🚀 go-pugleaf

More fodder from the OSI dicussion...

Some times it looks like OSI protocols suffer from second system syndrome.
Second system syndrome is the problem described in the "Mythical Man
Month", that the second version of any software is: slower, bigger, full
of lots of useless features, late to market and never the success of the
first version..

The question in my mind is will OSI ever be:

* A mainstream technogly that works off the shelf.  Like TCP, SNA,
  Netware, X.25, PC, Mac

* Widely used as the protcol of choice, rather than when the choice is
  forced upon the user.

* Available at a low cost and simple level of technogly.  Other networking
  technolgy's at least appear simpler because they make assumptions about
  usage, topolgy, addressing, etc...

* User friendly.  Exchanging X.400 mail addresses is not friendly.
  Having to have full information about every other machine you want to
  talk to is not friendly (i.e Network, Transport, Session, Application
  ...)

Right now the chances look dim on this side of the Atlantic, espcially
now that the desktop PC/Mac is a fact of life.  The desktop revolution
may be the biggest nail in OSI's chances in the long run.

-sch

-- 
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 |   #|    Stephen Hemminger   <sch@sequent.com>
 |    |    Sequent Computer Systems, Inc.		
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