[ih] Design choices in SMTP

[Dave Crocker]

On 2/7/2023 11:35 AM, Grant Taylor via Internet-history wrote:
>
>> But it's also true in the literal sense that wide-area networks were 
>> largely built with microwave in the 1980s (or geosynchronous 
>> satellites), while they are built with fiber optic circuits now. And 
>> the speed of light through fiber is about 2/3 the speed of light 
>> through air (or space).
>
> This floored me the first time I heard about it. 

While still an undergrad -- before going on to become a founding 
employee of Silicon Graphics -- was doing a project for the department 
chair.  The chair had had a career at Xerox and the current project was 
a bit of printer hardware.  One day the undergrad commented to me that 
electricity though a circuit did not travel at the speed of light and he 
was discovering this was important to know...

d/

-- 
Dave Crocker
Brandenburg InternetWorking
bbiw.net
mast:@dcrocker at mastodon.social