[ih] The web as wind and whirlwind? (was Re: History from 1960s to 2025)

[Dave Crocker]

On 12/18/2025 6:52 AM, Andrew Sullivan via Internet-history wrote:
> 1. The introduction of URLs/URIs made the identity of a site (the host 
> part of an http URL) really important and encouraged the 
> identification with trademarks. 

My impression was that, since the issue is with domain names' ability to 
have real-world semantic, the trademark concern surfaces with /any/ use 
of domain names.  The web certainly exacerbated concerns, but it didn't 
create them.


On 12/18/2025 12:16 PM, Brian E Carpenter via Internet-history wrote:
> Here's a counterfactual question: what would have happened if the
> whole Clinton/Gore/Magaziner commercialization project had never
> taken place? 

Commercial use of the Internet was already a serious issue by the late 
1980s.  Before the Web was invented.

NSFNet had funding but was still ramping up.  So, again, the NSFNet, 
etc. effort pushed growth, and it pushed some organizational and 
operational choices, but I do not believe it created the inevitability 
of a commercial Internet.(*)

So, no, I think ISDN was not the likely alternative.  More likely was a 
version of the Internet, albeit with less operational and/or 
administrative flexibility.

d/


(*) In the late 1980s, I was managing development efforts for TCP/IP and 
OSI stacks on several platforms.  We went to a number of customers -- 
mostly commercial organizations -- to find out their requirements for 
moving from TCP/IP to OSI.  Without exception they said they had no 
interest in that capability.  And, in fact, they were eager for 
transition tools from OSI to TCP/IP. Again, this was before the Web was 
invented.

-- 
Dave Crocker

Brandenburg InternetWorking
bbiw.net
bluesky: @dcrocker.bsky.social
mast: @dcrocker at mastodon.social