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

[Richard Bennett]

There were a few tables for companies to pitch their wares, as I recall. 
Dan Lynch would know, of course.

RB

Vint Cerf wrote:
> i thought the first meeting was 1986 and was just lectures by Internet 
> geeks?
>
> On Nov 5, 2009, at 4:30 PM, Jack Haverty wrote:
>
>> 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
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>

-- 
Richard Bennett
Research Fellow
Information Technology and Innovation Foundation
Washington, DC