[e2e] end of interest

[James Kempf]

>the value of the net to users is that it connects them to content. the 
>network providers
>are in the business of taking a fraction of the business that the content 
>providers are in
>...

If you look at any of the research on networks, most researchers agree that 
the value of the network is in connectivity. There's arguments about whether 
the value scales as O( n**2  ) via Metcalfe's Law or something more like 
O( n log(n)  ) which Briscoe, Odlyzko, and Tilly claim.  But nobody claims 
that the value of networks is in the bandwidth.

Last time I looked, network providers weren't charging for connectivity, 
they were charging for bandwidth. Google makes tons of money off of small 
text ads that use almost no bandwidth but cash in from free connectivity. 
Network providers are forced to give away connectivity because the Internet 
architecture provides no way for them to charge for it. Not a particularly 
good business when you are forced to give away what is of value and charge 
for what isn't.

My blog post this week discusses this more and the connection with 
end-to-end (http://cleanslate-internet.blogspot.com).

                     jak