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From: DCP@QUABBIN.SCRC.Symbolics.COM.UUCP
Newsgroups: mod.protocols.tcp-ip
Subject: Re: Re: IEEE and Ethernet
Message-ID: <860627202416.8.DCP@FIREBIRD.SCRC.Symbolics.COM>
Date: Fri, 27-Jun-86 20:24:00 EDT
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Posted: Fri Jun 27 20:24:00 1986
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    Date: Fri, 27 Jun 86 17:58:28 EDT
    From: Louis A. Mamakos <louie@trantor.UMD.EDU>

    It is because of things like this that standardization bodies have bad
    reputations.  You can definitly smell a standard written by committee, 
    with each member's own hidden agenda slipped in somewhere.

A somewhat constructive question: Is it written down what the Charter
and Goals of the 802 standards committee is?  Is "to allow flexibility
for experimentation" one of the goals?  If not, then there are several
organizations that will not be able to use 802 because they need the
ability to experiment (and get work done, since non-ISO things are (by
their definition) experimental).  If so, I think they need to be
informed they are not addressing this goal.

BTW, the reason I wrote ARP the way I did is because I KNEW there was
more than one protocol in the world, and that there would be more.  (It
was a bit easy, because I was trying to solve the same problem for two
different protocols (CHAOS and IP).)  I also knew the protocols had
different length addresses, and thus the protocol-address-length field.
I also knew that Ethernet was the only hardware medium.  Thus the
hardware-type field.  I knew that addresses on different hardwares had
different lengths, thus the hardware-address-length field.  I knew that
this would solve the GENERAL problem stated in the first three
paragraphs (Introduction, The Problem, and Motivation).  I know the real
world is more diverse and more interesting than a one track (collective)
mind. 

    This will delay acceptance and conversion from the DEC-Intel-XEROX 
    Ethernet standard quite a while, at least around here.  If it works,
    why break it?

    Standards are great; everyone should have one of their own.

    Louis A. Mamakos  WA3YMH    Internet: louie@TRANTOR.UMD.EDU
    University of Maryland, Computer Science Center - Systems Programming