[ih] [IP] OSI: The Internet That Wasn't

[dhc2 at dcrocker.net (Dave Crocker)]

On 7/31/2013 9:10 AM, Scott Brim wrote:
>
> Is this where we segue to talking about the state of the  IETF?


Well, umm...

In the early 1980s, there was a hot debate going on between DOS and 
Unix.  I went and did other things for a few years; when I returned, I 
discovered that Unix had won and it was called DOS.  DOS continued to 
dominate the market but all of its new features were taken from Unix.

Too often, the same template applies for the IETF.  That is, what I 
often see is that in many cases, OSI has won, and it is called IETF.

Too often, work attempts the union of the feature lists, rather than the 
intersection, and therefore takes an overly long time to complete, 
produces massively complex specifications, and is not immediately useful.

It is now not that unusual to hear -- such as yesterday morning -- 
someone (whose experience ought to have taught them better) that it is 
essential to do everything all at once, for example to make sure that 
all of the pieces work together.   This is in marked contrast with 
essentially all of the major IETF successes over the last 25+ years.

Aren't you glad you asked?

d/

-- 
Dave Crocker
Brandenburg InternetWorking
bbiw.net