say that I will not be voting for W this year. Come to think of it, I didn't vote for him last time either. This will be my 4th time voting in a presidential election, and I have never voted for a candidate from either of the major parties. Idiots, all of 'em! But I can't vote for Nader either . . . I wish good ol' Ross Perot would come back! ;)

via Dave Winer who was at the DNC.

"In some ways it was better than the official blogger space, not due to any failure of the DNC, rather the greed of people who wanted to siphon our wifi access (rumor was we had the only wifi in the Fleet Center)."

Sounds like the DNC didn't have official WiFi either.

They scare me too. Add this to the list of ways that the Republicans are way behind times:

Abortion, Gay Rights, Stem Cell Research, Environment, Energy, and now Technology!

Not the mention the belief that you can actually wage war on terrorism. Take Irak, it did not have terrorism before Bush decided to trample all over it. Now terrorism is rampant, and impossible to control.

<sarcasm>I'm pretty sure it causes cancer too... </sarcasm>

Actually, that story was later contradicted, saying the real reason is "because they didn’t want to have to deal with endless tech support requests from people who couldn’t figure out how to log onto the network properly."

I find that explanation far more plausable (and a reason that I understand well).

Note that this comment implies no affilliation between myself and the Republican party. ;)

What did you expect? They are being their natural best, conservative.