From an Infoworld interview with Bob Metcalfe...
Ethernet didn’t seem to have the problems that bedeviled IBM's Token Ring and ArcNet. Did this play a role in Ethernet's success?
Yes. Ethernet was simpler than its alternatives. It didn’t, for example, rely on the circulation and maintenance of the token. And Token Ring mathematically and, I think, sometimes unrealistically had advantages over Ethernet as long as the token was humming along. But if that token ever got lost or duplicated to create a storm, then things went to hell in a hand basket pretty quickly. The simplicity also allowed the implementations of Ethernet to be simpler and cheaper and come to market sooner. I mean, Ethernet beat Token Ring to market by five years. So that’s quite a lead. That’s probably what saved Ethernet from the IBM juggernaut.
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