Thanks to Hack the Planet I found this Interview with Bob Metcalfe [video], the inventor of Ethernet. I think Ethernet is a perfect example of the "less is more" or "worse is better" principles of design. Ethernet is ridiculously, stupidly simple. However, because of that, it works, and it works cheaply. Now, it is beginning to take over the telecommunications world. This interview talks about a bit of the future of Ethernet and the future of networks, but my favourite part is this quote about the convergence of voice and video services on to the network:
But, after telephony, it's pretty straightforward to predict what comes after telephony: video. So our children are stealing music today, but very soon they'll be stealing full-length feature films, and it's our job to give them the infrastructure to do that, and I say that only half seriously.
Mr. Metcalfe, I think they are already stealing full-length feature films.