Ethernet Creator Makes the Inventors Hall of Fame 45
An anonymous reader wrote in with a Network World story that opens, "Ethernet is right up there with magnetic resonance imaging, the LP record, air bags, and soft contact lenses. So says the National Inventors Hall of Fame, which included Bob Metcalfe, inventor of the ubiquitous LAN technology, in its latest round of inductees."
Ah, Xerox PARC ... (Score:5, Insightful)
The technology center that gave birth to so many of the corner stones of modern computing ... the mouse GUI, the laser printer (yeah, xerox ...), ethernet and if I may say so - object oriented programming.
I'm not sure what it proves, but it does prove that when you're not thinking about immediate profit, there's so much you can do - but if you don't somebody'll pull the funding on you (and kick themselves years later).
What were they working in the nineties ? IPV6 ?
Re:Ah, Xerox PARC ... (Score:5, Informative)
One could argue that he didn't popularize them, but that's not necessarily what invention is about. Besides, neither did Xerox parc.
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We take all of those for granted these days, but try to imagine being at the demo and not only seeing these items for the first time, but seeing them all together in one demo!
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Warning to AC parent: no flashy games, videos, or porn ads. Just good information. AC's may want to avoid it, as it contains intellectual content.
Some of Bob Metcalfe's latest work (Score:2, Insightful)
enjoy...
A well deserved honor (Score:2)
Re:A well deserved honor -- For one of the two (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:I can think of one company who wouldn't be in l (Score:2)
Kinda spoilt... (Score:5, Informative)
He might have got it right decades ago, but these days, he's just another clueless pundit troll.
Re:Kinda spoilt... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Kinda spoilt... (Score:4, Interesting)
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when Windows 2000 gets here, goodbye Linux .. (Score:2)
It sure is, a bad taste pun that does nothing for his reputation. I wonder how his other prediction is coming along. It is 2007 after all. Maybe Bob is suffering from the halo effect [jamesthornton.com], wherein both he and others assume he is authoritative on all things.
was Re:Kinda spoilt (Score:4, Insightful)
--
Windows, the OS that made email and browsing dangerous
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Well, he was right. At least about the conclusion. Nothing else was accurate, but his conclusion was right. Linux did not defeat W2K. XP did. Linux continues the fight with XP, and has started making inroads in the server market, but still does not touch the desktop (figuratively speaking - the numbers are too small to contemplate compared to XP). And now Vista is out - will Linux beat Vista? I hope so, but only time will tell.
Re:Kinda spoilt... (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:Kinda spoilt... (Score:4, Funny)
This is slashdot. You left out "...or Linux highly reasonable and well-shaven proponent."
--Rob
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Which is quite right of center politically, to say the least. Which would be fine if he kept it out of his TECHNOLOGY column, but of course he can't. I remember reading one of his columns back in the late 90s when InfoWorld was still somewhat worth reading, and it was a lunatic rant against Bill Clinton and how he'd met him in person at some junket and had to fight the urge to jump at his jugular--or something to that effect, anyway. That's
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Everyone's allowed to have a public opinion about anything (cf Slashdot). Point your finger instead at the people who give Metcalfe a platform to express said political opinions, based solely on his technological background.
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In a way I did, that's pretty much when I stopped reading InfoWorld.
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Inventing Ethernet took every last drop of intelligence Metcalfe had... and didn't give it back.
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The original Hall of Fame, and hubris... (Score:5, Informative)
I found this out on the umpteenth watching of "The Wizard of Oz" when I suddenly wondered what the Munchkins were singing about when they sang "You will have a bust, have a bust, have a bust/In the Hall of Fame." I had to look it up because nobody I knew had any idea what the heck the "Hall of Fame" was, apart from the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, of course.
By the way, it has a number of open slots. #19, #47, #49. I think someone should propose putting Metcalfe's bust in one of them. So he will be as well remembered as Rufus Choate, Charlotte Saunders Cushman, and John Lothrop Motley.
It really says something when an entire Hall of Fame can be forgotten, doesn't it? If a brick-and-mortar Hall of Fame is forgotten in less than one short century, I don't think the National Inventor's Hall of Fame, which apparently has no physical existence, will be much more durable.
Ozymandias, anyone?
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Look upon my works, ye mighty, and...hey, hey COME BACK!
Umm, it is a real place ... (Score:5, Informative)
Umm, the Inventor's Hall of Fame is a real museum in Akron, OH. I've been there, it's a fairly interesting place (beats the Football Hall of Fame (Canton, OH) hands down). The museum has no busts, it trys to present inventions and the science behind them in a very understandable way with many hands-on exhibits.
Their website is http://www.invent.org/ [invent.org]
MOD PARENT UP (Score:2)
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Ozzy-who?
(yeah yeah, I've read plenty of Shelley...just couldn't resist).
Re: Shelley (Score:2)
"inventor"??? (Score:2)
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Dude hasn't been born yet. What the heck are you talking about?
Wouldn't It Be Ironic..... (Score:1)
Napkins (Score:2)