All your Ethernets are belong to me. I’m Bob Metcalfe, Ethernet inventor. AMA!

I can't thank you enough. My question is rather simple: why did you decide to call it "Ethernet?"

The luminiferous "ether" was an omnipresent passive medium for the propagation of electromagnetic waves.

Be careful, bar fighting is one of my hobbies.

My Network II teacher talks of you as a god. His name is Dr. Bainum and I was wondering if you can ask him to give me an A in his class.

Dear Dr. Bainum,

Although I do not know him from Adam, ImaginaryTrend strikes me as a Network II student deserving of an A.

/Bob Metcalfe, UTAustin Professor of Innovation

Ethernet is AWESOME

THANK YOU

You are welcome.

What is the next big interface/protocol according to you?

Automotive. Cars will have three networks. (1) Within the car. (2) From the car up to the Internet. And (3) among cars. IEEE 802 is ramping up for these standards now, I hope.

Gotta go. I'll be back. Thanks!

What gives you the right?

Right to do what?

Hm, I'm not sure.. That's just my go-to AMA question. No one ever answers.. Uh.. The right to change the world in such a positive way? How dare you!

Am still trying to please my parents, who are in Heaven rooting for me.

We are cat people. We like having two of them at a time. We try to keep them inside, but unfortunately they escape occasionally, and sometimes they get run over, so we are now on our fourth and fifth cats. It was my turn to name the newest cat member of our family, and I chose the name Cat5.

Thank you.

Maybe you can tie them up better with Cat5?

Hi Bob, thanks for coming to reddit. I hate to be this guy, because you've clearly done so much to develop technology that drives modern society. Not to mention no one should be held by predictions made decades earlier or else we'd all look stupid, but I'm fascinated by how societies try and see how the world is changing. You once made a prediction that wireless networking would die out in the 1990s. Can you explain why it seemed at the time that this was this was going to happen and when you realized that your prediction may have needed adjustment? Bonus question: in your opinion, why are we always so terrible at predicting the future?

Wireless DID die out in the 1990s, when the radios were bigger than the PCs, but then came roaring back. Ethernet followed on Alohanet circa 1979, and so now it's come full circle to WiFi. We are pretty good a predicting the future, but not very good at getting the timing right.

Thanks for answering, that's an interesting take. Do you know of any specific example in history where a prediction was very inaccurate for the period but ultimately came to fruition?

Took a long time for interactive time-shared minicomputers to replace batch-processing mainframes. Then is took a long time for The Year of the LAN to happen -- I kept predicting it year after year.

Thanks for all my lan parties, my Lord.

I have never been to a LAN party. Am looking forward.

Thank you.

You're welcome, AMA.

Bob, I use black. CAT5 in my systems. Opinions?

Ethernet cables should be yellow. And that's that.

It's thanks to you that I don't have to install token ring. Thanks!!!!

I only wish I had been a better salesman of Ethernet to IBM in 1980 -- would have saved us decades of Token Ring. You are welcome.

When designing Ethernet, did you ever consider a backpressure mechanism ala Frame Relay's BECN/FECN?

How do you feel about the current state of play (100G coming too late + too expensive, the approach of the IEEE being that 40Gbit was a good intermediary step) in the ethernet field?

If you were re-designing Ethernet with your current knowledge, what would you take out of the protocol?

Also - thank you for giving me a career :)

Ethernet had back-off for flow/congestion control, which then migrated up into TCP/IP also. Got the idea from the Santa Monica Freeway traffic lights.

Moves from 10G to 40G to 100G to 400G to TE are part of the Ethernet ethic, which says built it and they will come (eventually).

Why 40 and 400 instead of 50 and 500?

Ethernet speeds tended to increase 10X. Telephony speeds tended to increase 4X. At 10Gbps or so they converged and the two industries had to reconsider their improvement steps. I'm up for 1Tbps next.

Hey Bob! I've got an odd question if you don't mind...

Like most of us here, have you ever tried to plug an Ethernet cable into its respective port just to realize the device you're plugging it into only has a phone jack?

Cannot begin to tell you how many times I've tried to plug Ethernet into the wrong socket -- today even, in this hotel room. What is amazing, actually, is how many times it works!

What's your view on chipotle charging extra for guacamole?

Pay it.

What initially compelled you to develop Ethernet?

At Xerox Parc we were, if you can imagine it, putting a personal computer on every desk. I got the job of extending the Internet into our buildings to the PCs so they could print and access the Internet (then Arpanet). Lucky me.

Have just revisited "Metcalfe's Law after 40 years of Ethernet." The Law remains V~N^2. But I have put the Law in context using a "netoid" s-curve function and modeled the first 10 years of Facebook membership and revenue. The paper appears in the December issue of IEEE Computer. If you would like a free PDF of the paper, please send a PM to my reddit inbox with your email address.

Hey Bob I am a big fan ever since I learned about your work while I was studying to become an engineer. One thing I havent quite figured out is why you dislike open sources(sores) software? Would love to know the exact reasons behind your dislike of that approach to software development

OK, the question was, which way to deliver a modern operating system? The advanced American software company (eg Microsoft) or a non-profit group of open-source volunteers. This is a false dichotomy. I attacked Windows at the same time as open sores. Nether has delivered on that new OS I'm looking for. Just more old time-sharing systems.

What's your favourite internet pun?

Internet evangelist Vint Cerf goes around saying "IP on everything."

It's weird I'm sitting here in a Computer Networks class browsing reddit and I saw this AMA it's like a sign I should start paying attention to class or something.

Can you explain the OSI layer model? that's what the prof is doing but I'm not listening... I'll read it if you answer though.

The OSI model is a way of organizing and dividing the functions of a network, especially the Internet. I have lived a rich full life at layers 1 and 2 and sometimes 3 and 4 of the OSI model. All the fun gets had at layer 7.

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Protocol design is an art. It's important to leave things open for unexpected uses -- generality. TCP/IP/Ethernet were invented in 1973, and along came the web in 1989. Whoa! Also, mutual suspicion among protocol parties adds robustness.

As an IT professional, I feel I have to chime in because I'll never forget this:

OrangeWhite, Orange, GreenWhite, Blue, Bluewhite, Green, BrownWhite, Brown

still one of my favorite parts of my job.

Did you ever expect Ethernet (at least the physical media) to be installed in homes as much as businesses?

Yes, I did, but not until 1982, when we started selling Ethernet for the new IBM PC, many of which were going into homes with more than one.

Hello Bob - we met many, many years ago when I was a lowly account executive at Franson & Associates and you were the CTO at 3Com. We were your PR agency. I was always impressed that although you basically invented the company, you handed the reigns to Eric Benhamou, recognizing your strengths and his. That's the non-ego move that impresses me to this day. Later, while earning my MBA, you were held up as an example of a successful strategy vs. the engineer who develops the technology but can't run the company. Nicely done sir. Just wanted to pass that along.

Thanks. Twice, the Board of Directors which I assembled as Chairman of 3Com chose somebody else as CEO. In 1982, Bill Krause took over from me; in 1989, Eric Benhamou took over from Bill. In retrospect, my board was right both times. When founding 3Com, I decided early that its success was more important than my running it.

What was your favorite thing about PARC? That sounds like such an amazing place. Do you feel that the the current big companies like Google and Apple have R&D environments on par with what Xerox was accomplishing at the time?

PARC still feels like a futuristic wonderland to me.

Thanks for ethernet, by the way. I still love your original drawing.

The only companies that can afford research are monopolies, which I do not think are worth it, and they are the least motivated to take their innovations into the markets they dominate. So, I favor doing America's research at our 100+ research universities. Google is very cool R&D, like Parc was, only way bigger. Apple seems to do only D, but they do it so well and innovate "openly."

How far did you envision Ethernet would endure? Did you expect to see the evolution of 10M to 100M, through 100G and coming before too long 400G?

Did you consider Ethernet's applicability as a possible WAN medium way back when?

Ethernet has surprised a lot of people, especially me. Questions like yours depend on the semantics -- what you think Ethernet is. Ethernet in the WAN (killing SONET!) and Carrier Ethernet were big surprises to me. Look at Carrier Ethernet, now $100B/year.

Hi,

What are your thoughts on connecting little widgets and devices to the internet? Wireless or hard-wired? Does my toaster really need to be connected to the internet?

Yes, your toaster needs to be connected to the Internet. Emerging networks are both wireless and wired (fibered). For example, LTE packets go right onto fibered Ethernets -- LTE = Leads To Ethernet.

I don't have a question, just passing by to thank you for your work. You deserve more credit!

Actually, for Ethernet, I get more credit that I deserve, but that's the way life seems to go. Dave Boggs, Butler Lampson, Chuck Thacker, Tat Lam, John Shoch, David Liddle and 100s more -- we tried to share the blame at the Ethernet 40th event at the Computer History Museum.

You're my hero man. I constantly talk about the structure of data and how we send it over vasts distances.

A few questions:
Is it possible to implement ethernet on a toaster?

Have you seen the HDMI with ethernet on them? What do you make of that? What is the next big physical medium to tackle the use of ethernet?

I always romanticize what it was like back in the day creating the technology we currrently utilize daily. What was it like working with Xerox and ALOHAnet? What is the most romantic memory you have the tech industry?

Thanks for your time here today. You're a real internet hero.

Toasters will be networked for sure, the question is, what about slices of bread? Every slice should have an IPv6 node number, no?

Spent a month in Hawaii studying Alohanet isn early 1970s -- recommend that. Xerox Parc was heaven on Earth -- did not own an alarm clock.

I have a Computer Networks exam tomorrow. If the creator of Ethernet would wish me luck, it couldn't go wrong, could it?

Good luck on your Computer Networks exam tomorrow. Get sleep, drink lots of water, have fun.

bob, i love you! if you had to fight one inventor from history who would you choose and why

also side question do you think you could win in a fight against Bj novak?

Careful, bar fighting is one of my hobbies.

Am I allowed to worship you for your invention?

You may worship me, but only if it causes you to learn, to work, to communicate, to team up, to achieve great things yourself. I hope to serve you as a provocation.

Hey Bob!

In a recent interview with Bob Krause he tells a tale about how Steve Jobs influenced the development of 10BaseT (as opposed to the coax and vampire taps before).

Is Bob right? Can you tell anything else about how we got from coax to RJ45 connectors?

Bill Krause's story about Steve Jobs (RIP) complaining about Ethernet cables is certainly true. Steve would not shut up about it. So, he got AppleTalk developed, which was cheaper and slower and less cable ridden and non-standard. Took a long time to talk Steve into Ethernet, but by then it was quite different. Still he was unhappy with all the wires, and pushed for WiFi.

Was your invention intended to be as huge as it was?

Depends on which year. At the start, in 1973, the goal was mainly to print on our new laser printer. By 1980, world domination was the goal.

Favorite sandwich?

Pastrami. I'm a health nut.

What is your current stance on net neutrality and how do you propose to fix the balance between access and proprietary content?

Also... 100 cat5 cables or 1 cat500 cable?

Am neutral on net neutrality. Way too complicated. Busy elsewhere.

Bob,

First let me say thank you. I used to work at a network test equipment company, and knowledge of ethernet is so entrenched that it's kind of hard to believe there was a time that there wasn't ethernet. It's like you invented arithmetic.

Now on to my ridiculous question: I have a hazy memory of reading an article that you used to drink copious quantities of diet soda every day... like 24 cans. I can't find a reference to this anywhere on line, so it's likely that it's the result of my imperfect memory, but still, I have to ask: is this true?

Worse! I used to drink a case of (classic) Coke everyday, which is not good for anybody. Weight gain. Mania. Switched to diet, but now just avoid soft drinks, especially carbonated sugar water. Regular water is good for you.

Hey Bob! We make our interns make ethernet cables all the time!

What did you eat today? Do you remember what you ate the day you finally got Ethernet to work?

Today, so far, a scone. Day Ethernet first worked, Hunan.

For the future of humanity - excepting Ethernet and asteroid mining - what technology do you most eagerly await?

Excepting Ethernet and asteroid mining, hm, I am eagerly awaiting the Internet's coming disruption of education -- MOOCs and their descendants. Also, healthcare, more personal and preventative, thanks to networking.

Will I ever catch you on 6th street one of these weekends?

I am on 6th street every day. Live across from Whole Foods Market HQ. Or do you mean the bars further east?

Did your invention make you wildly rich? :)

Selling, not inventing, Ethernet left me with a fortune which is a significant fraction of a milliGates.

How should the Internet be governed? In particular, what should the role of government be? thanks!

Governments are running amok these days, and I'm worried.

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I bet there are differences of signal propagation among cable colors, but they are all close to the speed of light, so the differences don't generally show up in network performance. You are pulling my leg.

Where you involved with making Gigabit ethernet? And do they still belong to you? And can I please use it for umm... Science, ya science.

No. No. Yes.

I take it you don't get a penny for every Ethernet cable sold?

Used to get $1 per port, but now only a penny per packet. Business model innovation.

Holy hell, I almost feel like your level of knowledge and topic-area will be way over the heads of the average IAmA suscriber..

My question: Why Yellow?

Yellow was the color we chose at Xerox Parc to distinguish Ethernet cables in the ceiling from all of the others. See no reason to change now.

You probably met Edsger Dijkstra being a Longhorn and all. Do you have any interesting stories about him?

Before my time.

How did you feel about TCP/IP being chosen over OSI as the de-facto communications protocol on the Internet?

TCP/IP and OIS and XNS and DECnet and Wangnet and ... were all pretty much equivalent. What let TCP/IP win was the persistence of Vint Cerf and the interoperability ethic of TCP/IP (not simply conformance). Also, the use of universities and startups to advance TCP/IP rather than incumbent monopolies.

Hello Bob, Any thoughts on recording and transmitting smells, scents, odors via ethernet based robots? Tia. See you on the water in Owls Head this summer.

Only a question of time before we have a standard for digitizing smells.

Am looking forward to the ocean smells of Owls Head this coming Summer.

SDN, exciting thing or marketing BS?

SDN will change names several more times, but something akin to it, say network virtualization, is a coming thing, like for processors and storage.

Are you working on any new inventions now?

Am working on inventions related to the process of startups out of research universities. They make the world go round, but not well enough yet.

Ahoy Bob, what are your thoughts on security issues for all of our connectedness. It seems like it will just be a constant race between the 'good' guys and the hackers only with more at stake, like moving vehicles and the inner workings of our homes. What say you?

Internet security will never be a solved thing, but we can do a lot better than now. Ethernet makes no contribution, assuming the higher levels of protocol have it handled, which they do not.

What do you think is the best approach to deploying internet to far-reaching places of the world?

That's happening. Best approach is proliferating Free Enterprise.

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Mine: RFC #89, January 1971.