20th Anniversary of the Dawn of Dot-Com

btempleton writes "It was 20 years ago today when I posted to USENET the public launch of ClariNet, my electronic newspaper service delivered over the Internet. By finding a way around the NSFNet acceptable use policy, ClariNet was the first business founded to use the Internet as its platform for business, and the era of the 'dot-com' had begun. For the anniversary I have written a history of the founding of ClariNet and early internet business, which outlines how it all came down. Readers may also enjoy the included anecdote about what I term 'M5' reliability, where the news system was so robust that, like the M5 computer on Star Trek, even those authorized to do so were unable to shut it off; and a story of the earliest large SF eBook effort."

Comments

So we should blame you?

[caerwyn]

So in other words, we should ultimately blame you for the commercialization and spamming of the internet?

I'm not sure you should have told us that...

Sgt. Salt

[Tablizer]

"It was 20 years ago today..."

Beatle plagiarist! I'm tellin' the RIAA!

let's see how long 'first' lasts...

[Josh Coalson]

the best way I know to find out you were not first at something is to post on slashdot that you were.