[ih] FYI - Gordon Crovitz/WSJ on "Who Really Invented the Internet?"

[Ofer Inbar]

Ian Peter <ian.peter at ianpeter.com> wrote:
> The writer of the LA Times article might have done well if he had checked
> with his friend Bob Taylor. He writes.
> 
> "Bob Taylor is a friend of mine, and I think I can say without fear of
> contradiction that he fully endorses the idea as a point of personal pride
> that the government-funded ARPANet was very much the precursor of the
> Internet as we know it today"
> 
> Well that's not what Bob Taylor has written elsewhere. To quote Bob,
> 
> "I believe the first internet was created at Xerox PARC, circa '75, when we
> connected, via PUP, the Ethernet with the ARPAnet. PUP (PARC Universal
> Protocol) was instrumental later in defining TCP."

That supports the assertion that the ARPANet was the precursor of the
Internet, so I see no contradiction.

Note that "the first internet" per se wouldn't necessarily have to be
a precursor of "The Internet".  Were there any packet switched
internets* in those days that did not connect to the ARPANet?  While
those would not have had a direct lineage to The Internet, it'd still
be interesting to know about them.  I don't recall hearing of any.

* by which I mean: interconnections of administratively separate
  networks in geographically separate locations with different
  underlying network types - administratively separate is key

  -- Cos