[ih] early competition and networking

[John Day]

> On Apr 15, 2024, at 10:49, Dave Crocker <dhc at dcrocker.net> wrote:
> 
> On 4/15/2024 7:40 AM, John Day via Internet-history wrote:
>> A collection of different heterogeneous networks with potentially 
>> different technologies, which might be multi-access, different forms of 
>> relaying, etc that would be interconnected by some means.
> Please review your above text, and let me know what about it does not apply to the email world of the 1970s and 1980s. because I think it describes it quite nicely.
> 
Because it is not the question I am interested in.

So far you haven’t answered that question for email. You have said it was solved, you have given examples, but not stated what the solution was.
>> The mail problem was much later and not the core problem.
> Using 1972 as the base reference, I think 5-8 years is later, but not 'much'.  
> 
> And while I understand what you intend about 'core', consider that the ultimate need for a user is getting the application they use to work widely and reliably enough.  They don't really care about underlying tech.  And for quite a long time, email was /their/ view of a core requirement.
> 
> IP sought to create a new, basic, end-to-end data exchange infrastructure.  Creating infrastructure usually takes a long time.  Gatewaying an application service can be much, much quicker.  Weeks, or months, rather than years. 
> 

IP didn’t appear until 1978. The solution to the question had occurred years earlier. By the time, IP appeared, the problem was long ago solved. But what was it?

Take care,
John
> d/
> 
> -- 
> Dave Crocker
> Brandenburg InternetWorking
> bbiw.net
> mast:@dcrocker at mastodon.social <mailto:mast:@dcrocker at mastodon.social>