NANOG

Hank Nussbacher wrote:

Craig came down very hard on Bob Metcalfe and I was hoping that over
the past few days someone would step in and explain that Bob is far
from being a clueless journalist. I believe Craig is just showing
how young he is.

On my part, when i was flaming B.M. i was perfectly aware of who he
is. However, being an authority is not a guarantee of being right
or being clueful about that particular subject.

I happened to learn that hard way.

Bob Metcalfe along with David Boggs published in
ACM (July 1976) an article entitled "Ethernet - Distributed Packet
Switching for Local Computer Networks". This paper was the groundwork
for Ethernet - without which we would still be using X.25 and possibly
no LANs.

That is an exaggregation. BTW, Ethernet has little to do with X.25's
obsolescense.

Having Bob (as well as a few other heavyweights) on this list,
we can only come to a better understanding of the routing, addressing
and portability problems of the Internet that we are all hitting.

Hm.

Craig, Bob has probably forgotten more than you and I will ever know.

I find the attitude of reverence to authorities a bit out of place
in any scientific or engineering society trying to be something more
than a country club.

--vadim

I strongly concur. Even though I am young, I still have studied a lot of
networking history. I knew who Bob Metcalfe was.

However, his InfoWorld article had some points which just made him look
like a complete newbie to this arena. He didn't do research, and
therefore looked like a Web-Magazine-of-the-Month editor, using buzzwords
and appearing to have no clue of what was really going on.

Take it as you please,
--Craig