[Info-vax] An alternative history of computing

[chris]

On 07/28/21 14:41, Dave Froble wrote:
> On 7/28/2021 5:45 AM, chris wrote:
>> On 07/28/21 02:50, David Jones wrote:
>>> On Monday, July 26, 2021 at 6:27:22 AM UTC-4, chris wrote:
>>>> Originally, all that was loosely based on an ISO model,
>>>> the sort of standards that DEC were great supporters
>>>> and contributors to at all levels, but really backed
>>>> themselves into a corner over decnet. An obscure set
>>>> of protocols and command set reminiscent of the sort of
>>>> serisl line and telco ideas dating back to the 1970's.
>>>> TCP/IP was faster, easier to visualise in design, to
>>>> program and above all, a completely open source and fixed
>>>> set of standards that anyone could use, improve and generally
>>>> contribute to.
>>>
>>> The TCP/IP standards were developed over decades, RFC superceding RFC.
>>> The RFC specifications often had gaps which results in conflicting
>>> implementations
>>> by different parties, usually resolved by adopting the interpretation
>>> of the one
>>> which has bigger presence in the rather limited ARPANET ecosystem.
>>>
>>> Eventually it got reliable enough that V.P. Gore proposed dropping
>>> the commerce
>>> restrictions.
>>
>> That's a rather biased, one sided view. I was using tcp/ip in the late
>> 1980's
>
> Well, there is your problem. In the late 1970s DECnet was a working
> product. As I remember, not so for TCP/IP. I'd perhaps suggest that you
> need to be a bit older, but, it's no fun, won't wish that on someone.
>
>

Fwir, decnet in the 1970's was via serial lines, so not exactly
networking as most would understand the term to mean. It's not
about bragging rights though. Old ideas become redundant as
the art progresses.  Nothing stays the same, nor lasts forever
and we are all standing on the shoulders of giants etc.

As for older, very much wrinkly here, but make no apologies for
that. Electronics and computing have been a fun ride and  helped
keep me afloat for decades and am grateful for that...