Discussions among technical purists can often lead
to philosophical or budgetary debates that can
quickly derail otherwise-productive meetings.
These discussions are often referred to as Layer 8
(political) and Layer 9 (financial) debates.
Although these layers are not really part of the
OSI model, they are usually the underlying cause
of heated technology arguments.
Another common joke among networking professionals
is the type of networking problem referred
to as a “Layer 8 issue.” Because the network, computers,
and applications stop at Layer 7, Layer 8
sometimes represents the end user actually using
the system. So if you hear your IT person snicker
to his colleagues that your IT trouble ticket is
closed and it was a “Layer 8 issue,” the IT person
is referring to you.