[ih] Quick Question

[Dave CROCKER]

> RFC 1296 might prove of interest.
...
>> I'm sure it was over 200, most probably10s of thousands.
...
>>>                 How many people was connected to a network in 1980 ?   (BITNET, CSNET –just created-)...


1980 is an interesting year to consider.  Arguably, it defines the transition 
from a relatively pure research world for networking to the beginning of the 
production build-out, albeit often within the context of research.

RFC 1296 is a good place to start, in terms of direct Internet host connections, 
remembering that in those days, most of those machines were time-sharing 
services.  So there is a significant multiplier for many of those hosts, in 
counting people with access.  In those days, LANs were still quite rare.

CSNet was just getting started.  We had a small, predecessor email relaying 
service running to some Army sites that were not otherwise on the net. I don't 
remember how many sites, but the number was not huge.  I'll wave my hand and say 
that we were giving perhaps a few thousand people network mail access.

As I recall, Bitnet, too, was just getting started and likely did not have much 
reach yet.

UUCP was in mild use for email relaying.  I suspect that in 1980 it was the 
largest source of Arpanet -- remember it wasn't the formal Internet yet -- mail 
from places lacking full Internet connectivity.  (Usenet as an integrated 
service was also starting at around that time.)

All told, low thousands or very low tens of thousands sounds like the right range.

For the distinctions about type of access, take a look at RFC 1775 (To Be "On" 
the Internet)

d/

-- 

   Dave Crocker
   Brandenburg InternetWorking
   bbiw.net