You seem to all be forgetting that the internet is not held together by Unix/Win/ANYTHING based computers.. sure they hold up the services behind the connections, but some of the biggest keys to internet connectivity are the routers/switches/high end network connectivity machines that route your traffic to and from wherever you go every day.
The people I thank for the internet are not the PC or Unix manufacturers, but groups like the IETF and the IEEE that defined all these protocols that you're using right now.
In my opinion the people responsible for the internet break down into these catagories (sorted by level of importance.)
1. groups like the IETF and the IEEE who defined internetworking and protocol standards.. without them we wouldn't have anything to implement.
2. The companies that took the protocol standards and implemented them into network connectivity hardware (the ciscos, the nortels (I have no idea who made the stuff back in the 70's, but you get my drift.)
3. The UNIX!! - Unix was and still is the internet standard for hosting services (anyone who remembers back when an internet account meant a dialup shell on a Unix box knows this.) Berkeley Software Development, AT&T Labs, Sun Microsystems.. THANK YOU!!!
4. The users.. finally at #4 the PCs come into play.. we used the internet, liked it, spread the word, corporations caught on (after the internet was finally opened to commercial traffic in 1992.) and the internet evolved into what we have today.
I too am puzzled about Bill Gates on the list, but I am also very glad to see Mandrake/Raster on the list (not to mention Becker, Vixie, etc)..
I'm pulling for the Enlightenment boys on this one.. Better window managers make managing evil networks so much easier. I know there are candidates that *may* be more deserving of the award, but they have chosen to fight for the power of good, which just doesn't sit too well with me.
Slashdot Mirror
This is no different than a typical residential home DSL service.
:)
The phone company has the wires
Companies like Covad/Northpoint put in the DSLAMS
The ISPs have the links to the backbones and provide your typical "ISP" services (web hosting, email, yadayadayada).
Sorry man, that's just DSL.
Glad my link is a wireless T1
You seem to all be forgetting that the internet is not held together by Unix/Win/ANYTHING based computers.. sure they hold up the services behind the connections, but some of the biggest keys to internet connectivity are the routers/switches/high end network connectivity machines that route your traffic to and from wherever you go every day.
The people I thank for the internet are not the PC or Unix manufacturers, but groups like the IETF and the IEEE that defined all these protocols that you're using right now.
In my opinion the people responsible for the internet break down into these catagories (sorted by level of importance.)
1. groups like the IETF and the IEEE who defined internetworking and protocol standards.. without them we wouldn't have anything to implement.
2. The companies that took the protocol standards and implemented them into network connectivity hardware (the ciscos, the nortels (I have no idea who made the stuff back in the 70's, but you get my drift.)
3. The UNIX!! - Unix was and still is the internet standard for hosting services (anyone who remembers back when an internet account meant a dialup shell on a Unix box knows this.) Berkeley Software Development, AT&T Labs, Sun Microsystems.. THANK YOU!!!
4. The users.. finally at #4 the PCs come into play.. we used the internet, liked it, spread the word, corporations caught on (after the internet was finally opened to commercial traffic in 1992.) and the internet evolved into what we have today.
flame me all you want..
I too am puzzled about Bill Gates on the list, but I am also very glad to see Mandrake/Raster on the list (not to mention Becker, Vixie, etc)..
I'm pulling for the Enlightenment boys on this one.. Better window managers make managing evil networks so much easier. I know there are candidates that *may* be more deserving of the award, but they have chosen to fight for the power of good, which just doesn't sit too well with me.
Sorry, but this isn't anything innovative.. we've been doing interplanetary networking for quite some time now..
check www.dark-jedi.net for more info.