> One of the great things about IP is that it's extensible, there's still room for protocols other than UDP/TCP, you can still write something new and better, or a fixed TCP, and install it along side the existing protocols - of course getting everyone to accept it and use it will be difficult
Sadly, this isn't the case anymore since shitty middleboxes have taken over the internet. Using extensibility features in all kinds of protocols (be it TCP, TLS, UDP, or any other three letter protocol, really) causes middleboxes to drop traffic. Since we've all decided that shitty middleboxes are the protocol's problem to solve (because end users usually can't decide whether or not they're behind shitty middleboxes) all attempts at a new protocol are big puzzle pieces now.
Even existing protocols like MTCP and SCTP are dropped in favour of UDP because shitty firewalls can't deal with anything that's not TCP or UDP anymore. TLS 1.3 looks like TLS 1.2 packets because shitty middleboxes will just terminate your connection if they see TLS with an unknown version number.
It's quite depressing, really. I'm sort of hoping that at some point some weird proprietary or open source product with a fancy protocol comes out and becomes a hit, forcing shitty middlebox manufacturers to get their shit together (or tell the end user that the product won't work right because of shitty middleboxes and that they should complain to their service provider about it).
I'm all for backwards compatibility, but I'm sick and tired of MitM protocol parsers that refuse to follow spec being respected and worked around when it comes to new protocols. If you can't read the RFC, get out of the network protocol space.
Sadly, this isn't the case anymore since shitty middleboxes have taken over the internet. Using extensibility features in all kinds of protocols (be it TCP, TLS, UDP, or any other three letter protocol, really) causes middleboxes to drop traffic. Since we've all decided that shitty middleboxes are the protocol's problem to solve (because end users usually can't decide whether or not they're behind shitty middleboxes) all attempts at a new protocol are big puzzle pieces now.
Even existing protocols like MTCP and SCTP are dropped in favour of UDP because shitty firewalls can't deal with anything that's not TCP or UDP anymore. TLS 1.3 looks like TLS 1.2 packets because shitty middleboxes will just terminate your connection if they see TLS with an unknown version number.
It's quite depressing, really. I'm sort of hoping that at some point some weird proprietary or open source product with a fancy protocol comes out and becomes a hit, forcing shitty middlebox manufacturers to get their shit together (or tell the end user that the product won't work right because of shitty middleboxes and that they should complain to their service provider about it).
I'm all for backwards compatibility, but I'm sick and tired of MitM protocol parsers that refuse to follow spec being respected and worked around when it comes to new protocols. If you can't read the RFC, get out of the network protocol space.