[ih] Early Internet history

[John Levine]

In article <11fd50bf-d495-c4a5-ce77-06d96d04f14b at meetinghouse.net>,
Miles Fidelman  <mfidelman at meetinghouse.net> wrote:
>Kind of sounds like the international postal system.  Or shipping 
>packages internationally.  

About 20 years ago, in Internet for Dummies, I analogized the
operation of the Internet to paper mail.  The pre-TCP protocols were
sort of like registered mail, where each package has great value* and
is carefully logged in and out every time it is sorted or transported
to be sure it doesn't get lost.

TCP is more like certified mail, where the package itself is of no
value, only its message ("usually a letter from your insurance company
saying your policy has been cancelled.")  Certified mail is only
logged when mailed and delivered.  If it isn't delivered after a
while, you just send another copy.

I further tortured the analogy by saying you were mailing a copy of
the ten-pound manuscript of your novel, but the regulations limit each
package to one pound so you divide it into pieces and mark each one
PART 1, PART 2, and so forth.  The packages arrive in whatever order
the post office delivers them, and the recipient puts them back in
order.

R's,
John

* - in the 1800s the government shipped gold bars by registered mail