way off topic: IP 101

[flash flash@xxxxxxxx]

≪I've never heard of a "class A IP address". What's so special about
them? Simplicity?≫

Not simplicity, size. Size matters.

Very far afield here: IP 101.

IPv4 addresses have the format x.x.x.x where x represents an 8-bit
binary figure, so 32-bits in total. A class A address means that the
first x-field is assigned by the powers that be, Jon Postel by name
(while he was still alive), and ICANN nowadays (that's Internet
Corporation--there's that 4-letter word again--for Assigned Names and
Numbers). The remaining three fields can be assigned by the organization
itself. So, three fields of 8-bits each gives you an address space of
well over 16 million. 1.0.0.0 is an example of a class A address, where
the "1" is assigned by the powers that be, and the ".0.0.0" are place
holders for the fields which are locally assigned.

You had to be a really big corporation (or major university) to get a
class A address (while they were still available); they're long gone
now. Ford, Stanford, U.S. Postal Service, that order of magnitude. The
U.S. military has its own separate address space, by the way, and a
separate infrastructure (separate physical wiring) to the Internet we
know and use.

There are also smaller address spaces, known as class B and C, as well
as some special purpose addresses (D & E) which don't concern private
users (anybody out there besides me (and maybe Robt.) who routes OSPF at
home?).

The U.S. govt sponsored the Internet until 1984 with tax funds. It was
then that the mil-net and what became the public Internet were
separated; the public portion was sold to service providers. The senator
who was then chairman of the committee responsible for the transaction,
was---drum roll---Al Gore. The man who sold the Internet.


Harry added ≪it's nice to know there are still some old-time lefties
out there.≫ As much I don't like really big corporate killers either,
the alternative is worse. The alternative is: the government tells you
what OS to use, there is only one program which runs on the official OS,
you have to get permission to use a computer (no one ever owns one), if
you try to run some other program than the one the govt sanctions then
you end up in a 'psychological clinic' for reprogramming. I've been to
the other side of the Berlin Wall; I've seen it. It didn't work.

There is, of course, one other alternative: anarchism. It is of
theoretical interest only, as a limiting case. Practically, mankind is
not ready for it. I wish we were, but we aren't.

So, until we are ready,
"Live long and prosper,"