zweig@uiucdcsp.cs.uiuc.edu (04/25/88)
Here's a paranoid thought: could this whole pay-per-packet thing simply be a ploy to help drive the last nails in the coffin of the arpanet? If charging is going to be unfair and unrealistic (i.e. bad for gateways and archives both of which are very important to the network) then the arpanet dies right on schedule, making way for the DRI and some nice OSI based kludgery that will make all this nonsense with pay-per-packet seem like the Dark Ages. I, for one, smell a rat. Johnny Zweig University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Department of Computer Science --------------------------------Disclaimer:------------------------------------ My views are my own, at least as far as I know, and should in no way be construed to represent the official views of this university or the department. Rule 1: Don't believe everything you read. Rule 2: Don't believe anything you read. Rule 3: There is no Rule 3. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CERF@A.ISI.EDU (04/30/88)
Johnny, Get your nose tested. There isn't a rat. The ARPANET is old technology now (56 kb/s) and costs a lot to operate. The ARPA guys want to spend their R&D money on new networking technology operating at much higher raes. The accounting issue comes up for two reasons: the MILNET operation folks need to allocate costs among the users of MILNET and the general growth of the Internet infrastructure can't be supported solely on government subsidy in today's climate. So we need to find ways for those who can to pay for services rendered. Vint
zweig@P.CS.UIUC.EDU (Jonathan Zweig) (05/01/88)
I agree heartily. ARPANET is old technology and should be phased out. I was merely speculating because it struck me as rather *too* con- venient that now that many people want to junk the arpanet, all of a sudden the arpanet is much less fun to use and harder to hook into. Does it matter? ARPANET is doomed anyway. We'll have DRI and OSI and all that sort of FUN (``eff-you-enn'') before long and the Earth shall smell again of roses. -Johnny Zweig