metcalfe understands the issues only too well. only the truly
blessed can blindly exploit half-truths. he is not blessed and
he is not blind.
unfortunately, mr. metcalfe is living in the world of suits.
very expensive suits. the type worn by what we might not so
affectionately call the 'marketeers'. it doesn't matter what
a small group of technically saavy internet engineers might
think, this is yellow journalism and it sells papers. metcalfe
is the figure-head of a well-laid plan of calculated risk. no
matter what the outcome of his predictions, he and his paper will
claim the high road. if there are catastrophic failures in
the internet, he will claim victory and will continue to report
on the 'clean-up.' if not, before his rantings become tiresome, his
handlers will recall him. he will again proclaim victory
(remember, he was the nagging conscience of the internet for
oh so many months who fortold and therefore, prevented disaster).
he will move on, perhaps attacking some other large and mis-understood
entity, making predictions that have reasonable probability and
limited risk until the risk pays off.
i have no doubt that his campaign will succeed. he is bright, has
built companies, used to be a technically saavy engineer. the trick
will be to bide our time, he will go away in the end. hopefully his
winnings will be modest this time.
Jeff Young
young@mci.net