[ih] internet-history Digest, Vol 37, Issue 1

[Vint Cerf]

the big button was an Interop innovation I think (Dan Lynch).
v

On Nov 2, 2009, at 4:44 PM, Jack Haverty wrote:

> This is like the arguments about when life begins - lots of different
> opinions...
>
> I like Bob's milestone - the Internet came to life when its technology
> (i.e., the TCP technology that enabled the "inter" aspect of Internet)
> was adopted for operational use and there was no going back.   
> Everything
> before that was prenatal, part of a lengthy R&D gestation.  Much of  
> the
> Arpanet software "DNA" carried over to the Internet algorithms.  But
> 1/1/1983 seems like a good date for when the Internet was "born".
>
> Subsequently, the offspring Internet consumed its mother Arpanet,  
> which
> disappeared totally - as happens in the animal kingdom.  But of  
> course,
> opinions may differ.
>
> At the time, the "Arpanet people" didn't think they were creating an
> Internet.  In fact, as I remember, the Internet was somewhat of an
> annoyance, since it significantly altered the traffic patterns which  
> the
> Arpanet internal algorithms were optimized to handle and caused
> operational problems as a result.  Those "gateways" (now called  
> routers)
> just acted weird, unlike normal well-behaved hosts.  The Arpanet R&D  
> was
> intently focused on making the network bigger and better, converting  
> to
> the X.25 interface, deploying clone networks for anyone who wanted  
> one,
> and in general evolving and commercializing the Arpanet technology.
>
> The government had to mandate the transition to TCP in order to make  
> it
> possible to communicate across several networks - the "inter" in
> Internet.  Without the mandate, I doubt it would have happened.   Our
> "Internet" today would probably be a gaggle of X.25 networks
> interconnected by X.75 gateways - that was certainly the plan.  The
> economics and performance of X.25/X.75 would probably never have
> permitted the creation of the Web, or any of the other "killer apps"
> that we now use everyday.  Packet-switching may have changed the
> economics of using long lines, but I think the "Internet economics"
> changed the cost structure on data comm dramatically, and that's what
> enabled the explosion of growth of "The Internet" from the mid-90s on.
> If the Arpanet had had its way, today's Internet, if it existed at  
> all,
> would be X.25/X.75.
>
> So, my perspective is that the Arpanet was not the fledgling  
> Internet -
> the Arpanet reluctantly nurtured the Internet, and eventually died  
> as a
> result.  Once TCP was required, the Arpanet was doomed; it took only a
> few years.  I wonder if there are any Arpanet-style X.25 networks
> left...
>
> I have a big red button that says "I Survived the TCP Transition
> 1/1/83".  They were handed out to commemorate the cutover, but I don't
> remember exactly where I got it.  Sounds like something Jon Postel  
> would
> have done though.  Anybody else have one?
>
> /Jack Haverty
> Point Arena, CA
>
> On Mon, 2009-11-02 at 12:20 -0800, Bob Braden wrote:
>> Noel wrote:
>>
>>   And speaking of the Internet as a distinct entity, whats it's  
>> birth-day
>>> anyway? I would call it the first day on which a packet was sent  
>>> from one
>>> host, across a particular kind of network, through a router (or
>> gateway as we
>>> called them back then), across another network, into another host.
>> (That woul
>>> d
>>> have been a TCP packet, I guess - no IP back then!) So where and  
>>> when was
>>> that?
>>
>> At the time, we reckoned the beginning of the Internet to be the Red
>> Flag day when the ARPAnet converted from NCP to TCP/IP: Jan 1, 1983.
>> I think someone has an "I survived..." sweatshirt to commemorate  
>> that date.
>>
>> Bob Braden
>>
>>
>