[ih] OSI and alternate reality

[David Sitman]

In my talk at the EARN 40th Anniversary Conference in Athens in April I
would like to speculate a bit about what the world would be like today if
OSI had won the "Protocol Wars".
In 1986, it was a foregone conclusion that EARN would migrate to OSI in the
near future. However, when I began my international activity in 1991, OSI
was discussed as a promise that had gone largely unfulfilled and EARN
members were actively supporting TCP/IP networks. It seemed obvious why
TCP/IP had prevailed.
Would we have seen the same rapid and universal adoption of computer
networking with OSI? Could the Web have flourished? Would address space and
security issues be alleviated? Would "OSI on Everything" have become a meme?
I would be very grateful for any thoughts about this.

Thanks,
David Sitman