Paris, beacon of municipal planners for centuries -- and capital of the country that gave us the Minitel -- has announced the mother of all Wi-Fi plans. Mayor Bertrand Delanoe has vowed to make Paris the most connected major city in the world by the end of 2007, reports Reuters. Delanoe, the most recent of a long line of Parisian chieftains that stretches back -- in complicated ways -- to the 13th century, intends to set up 400 Wi-Fi access points to blanket the city with free wireless. No longer, then, will would-be Hemingways toil with wine-stained Moleskine notebooks along the banks of the Seine. Non. They will now flip open wireless laptops and email their lovers that there is nothing quite like Wi-Fi in the springtime.

Some, however, take a less romantic view of this development. Canadian blogger Mark Evans wonders why Parisians should get free Wi-Fi, while rural Frenchmen still languish on dial-up connections. Perhaps it isn't fair for urban dwellers to get such a surfeit of high-speed Internet access. Besides, do we really want to stay glued to our laptops when the Parisian streetscape beckons?