My local library observes "coffee shop rules." People sit with their laptops and take phone calls from wherever they receive them. Even the librarians are loud. It's fucking bullshit.
For some algorithims, it can be difficult to predict how much time will be spent processing a particular hunk of data even when it's instantaneously accessible.
I was driving by a Xerox site the other day with my 15-year-old nephew and he asked, "What's "Xerox?" (He didn't even know how to pronounce properly). He'd never even heard the word "xerox" used as a verb for photocopying, even.