Over the years I have had the misfortune of listening to Bob Metcalfe shameless claim to be the inventor of Ethernet, and held my tongue out of some combination of embarrassment for Bob, and timidity on my part. Years before that first misfortune, I had the great fortune to speak with David Boggs for some time. He patiently explained the theory behind this new technology, why it was better than others, token-bus, for example, and so forth. So, when this article says "invented by Bob Metcalfe and others" it fails to include the guy whose name appears on the patent with Bob, and is listed first, I believe. I am delighted to see Ethernet evolve so well, and there is room for a lot of fun discussion about how it morphed into what it is, but when we think of this, we should try to honor all the major contributors, especially when they are the technical genius behind the idea. Shame on you Bob. What would your Mother say?

Over the years I have had the misfortune of listening to Bob Metcalfe shameless claim to be the inventor of Ethernet, and held my tongue out of some combination of embarrassment for Bob, and timidity on my part. Years before that first misfortune, I had the great fortune to speak with David Boggs for some time. He patiently explained the theory behind this new technology, why it was better than others, token-bus, for example, and so forth. So, when this article says "invented by Bob Metcalfe and others" it fails to include the guy whose name appears on the patent with Bob, and is listed first, I believe. I am delighted to see Ethernet evolve so well, and there is room for a lot of fun discussion about how it morphed into what it is, but when we think of this, we should try to honor all the major contributors, especially when they are the technical genius behind the idea. Shame on you Bob. What would your Mother say?