HAHA. I'm sure that OSI will invent at least 7 when it goes fully mainstream. I think you can say that the same logic applies even to internet OSI layers, in that first there was the link (point to point) then there was IP, then TCP, and at first HTTP was an application layer.
Really, whatever is implemented by an application is the application layer. Applications can be built on top of other applications, so the distinction becomes a bit vague.
Agreed, distinction will always be vague.
If we are forced to put structure around it though, I think that framework is reasonable, despite its flaws.
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Yeah, it just gets out of date as people keep stacking more things on top of what was previously called "application" as they interop them and the upper layers of the cake get more and more indistinguishable.
I think that really, even TCP/IP, as a network layer, is an application. How can you say that netcat is not an application? Or telnet, both of which sit directly above TCP/IP. Indeed, TCP is on top of IP, in fact, it's an application for reliable message transport. The network itself is an application!
Anyhow, la la la la so boring the grandstanding of academics who didn't invent the protocols to make pronouncements about other people's work.
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