[ih] "The First Router" on Jeopardy

[Noel Chiappa]

    > From: Jack Haverty

    > Back in 1977 Ginny's system was called a "gateway", but later was
    > renamed a "router". ... in many customers' minds that term "gateway"
    > immediately set off alarm bells, because they had prior bad experience
    > with "gateways" in their IBM networks, and didn't want anything to do
    > with more "gateways".

I have a very definite memory (although not as detailed as would be optimal)
that the IETF community became disenchanted with the term 'gateway' for
'internetworking level packet switch' (the PUP people had earlier called
those 'gateways' too - although 'media gateway' was their verbose, specific
term - they also had 'protocol gateways'), because all sorts of people
started to pop up with boxes they called 'gateways', but which performed a
wide range of different functions (usually application level - many of them
for email), so one had no idea what someone _meant_ when they said 'and in
here we have a gateway'.

So we decided we needed a new term; and 'router' (I don't recall who
suggested it, alas - too bad we don't have the internet working group amail
archives - or maybe we'd transitioned to the IETF mailing list by then) was
short and snappy, and everyone liked it, so it was adapted by acclamation.

It should be possible to track this by looking at early RFC's, which I'll
do in a second.

	Noel