[virtuald]

Originally Posted by ayeckley

Discussion somewhere in FIRST back in 2008-2009:

Person 1: Hey, let's ditch this proprietary IFI protocol and switch to TCP/IP!
Person 2: That's a great idea. Millions of devices can't be wrong!
Person 1: I don't see any potential downside!
Person 2: Me neither. Everything is plug-n-play! Teams won't have to waste valuable time and money trying to make stuff work anymore! It'll just happen.
Person 3: Someone in 2017 will probably complain though. There's always a complainer.
Person 1: We'll just point out to them that TCP/IP will make vision target tracking trivial! Participants will be more inspired and less frustrated!
Person 2: Hey, that's a great justification!
Person 3: <Nods in agreement> What could possibly go wrong?

Edit: I'm feeling frustrated/snarky today. All in all it was probably the right call, but certainly not without unintended consequences.

It was absolutely the right call. Switching to Wifi+TCP/IP has enabled SO MUCH INNOVATION by teams in the last 6 years, and I'd bet has resulted in significant cost savings as well.