[ih] Dave Mills has passed away

[vinton cerf]

great story - I have added to my growing anecdote file :-))
v


On Fri, Jan 19, 2024 at 3:42 PM Jack Haverty via Internet-history <
internet-history at elists.isoc.org> wrote:

>
> > I am accumulating Dave Mills stories here:
> >
> https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XU6Fn5rFeJLO4mIBSa9e8V8BIDwafI0Lvlmi4gQwcmE/edit?usp=sharing
>
> For your Mills Compendium:
>
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> In the infancy of The Internet during the early 1980s, Dave was my
> friend and colleague.  He was always curious, competent, innovative,
> informative, and playful - for example, I learned from Dave that the
> popular PING tool was actually an acronym: Packet InterNet Groper.
> Internet meetings and mailing list debates were fun when Dave was involved.
>
> Dave was also my nemesis.   As the explorer and tinkerer scientist, Dave
> was always trying out new ideas for his potent army of Fuzzies - the
> small computers he was seeding around the Internet.  At the time, my
> task from Arpa was to "make the core Internet run as a reliable
> service".   Tinkering and Reliability do not mix well.
>
> Dave was the Scientist of the Internet.   At Internet meetings, Dave
> would report on his latest Fuzzy Adventures.   I can paraphrase his
> reports as "I tickled the Internet with a Fuzzy stick and it turned
> pink!"  My reaction was always "Don't do that!!"
>
> Few people probably realize one of Dave's crucial contributions to
> Internet technology - the concept of "Autonomous Systems", which
> survives today, 40 years later.  Dave didn't invent it, but he caused
> it.  The antics of his Fuzzies forced Eric Rosen and I to create
> Autonomous Systems and EGP as a "firewall" mechanism to keep the
> Internet "core" safe from the marauding Fuzzies and their occasional
> collateral damage.
>
> Scientists yearn to measure things.  Engineers just want to make it
> work.  In the 1980s, the scientist part of Dave needed to measure time
> on the Internet and there was no way to do that.   So he created one,
> quite elegant and unbelievably accurate.   Then his Engineering persona
> made it work.
>
> The Internet will never forget Dave.  As the Internet evolves into the
> Internet of Things, and billions of devices continue to appear, they
> will all know what time it is, thanks to Dave.
>
> Dave is still here, all over The Internet.
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