TechTalk

My mother and I, had a very interesting discussion the other day, I tried to explain the benefits of being on a wireless network…

A bit of background, I am in the process of joining a wug. What is a WUG, well WUG is an abbreviation for Wireless User Group. It basically is a MAN, Metropolitan Area Network, put more simply it is a large network, like one you may have at home or work or school, which links all the computers connected to said network together, which in turn allows you to share files, play games, chat and more of the same, with all the other users connected to the network. I guess you can say it is like a mini localized version of the Internet! Because it is a wireless network, the distance between nodes is not such a big issue, Jo’burg and Pretoria have been linked so, you can communicate with people var away, as if they were in the room next to you.

So back to the juice, my mother asked me the other day, why? Why would you want to do it, why would you want to connect to such a network what are the real benefits? It actually took me awhile to come up with a sensible answer! Up until then I haven’t really thought about it that much, I just knew I wanted to join. But then it struck me I am a bit of a geek, and being as such I knew that this is something I needed to be a part of. I would be like being at res all over again reliving varsity days. Where any file or resource was just a click away, it is also a means for like mined people to interact in some way, be it in the chat room, or in a multiplayer game. It was actually so very obvious, or so I thought.

So I continued to explained all this to her and she still just said “Hmm, ok, that sounds nice.” I could see she was still not entirely convinced. I mean come on a wireless network is not nice… Then I realized, that nothing I say will be able to convince her, because this sort of thing does not interest her at all, and rightly so, I mean I can’t say that creating a new garden gives me joy, so I will never fully understand the joy my mother gets from working so hard to arrange a few plants in a piece of open ground, and then caring for it, watering it and working so hard, just to see it, well grow?!?

So I realized that the only explanation was the old saying, “To each his own”.

On a side note if you are interested in joining a WUG, goto wugza and alternatively if you live in and around Pretoria goto PTAWUG

I already got my kit, I am just trying to find the right spot on my property to mount everything. There are many active members on WUG’s all over South Africa, so if you are like me and can see the amazing benefits of such a network, feel free to visit those pages, the people their are very helpful and supportive!

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