[ih] XEROX/PUP and Commercialization (was Re: FYI - Gordon Crovitz/WSJ on "Who Really Invented the Internet?")

[Noel Chiappa]

    > From: Guy Almes <galmes at tamu.edu>

    > I personally reckon the doom of OSI from that moment.

And the tombstone was formally erected when Marshall Rose gave his infamous
'small furry animal' spiel at an IETF. (I wonder if anyone has a recording of
that?) I was laughing so hard I was coughing (like many there), it was so
funny - but then I looked over at Ross Callon (I think it was), whom I was
standing next to, and the look on his face... all of a sudden it wasn't quite
so funny a spiel.

I really liked Ross, and Dave P., and Lyman, and those guys, and so I felt
very bad for them. So after the session, I went up to Marshall and said that
I understood what he was trying to do, but I wasn't sure his method was the
most effective.

But in hindsight, I'm not so sure anymore. I think it's like the old 'pull
the bandage off quickly vs. slowly' thing; Marshall's way was certainly
painful, but I think it did really bring it home to people that OSI was not
on a path to success. In particular, I'm instructed on this point by the way
IPv6 has been treated - it's clearly not making progress, and enormous
amounts of time/energy/money continue to be wasted on it, but nobody is
pulling the bandage off. So in retrospect, with that example in front of my
eyes, I've changed my mind about Marshall's approach to ISO. He probably
saved a lot of people a lot of wasted time/energy/money, etc.

	Noel