Chapter Summary
TCP/IP is something you use every day, for business and for pleasure. It works universally and helps overcome disparities in network technology, application software type, language barriers, and geographic distance. Perhaps the most amazing thing is that you don't even know when you are using it! This seamless ubiquity is made possible by the use of open standards, and by abstracting the network performance requirements of application software into two categories: timely, or best-effort delivery, and reliable delivery of data.Chapter 3 explores the concept of open standards in much more detail, so you can appreciate exactly how TCP/IP accomplishes all it does.