From: "Rod Gasson" 

"Bob Lawrence" 
wrote in message
news:1087232329{at}p12.f610.n712.z3.ftn...

>  Maybe you can answer a straight question without tryign to make me
> feel inadequatte

There's so many funny oneliners I can use here that I can't decide which
would be the most apt, so I'll leave it for you to add your own :-)

> bneen screwed by *real* experts).

Probably a few novices too.  EG, the dweeb that sold you an unsuitable
network cable.

>  Why does Microsoft use a different set of numbers for its LAN?
> M$ uses 169.254.0.0 with a 255.254.0.0 mask

Because that is the address block assigned by IANA (Internet Assigned
Numbers Authority) for
Automatic Private IP Addressing

> and Linux uses three others.

Specifically,
10.0.0.0 - 10.255.255.255
172.16.0.0 - 172.31.255.255
192.168.0.0 - 192.168.255.255

Which are also assigned by IANA for manually implemented private addresses.

As to WHY these specific address blocks were assigned I really couldn't say,
but in regards to what private network uses what particular set(s) is pretty
much an arbiary choice by the network admin.

Rgds,

Rod










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