Mark Bernstein is spending the morning in a DC cafe and wondering if this European usage pattern is a revival, or a North vs. South thing. Mark, Boston has a small but lovely coffee shop scene, where people linger for hours, freinds meet, politics is discussed, and people write, and code. Its not as vibrant or as wired as San Francisco’s, nor as famous as Seattle’s, but its much better then New York’s, and alas much better then Providence’s. Davis Square’s Diesel and Somday, Central’s 1369, Newbury’s The Other Side, Espresso Royale near Northeastern are just a few that I visit regularily. (sorry if you’ve heard this before, Mark doesn’t have comments)

Joel: Community software is an attempt to re-create fantasy TV coffeehouse of “Friends”. Really, its too early to mourn, the “third place”. It ain’t dead yet. (a quick check reveals FogCreek is New York based meaning Joel really does suffer from a lack of decent public or semi-public space, but the rest of us)