Re: No exponential backoff?
I could be wrong here but I have a hazy memory from my CompSci degree that for Ethernet CSMA/CD the whole point of the exponential backoff and retry was that your retry period was randomly chosen to be between 1 and 2 to the power of your retry attempt (based on what your slot/interval time was).
From Wikipedia:
After c collisions, a random number of slot times between 0 and 2c - 1 is chosen
Otherwise you'd have clients that clashed at the same time continually clashing as they all try again at the same time.
Anytime I've seen a "dumb" retry approach in a production system, (hey, lets wait 3 seconds between retries and give up after 3 attempts) this always springs to mind and I'm frightened by how many folk haven't a clue when I mention it.