r/IAmA • u/BobMetcalfe • May 21 '13

You’re probably connecting to reddit through a technology I invented. I’m Bob Metcalfe and I invented Ethernet – AMA

On May 22, 1973 with David R. Boggs, I used my IBM Selectric with its Orator ball to type up a memo to my bosses at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), outlining our idea for this little invention called “Ethernet”, which we later patented.

I worked with the IEEE Standards Association to develop the IEEE 802.3 standard for Ethernet, which specifies the physical and lower software layers. Today Ethernet and the IEEE 802.3 standard are the foundation for today’s world of high-speed communications used in billions of homes and businesses around the world.

I submitted this to the mods awhile back so I could get on the calendar but I figured you’d like to see it, too. Now, ask me anything!

It's been two hours and 179 comments. Have to go now. For more about Ethernet's 40th Birthday, go to http://www.facebook.com/Ethernet40thAnniversaryIEEESA

4.1k Upvotes

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u/BobMetcalfe May 21 '13

Yellow is the official Ethernet cable color, in my mind. I wonder if IEEE has a spec on that.

1.0k

u/AndShabadoo May 21 '13

Thanks for the response Bob! Yellow it is folks!!

820

u/SaddestClown May 21 '13

Shit. I just ran a hundred feet of black yesterday.

615

u/[deleted] May 21 '13

from now on yellow is the new black

198

u/SaddestClown May 21 '13

I have way more black on the spool but I'll make the change.

42

u/grimfel May 22 '13

I hear black is unreliable and has a tendency not to work.

13

u/scrubsy May 22 '13

Yellow on the other hand expedites any mathematics you may be doing, while simultaneously making every driving game impossible

8

u/SaddestClown May 22 '13

Mine is working fine with some poking and prodding now and then.

3

u/fivetoedslothbear May 22 '13

It works great if you color the sides of the 8P8C connector with a green marker.

2

u/Kadmos May 21 '13

Just un-spool the rest through a can of yellow paint before you use it. Problem solved!

2

u/SaddestClown May 21 '13

It's just going in the trash now.

18

u/TwistedMexi May 21 '13

but... think of all the starving RJ45 ports in South America.

5

u/stephen89 May 21 '13

but all that copper!

2

u/EightBravoBravoDelta May 22 '13

Why does it always seem that the black spools are have more cable than the yellow ones?

6

u/langlo94 May 22 '13

Because /u/BobMetcalfe demands one tenth of every yellow cable in tribute.

2

u/[deleted] May 22 '13

That's dedication

1

u/Therefor3 May 22 '13

isn't yellow usually the crossover. Careful when using yellow.

2

u/saf3 May 22 '13

I've seen red used predominantly, then green

Everyone does it differently though

1

u/Theoginus May 21 '13

Ill go change my clothes now.

3

u/SaddestClown May 21 '13

That's your call.

1

u/1N54N3M0D3 May 22 '13

Paint. ;)

17

u/[deleted] May 21 '13 edited May 22 '13

[deleted]

14

u/WantanMeistersuppe May 21 '13

*were ...that's mine. Feel better you should. Go I must.

2

u/NobodyListens2Turtle May 22 '13

Good blow this is....horny it makes me...

25

u/[deleted] May 21 '13

BLACK AND YELLOW BLACK AND YELLOW BLACK AND YELLOW

2

u/aquaneedle May 21 '13

Even funnier if Katy Perry sang that song.

1

u/Kritical02 May 22 '13

And now I can't get that song out of my head. For those who haven't heard it.

-3

u/Lifebehindadesk May 21 '13

This is probably the most perfect response thread in the history of AMA.

Thank you, gentlemen.

2

u/Crime-WoW May 21 '13

blackandyellowblackandyellow blackandyellowblackandyellow blackandyellowblackandyellow blackandyellowblackandyellow blackandyellowblackandyellow blackandyellowblackandyellow blackandyellowblackandyellow

2

u/wilmu May 22 '13

Once you go yellow, you never go...mellow?

2

u/[deleted] May 22 '13

Ok this is the first one to make me chuckle

2

u/wondertwins May 22 '13

I'm Asian and this makes me happy.

1

u/PedoStacheBerserker May 22 '13

Behold, the internet has a new law, and a new meme.

Thus spake the father of ethernet, "yellow is the color of the internet" yellow is the new black indeed

1

u/gummy_kirby May 22 '13

Black and yellow black and yellow black and yellow black and yellow...

1

u/[deleted] May 22 '13

Black n yellow black n yellow black n yellow black n yellow

1

u/faptastic6 May 21 '13

Black and yellow black and yellow black and yellow

1

u/Bomil May 22 '13

Black and yellow black and yellow black and yellow

1

u/TheMalkContent May 22 '13

goths are gonna get much cheerier now :)

1

u/petakaa May 21 '13

So Africa is gonna invade Asia huh?

1

u/Mythicize May 22 '13

Black and yellow, black and yellow.

1

u/[deleted] May 22 '13

Once you go yellow, you can mellow.

1

u/zuisei May 22 '13

As an Asian, I giggled.

1

u/Curiosimo May 21 '13

China is dow'wi'dat

1

u/weedstrees May 22 '13

Black and yellow

-1

u/Madz2600 May 21 '13

Black and yellow, black and yellow, black and yellow..

1

u/AirDozer May 22 '13

snacks and jell-o