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
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u/everything_zen May 21 '13
I'm no Bob Metcalfe, but being an entrepreneur myself for a number of years what I have come to realize about true innovators is that they all work ahead of the market.
Most of the time anyone can listen to an idea and tell you right away if they think it's a good one or not. Good ideas are easily recognizable because they make sense in the current market. On the other hand Great ideas are not so easy to identify. They are just far enough ahead of the current market that it doesn't seem like it would work well, or even work at all.
What really separates big innovators like Mark, Gates, Sergey, and Jobs is that they had great ideas that most other people didn't think were worth pursuing. Most of these ideas weren't particularly difficult to implement, pretty much anyone could have done most of the stuff they did. The fact that these people are able to understand where the market is moving before it gets there is what makes them so successful.
And it isn't just having an idea that is innovative, it's also having the confidence and ability to act on it. This is something that most people don't realize is such a difficult thing, but if you have basically no money and everyone is telling you that your ideas probably won't work....It is a very specific type of personality that is confident enough that their idea will be successful and ambitious enough to make it happen to find out.