More quotes from the author of Computer Networks (which by the way, is the 4th edition):

Page 235: Talking about the HDLC standard (a protocol for the data link layer), and its countless variants (also standards). The humor of the quote is independent of these topics, which some might not know:

…The nice thing about standards is that there are so many to choose from. Furthermore, if you don’t like any of them, you can just sit back and wait for next year’s model.

Page 289: Talking about the Gigabit Ethernet standard, and the different cables that can be used with it. One of these cables is fiber, which is very expensive. Twisted pair cables, like UTP, are cheap and very common.

The last option is packages of four category 5 UTP cables working together. Because most of this cabling is already installed, it is likely to be the poor man’s Gigabit Ethernet.

Page 289: Talking about Ethernet, and why it was and is so successful. Some of the reasons is that it’s simple and flexible.

A network vendor is in serious trouble when showing a large installation and says: “I have this fantastic new network for you. All you have to do is throw away all your hardware and rewrite all your software.”

Page 292: Talking about wireless LANs.

The other two methods use short-range radio… These use part of the spectrum that doesn’t need a license, the 2.4 GHz band. Radio-controlled garage door openers also use this part of the spectrum, so your laptop could find itself competing with the garage door.