Then I remembered the long-standing but frequently ignored feature of the 802.11x wireless standard that allows the creation of ad hoc networks. Mac OS X makes this feature exceedingly easy to enable: just select “Create Network…” from the AirPort status menu, enter a name for the network and you’re done. We were instantly able to exchange files via iChat’s Bonjour messaging protocol, and my colleague was able to use his browser to effortlessly view PHP-enabled work on my hard drive, thanks to Personal Web Sharing (I never thought I’d get so much use out of Mac OS X’s built in Apache Web server, but it’s fast becoming my favorite feature ever, especially in conjunction with Marc Liyanage’s dead simple PHP installers.) On the way back this evening, we were even sharing music libraries across the aisle via iTunes’ built-in music sharing feature. The twenty-first century is here.
The Long Arm of the Law
This was probably the most demonstrative and practical experience I’ve ever had with Metcalfe’s Law: when we climbed aboard the train, bleary-eyed and sleepy at 6:30a this morning, we had just two laptops — modern and completely capable in and of themselves, but still just an isolated pair of machines. As soon as we enabled the ad hoc feature we had instead a real network; admittedly it was small, but its exponentially greater value to both of us was clear and apparent. Computers are awesome.
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