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

[Dave CROCKER]

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.)

As I recall, that was the sponsored event that the DoD's Heidi Heiden initiated. 
  I definitely remember that it was in Monterey.

Dan can confirm this, but I recall his crediting Heidi with the creation of 
Interop:  Dan asked Heidi about further such events and Heidi said there were 
none planned.  This opened the door for Dan's entrepreneurial effort.

I don't remember whether this was the event Dan referred to as Interop 0 or 
whether there was a later, practice run, before producing the open, formal event 
we know under the name.


> I wonder if the Internet would have been such a success if Interop
> hadn't happened to allow the "real world" to join the party.  And of
> course the signature chocolate chip cookies were crucial.

I share Jack's view that Interop was a significant contributor to the adoption 
of the Internet.  The hands-on quality of any interop (little 'i') seems to jump 
the quality of products by at least six-months.  More importantly, interop 
events socialize the technology and create a technical community with shared 
experience.

Instantiating such processes into Interop (big 'I') essentially created a place 
for an entire industry to coalesce.

IMO, the simulated chocolate cookies provided when Interop moved to the San Jose 
Convention Center were not even close to the wonderfulness of the Monterey 
Doubletree's recipe...

d/



-- 

   Dave Crocker
   Brandenburg InternetWorking
   bbiw.net