NSFnet — 20 Years of Internet Obscurity and Insight

coondoggie writes "The National Science Foundation (NSF) reissued the words that started the Internet revolution 20 years ago today: 'The NSFnet Backbone has reached a state where we would like to more officially let operational traffic on.' That was the email sent to users of the NSF's fledgling NSFnet to announce that the network's backbone had been upgraded to a 'blazing T-1 speed.' NSFnet was created by NSF a few years earlier in an attempt to create a computer network similar to the Department of Defense's ARPANET. When the original six-node, 56 kilobits-per-second NSFnet backbone went into operation in 1986, NSF made the decision to allow any academic, governmental or commercial entity to hook up to this network of networks. Within a few weeks of going online, traffic on the new network began doubling every few weeks. The network's backbone of core 56 kilobits-per-second connections were considered fast, but they were not fast enough to satisfy the demands of all the new users who were coming online, according to the NSF."

Comments

government and private sector

[br00tus]

This seems to fly in the face of Condoleeza Rice's letter regarding ICANN. "The history of the Internet's extraordinary growth and adaptation, based on private-sector innovation and investment, offers compelling arguments against burdening the network with a new intergovernmental structure for oversight."

Of course, the Internet did not grow out of private-sector innovation and investment but off the government teat - for decades. I don't see much innovation either other than wiz-bang graphics, the ability to download crappy movies and shop. Things seem to have gone backwards since the mid 1990s to me - an open, social chat system like IRC is replaced by corporate mostly one-on-one chat like AIM (also security has lessened - everyone used to have DCC chat etc.) An open, sometimes intelligent message board like Internet went downhill.

The Fed has open its vaults and floats not only Bear Stearns and JP Morgan Chase, but all of Wall Street, the latter going mostly unnoticed due to the headlines about the former. Across the country from the Internet, to military contractors and the aerospace industry, business is propped up by government spending. Yet we are told how horrible big government and socialism and the like is because of so-called private sector innovation and investment. Right after 9/11, when Congress bailed out the airline stockholders, but not the workers, Dick Armey said bailing out the workers as well was not "commensurate with the American spirit". He's got that right.

Re:a little nsfnet history

[Mr. Protocol]

Actually, CSNET was only nominally for computer science research departments. Actually they'd let pretty much anybody on who'd pay the freight. The research "hoop" was held rather low. We (at CSNET) had one company online which was a computer graphic rendering house using CSNET as a transit net between their offices in Canada and the U.S.: a pure Internet application.

CSNET's real purpose was to find out if it was possible to run an IP network at a profit. We did, if only just, and so various of our customers turned into today's Tier 1 providers.

As far as I'm concerned, today's Internet may have grown from NSFnet, but the NSF funded CSNET first, and CSNET was the first ISP. Really, the Internet grew from CSNET via NSFnet, in my book.

Incidentally, my monicker, "Mr. Protocol", comes from a column I wrote for twelve years in Server/Workstation Expert magazine, but he was really born in the online CSNET Forum, emailed monthly to the membership. His first incarnation was online, not print, and was rather more trenchant than the ink-stained wretch he later became...though the latter was far, far more profitable. Definitely fitting for an Internet character.

So?

[p3d0]

Was there ever a geek who used a BBS and didn't think of this?