[ih] History from 1960s to 2025

[Brian E Carpenter]

On 18-Dec-25 23:29, Elmar K. Bins via Internet-history wrote:
> internet-history at elists.isoc.org (Vint Cerf via Internet-history) wrote:
> 
>> Jack's summary and others seem to neglect the impact of the Web, but
>> perhaps the intentional focus was only on the network layers (TCP/IP,
>> QUIC/UDP)? It would be hard to explain the success of the Internet without
>> the HTTP addition in the early 1990s.
> 
> Exactly, which in turn allowed the user base to change dramatically (from
> technically interested fellows inventing things to the public at large,
> doomscrolling). No "normal" Internet user cares at all about how this
> functions, as long as it does. (See IPv6 adoption.)

At one point I started referring to the Web as "the fluff on top of the
Internet", especially when I wanted to catch the attention of
Tim Berners-Lee while we worked in the same building at CERN. There
really is a difference between the Internet viewed as a plumbing system
and the Internet viewed as an information infrastructure. And that is
fundamentally why we have the W3C as well as the IETF.

This list is mainly inhabited by plumbers.

     Brian

> 
> The users' focus is on applications (well, it actually isn't, but speaking
> technically), not protocols. And the applications change, too (email anyone?)
> 
> The focus of the IETF and other inventors is on making those applications work
> smoothly, and that is where protocol progress originates from.
> Well, except for the exceptions where nerds get excited ;-)
> 
> E.