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NSFnet — 20 Years of Internet Obscurity and Insight

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the thanks-for-all-the-fish dept.

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."

5 of 81 comments (clear)

  1. PENIS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    goes where?

    1. Re:PENIS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      Your hand.

  2. oh noz! by ILuvRamen · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    I bet people were freaking over how they couldn't stream text in realtime like an IM program cuz there wasn't the bandwidth. It's just like the youtube and p2p will melt the internet crap today. Same bullshit different day!

    --
    Google's Super Secret Search Algorithm: SELECT @search_results FROM internet WHERE @search_results = 'good'
  3. Re:I actually thought of doing this back in the da by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Thank you for that lovely reminder that you invented the internet, Mr. Gore.

    [/sarcasm]

    In all seriousness, that's actually pretty cool - in a nerdy way. Too bad the patent system wasn't out of control back then (relative to today) or you could have patented the idea and made heaps of cash.

  4. Fp 6nAa by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    NetBSd u'ser