rah@shipwright.com (Robert Hettinga) writes: [interesting article about the future, which includes..]
The reason we won't need LANs is because the only real difference between a LAN and the internet is a firewall for security, and the need for clients to speak Novell's TCP/IP-incompatible proprietary network protocol. With internet-level encryption protocols like the IETF IPSEC standard, you won't even need a firewall anymore. The only people who can establish a server session with *any* machine connected to the net will be those issuing the digital signatures authorized to access that machine, no matter where those people are physically. When that happens, networks will need to be as public as possible, which means, of course, TCP/IP, and not Netware.
I'm all for the end of ridiculous non-TCP/IP protocols, but does anyone believe this point about encrypted IP traffic eliminating the need for firewalls? I guess I don't trust the ability for people to keep secrets secret. Nothing like refusing to pass packets at all..