so i am chatting with the volvo mechanic this morning. he said that 25 years ago volvo had essentially two engines, carb and fuel injection. from the late '90s on, the variations grew; and the parts and tools one needed exploded. he started feeling supply chain issues early. and now the number of variations being designed is narrowing again. i suspect that, in years of overabundant late stage capitalism, folk went nuts. and we are now paying for it. one of my fave quotes I thought of it in a slightly different way--like a space that we were exploring and, in the early days, we figured out this consistent path through the space: IP, TCP, and so on. What's been happening over the last few years is that the IETF is filling the rest of the space with every alternative approach, not necessarily any better. Every possible alternative is now being written down. And it's not useful. -- Jon Postel randy