[ih] Impact of history on today's technology [was: why did CC happen at all?]

[brian.e.carpenter at gmail.com (Brian E Carpenter)]

I think there is a rather philosophical history question here,
all the same.

What, in general, is the impact of historical technological
issues on current protocols and practices? To take a completely
different example, there was a considerable period when handling
larger than 16 bit quantities in minicomputers was awkward and
slow, so there was a tendency to design stuff around that constraint.
Or consider the cost of electronics and cabling in the token ring vs
Ethernet argument. I'm sure there are a dozen examples of tech issues
from the 1960s and 1970s that still have significant impact today.

Regards
   Brian Carpenter