I found the reddit thread referenced in the video and left comments -<p>On the original ethernet being a mistake -<p>"I have another perspective on this - the bus concept at its roots dates to 1974/75 - a machine that could function as a hub in 1975 or even in 1979 would have potentially been as large and costly as the mini-computers Ethernet was intended to interconnect. A switch at that time would have been extraordinary costly.<p>Bus was the right technology for the time (as in the right one to go to market), it was right because it was an easy low cost means to get the LAN concept into more peoples hands so they could see the utility of it.<p>What I did find surprising was Metcalfe's resistance to UTP based standards with a hub in the middle once the technology did catch up - my gut from here 40 years on - makes me think that he was concerned about protecting his investments in 10base5 and 10base2, and making sure his installed base didnt feel like they had an obsolete product - as well as protecting 3Com's position as a 'Market Leader' in the space.<p>As an aside, I remember working on 10Base2 networks well into the late 90's and early 2000's - it was widely used in certain situations - like computer labs - where the bus topology made installation significantly easier than home runs would have been."<p>On 8P8C being picked as the connector -<p>"Also as someone who has spent a portion of my career doing cabling, thank you for picking the 8P8C modular system, its significantly better - both in cost and ease of assembly than anything I'm aware of existing at that time.<p>While there are some electrical issues with the 8P8C, the connector has been flexible enough that with minor design changes to keep up as line speeds have increased.<p>As a note, there are several vendors that make push-thru modular connectors (as in the wire extends beyond the front of the connector shell and the crimper trims it, much like how the cut blade on a punch tool works), which completely eliminate the need to accurately trim and face the wire ends - a huge time/frustration savings."