[ih] Re: internet-history Digest, Vol 2, Issue 4

[David P. Reed]

I'm not sure what purpose this attempt to put people in boxes 
(academic/industrial) serves.  Especially when the mean-spirited jerks 
seem to want to make something negative of that distinction.

Once upon a time, we were all students, which makes us all academics in 
one sense.

Take me for example.... but many of those who helped create the Internet 
Protocols have remarkably similar experiences.

I have been an academic and corporate vice president and an industrial 
researcher in roughly equal parts during my 35 year career so far.   
I've been the chief designer and manager of teams that have shipped 
several billions of dollars worth of software products, during the days 
when the software industry was only 10's of billions of dollars annually 
world wide, and of course I've also participated in others' teams.

I've written a few important papers, and have a few patents.   I was one 
of the many who helped make the Internet protocol design what it is, and 
I'm proud of what *we* did, and I have a sense of what difference my 
participation made.  

So am I an academic or a commercial person?   Why does this matter?  Why 
should it?
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