Between the end of the 1970s and 1994 a fierce competition existed between two possible standards, TCP/IP and OSI, to solve the problem of interoperability of computer networks. Around 1994 it became evident that TCP/IP and not OSI had become the dominant standard. We specifically deal with the question whether the current dominance of the TCP/IP standard is the result of third degree path dependency or of choices based on assessments of it being technical-economically superior to the OSI standard and protocols
