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copied!<p>You're missing a critical distinction between SPX/IPX and TCP/IP. TCP/IP is the basis of the Internet. SPX/IPX is not.</p> <p>SPX/IPX was an interesting protocol, but is now of interest only within a given corporation.</p> <hr> <p>It's often the case in the real world that something technically superior loses due to business reasons. Consider <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betamax" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Betamax</a> video tape format vs. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vhs" rel="nofollow noreferrer">VHS</a>. Betamax was considered technically superior, yet you can't buy a Betamax recorder today except maybe on eBay. One may argue that Windows won over Macintosh, despite the fact that the MacOS user interface was much nicer, due entirely to business decisions (mainly the decision by Apple not to permit clones).</p> <p>Similarly, issues far beyond the control of Xerox destroyed SPX/IPX as a viable protocol - HTTP runs over TCP/IP, not over SPX/IPX. HTTP rules the world, therefore TCP/IP rules the world. </p> <p>SPX/IPX has been left as an exercise for the reader.</p> <hr> <p>BTW, I've been talking about SPX/IPX as though they were a Xerox protocol - not quite. They are a Novell protocol, but based on the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xerox_Network_Systems" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Xerox Network System</a> protocols. Interestingly, I found nothing about this protocol on the web site either of Xerox nor of Novell.</p> <p>Also, see the Wikipedia article on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPX/SPX" rel="nofollow noreferrer">IPX/SPX</a>.</p>

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