Updated: iPhones May Be Polite After All

« Considering Googledorks | Main | Shorter Microsoft: Our Search Privacy Policy is Still Cop-Friendly »

July 20, 2007

Updated: iPhones May Be Polite After All

Macworld reports the "iPhone may not be cause of Duke wireless woes."

Some reports say Apple says the matter has been resolved. A clarification is evidently forthcoming this afternoon.

My guess is that some iPhone behavior exacerbates a problem on Duke's network. To the extent we haven't heard of iPhone users blithely crushing networks as they wander from building to building anywhere else, it sure seems like the sort of problem we used to call "synergistic failure" in the signal corps. "Gremlins" didn't sound technical enough.

Since I'm out on a prediction limb, I might as well add that since I'm predicting it'll be a problem a. iPhones exacerbated and b. Duke's network really does have, Apple zealots and iPhone haters alike will be declaring victory shortly.

One more prediction: Wild-eyed Mac zealots will not produce any evidence that Duke IT employees are secretly in the pay of Microsoft.

Update: Duke's CIO issued a statement clearing Apple, blaming Cisco and mortally humiliating one of her assistant directors:

"The reality is that a particular set of conditions made the Duke wireless network experience some minor and temporary disruptions in service. Those conditions involve our deployment of a very large Cisco-based wireless network that supports multiple network protocols.
"Cisco worked closely with Duke and Apple to identify the source of this problem, which was caused by a Cisco-based network issue. Cisco has provided a fix that has been applied to Duke's network and there have been no recurrences of the problem since. We are working diligently to fully characterize the issue and will have additional information as soon as possible. Earlier reports that this was a problem with the iPhone in particular have proved to be inaccurate."

Well, that's that, mostly. I'm still not sure how completely my first prediction was wrong, but it sounds like Duke IT's Kevin Miller, an assistant director of communications infrastructure, jumped the gun by singling out the iPhone when there were other trouble-making clients. Or it could mean the iPhone was uniquely capable of triggering the bad behavior because of some specific characteristic in its network stack. It's still Cisco's fault if the iPhone's behavior was different from other clients but in spec. If Duke comes out and says other clients caused the problem, too, then ... well ... bitter ashes for Kevin Miller, who will have gotten everything wrong.

My second prediction was half right, though: Mac zealots are declaring victory (and calling for "liable" suits ... so they've evidently already started drinking, too.)

I'm sticking to my third prediction, though some will just say that's further evidence of how deep the conspiracy goes.