>>>>Fiber's no good for ad-hoc networking, which is a strongly enabling/"disruptive" technology. Enough so that I believe spectrum issues will eventually be resolved.
>>>
>>>Resolved - how? Not a resource that can be manufactured, and obviously not being conserved. All the technologies today give up bandwidth just to fight the interference problems. I won't even discuss the privacy problems.
>>
>>If I had the answers, I'd be rich ;-) But, I believe a lot of smart people are strongly motivated to find solutions.
>>
>>These may be incremental/evolutionary, technical breakthroughs, bureaucratic (like FCC spectrum reallocation < gasp >) - or some combination of all 3.
>
>I'm glad you mentioned the FCC, Al. I sent my reply to soon. Look at the results of some of the spectrum auctions. The prices are astonishing. Seems to me to be a very prime commodity. It is indeed a limited resource. Yes, technologies do improve to make better use of it, but a limited resource it is.

I think one point that can be made is the same as with programming language "discussions" that periodically erupt here - that is, "use the best tool for the job".

IMO wireless will always have a place. However, there's no reason other technologies couldn't advance as well. Maybe one day it will be as easy to wire a home with fiber as with electrical cable, and include taps at each wall outlet. Maybe we'll be able to buy splitters/"data" bars (as opposed to power bars) and we could all carry around tiny, cheap, spring-loaded spools of hair-thin fiber the way some people pack RJ11 or Cat5 cable around these days. If that were available today, I for one wouldn't have much use for wireless.