Mark,

As long as we’re being pedantic, January 1, 1983 is considered the official birthday of the Internet, when TCP/IP first let different kinds of computers on different networks talk to each other. 

It’s 2021, hence the Internet is less than, not more than, 40 years old.  Given your mathematical skills, I put no stock in your claim that we still can’t “buy an NMS that just works.” :)

Pedantically, IP is 40 years old as of last month. What you're talking about is the flag day. People including myself were looking into internet protocols well before the flag day.

Mike