[hux_]

You are not trying hard enough. I was at Trinity College Library, Dublin a few months back. There are few spaces that are more peaceful and inspiring to work in than that one.

You have to understand that cafés like churches or pubs or the town square have traditionally been designed as the "The Third Space" in people's lives behind home and work. It were community building happen. It's designed for that, not for work. Howard Schultz founder of Starbucks tried to bring this to the US where he felt people were loosing touch with those community spaces but still had/felt a need for them. It has been very successful for his company to tap into that need. But on the flip side lot of misguided notions have developed in peoples(cafe owners/patrons) heads about what that third space is for or why they need it.

[dazc]

Dublin isn't in the UK though.

[petecox]

free wifi to freeloaders who aren't students though?

[noxToken]

I can't speak for all universities, but my alma mater allows public access on a limited basis. For example, you can apply for courtesy membership if you have a basic need for research purposes. It can be as simple as, "I'm trying to build a static analysis tool, and I need books or publications on ASTs."

It makes sense to me, because one of the tenets of higher education should be to serve in the interest of the community.

[jakear]

Sure. My university has unsecured 100+ Mbps up/down and free access to libraries during the workday. Other universities I know of (USA) are the same.

[petecox]

I see. In Australia, they tie guest wifi login to one's student email address via the 'eduroam' SSID. This allows students from visiting universities to connect but not the general public.