Ethernet is gonna be, if its not already, one of those lifetime IEC standards that everyone has to support similar to how there are 20 different power plug standards, and someday USB will replace those. Boy, Ethernet over USB. That’ll be the day…

250 years from now they’ll be running Cat6 in mega-spaceships because it works, and the error-correction will be good enough for cosmic ray noise.

The only bad thing about Ethernet cables is that they’re shaped like a goddamn grappling hook. If I wanna pull an Ethernet cable through my desk, I must understand that every other cable in its path is coming with it.

I’m really confused by the number of people here that are conflating Ethernet as a protocol and the physical medium it runs over. Coxial, fiber, and twisted pairs, can all carry different protocols. None of them are as ubiquitous in the home as Ethernet. Alternative network technologies are usually specific purpose, like fibre channel for storage, or infiniband for low latency, or 5G for wireless telecommunications.
It’s a very long lived protocol and it’s a testament to its lightweight and flexible nature. Ethernet really is a framework for higher level protocols where increasing change happens. IP addresses? Not Ethernet, that’s all Internet protocol. It’s more reminiscent of when electricity in the home was becoming common place. Before standardisation there was all kinds of chaos with different sockets, voltage, AC vs. DC etc. Although arguably that’s a less settled debate with suppliers and home users often preferring different standards.

It’s really cool how a lot of the tech that powers the Internet today has a looong legacy. The longevity is astounding!

I watched someone set up their own dial-up ISP on youtube, they were able to consume the modern net with it as well.

Let’s also mention how cheap basic managed and unmanaged switches are today. I just bought a couple to improve my wiring situation.

Ok now I’m curious what I’m missing out on. Can anyone recommend a good PCIe token ring adapter and concentrator?

Why wouldn’t it be? I don’t understand the point of this article. It’s not like some other direct P2P communication medium is going to come along and upend it. It doesn’t really make sense to run fiber inside your home. You don’t need that kind of bandwidth for such a small number of devices and it would be prohibitively expensive since you need a specialized, highly trained technician to run it - unlike Ethernet, where any sufficiently motivated person can do so. I’ve heard that the people that run fiber for ISPs make something like $200/hr or so.