On Fri, Sep 06, 2002 at 11:41:07AM -0500, Stephen Sprunk wrote:
I'd bet most of the customers I deal with learned networking from OS manuals or CCNA study books, all of which still teach classful addressing as the primary method. All of the ones I work with use the term "C" or "class C" to refer to a /24, and all are noticeably slower when dealing with non-/24 masks.
The point of communication is to get an idea across; if most of the people you communicate with don't understand slash notation, then you use terms they're familiar with even if they're imprecise or inaccurate.
I think NANOG's ISP-centric membership may skew the perception of our lexicon's state. Most network operators are not ISPs.
And half the internet's users type "u r kewl", and think that ethernet is a broadband connection. Just because a misconception is popular doesn't mean we should indulge it. :) Think of it as a public service, if you make an effort to say "/24", and someone asks and you explain it, thats one less confused person circulating around teaching others. -- Richard A Steenbergen <ras@e-gerbil.net> http://www.e-gerbil.net/ras PGP Key ID: 0x138EA177 (67 29 D7 BC E8 18 3E DA B2 46 B3 D8 14 36 FE B6)