Thus spake "TOMSON ERIC" <Eric(_dot_)Tomson(_at_)SIEMENS(_dot_)ATEA(_dot_)BE>
The IETF is explicitly named in one of the 2 links. And suppose that the
majority of PC users connected to the Internet stop using TCP/IP and replace
it with TCP/MS... What would be the role of the IETF in such a picture?
What kind of influence would the IETF have on µ$oft? What if TCP/IP just
disappears? Don't WE have to be afraid of an Internet under one private
monopolistic control?
Do not mistake the computers for the networks that connect them. Microsoft
doesn't have much control over the Internet. Heck, even the IETF doesn't have
much control over the Internet based on how few ISPs follow the BCPs :)
MSN is just a speedbump on the info superhighway compared to a behemoth like
AOL. And do note that AOL has been moving away from its proprietary systems and
protocols in favor of open standards -- at/below the network layer.
Palladium is a potentially scary future, but that is unrelated to IP.
S