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

[Jack Haverty]

I just found my souvenir plastic pocket protector - "TCP/IP '87 Geeks on
the Bay in Monterey".  I think this was probably just before the name
"Interop" appeared, but it was arguably the first Interop conference.
The first name was "Advanced Computing Environments" (on my ceramic
souvenir tile.)

I wonder what else is down in this drawer....  /Jack


On Mon, 2009-11-02 at 18:34 -0500, Vint Cerf wrote:
> oh, duh, that can't be right (Interop wasn't born until about 1986 was  
> it?).
> 
> so I guess I don't know where that pin came from.
> 
> 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
> >>
> >>
> >
> 
>