Nope. Nope. We have open offices because some genius did the simple math and realized that you can cram more people into a smaller space if you remove the walls.
Then somewhere along the way, some marketing guy came up with the spin, "It fosters communication!". Open office does indeed make people close in proximity, but it's not a necessity.
I think the open office started with Chiat/Day (ad/design firm). It was back when laptops were first introduced and it was seen as a cool way to work. People would get to be mobile, sit anywhere they want, etc.
