Who Really Invented the Internet? 497
jaymzter writes "The Wall Street Journal is running an article that it claims seeks to dispel an urban legend about the internet: 'The creation of the Arpanet was not motivated by considerations of war. The Arpanet was not an Internet.' The position of the piece is that it was Xerox's contribution of Ethernet that enabled the global series of tubes we know and love today, and what's interesting is that the former head of DARPA supports this claim."
Re:twisted pair, twisted logic (Score:5, Interesting)
The Internet existed before that (Score:5, Interesting)
According to Wikipedia, the first two computer networks were connected together (to form an "internet", because that is what the word means) was in 1969, more than 10 years before Ethernet was invented. That means an internet proceeded Ethernet in existence. Ethernet was created as one means of transmitting networked data. It was not the only possibility: dozens of other standards could have been adapted for a de facto LAN standard (note the "LAN" part of that: Ethernet isn't even really part of the Internet per se). It did not invent it, it did not proceed it, and in fact it was not even necessary to the Internet's existence. Hell, the backbone of the Internet is fiber optics, not Ethernet.
Also, I'm a little confused by them calling ARPANET "not an Internet" (not least because "Internet" shouldn't be capitalized in that context), since it was a connection of multiple networks together.
Re:twisted pair, twisted logic (Score:5, Interesting)
That's true now, but I'd invite you to go back and read the original Ethernet papers from PARC. They describe, among other things, a single (coax) wiring model, with support for up to 256 computers on a single broadcast domain sharing a 3Mb/s channel. Numerous parts of the specification are based on limits of the technology at the time, such as the number of RAM chips it was possible to fit on the board and the I/O speed of the Alto.
The evaluation paper on the Alto, published in 1979, points out that it's possible to imagine a network of thousands of personal computers.
Re:Lightly Veiled Attack on Obama (Score:2, Interesting)
Isn't it interesting how you just assume that everyone agrees with you.
So, just to clarify, you judge accuracy of a news source in terms of popularity? You're really not doing anything to dispel the stereotype of a Fox News watcher...
Re:Conservative opinion piece (Score:5, Interesting)
Last time I used Amtrak (admitted, a few years ago, though fairly regularly at the time) it was cheaper, faster (for a trip across the state) and FAR more comfortable than an airline. And more convenient. And more accessible. And there was better food. And no baggage fees. Basically everything was better. I probably wouldn't do it cross country, but if my choices are Amtrak or a flight, I'm probably picking Amtrak for anything up to ten hours. I'd LOVE to see what it could become if they invested more in it, but it's certainly holding it's own.
Recommended Ars Technica review of this op-ed (Score:5, Interesting)
Ars Technica review of this op-ed [arstechnica.com]
Recommend Bruce Sterling's Short History (Score:4, Interesting)
http://w2.eff.org/Net_culture/internet_sterling.history.txt [eff.org]
SF and S-fact author Bruce Sterling did a fine little "short history" essay back in 1993. It was not only "not just Xerox" or "not just government" or "not just private industry", it was "not just America".
Note that 'Packet' is a very British term - and one of the really, really crucial developments was thinking of communications with packet-switching, not "opening a continuous line between sender and receiver".
It's a classic Wall Street Journal piece: reasonable research and fact-finding, but then they have to put the spin on it. That predates Rupert Murdoch by quite a bit.
Re:twisted pair, twisted logic (Score:4, Interesting)
The only truly innovative contribution of ethernet was CSMA [wikipedia.org]. Which, by the way, is now only relevant on the WiFi edge. Don't give credit to ethernet where it is not due. Do give it credit for providing a cheap, PHB-friendly networking technology that was good enough to actually do the job, and flexible enough to be upgraded many times over. Also give it credit for mysteriously succeeding in areas where it sucks balls compared to the alternatives (e.g. laughably bad OAM, chunky scaling increments, no link-level channelization resulting in a litany of encapsulation/MTU problems, no in-band maintainance channel, and absolutely no supportive mechanism for low-latency real-time capabilities.) OK well, scratch that. The success isn't mysterious, it was perfectly sensible if you looked at the prices -- the mystery was really the failure of competing technologies to chase it on price.
Oh, and give PoE credit for being an extremely well engineered, safe, and reliable power delivery add-on. But that's beside the point.
Re:Conservative opinion piece (Score:5, Interesting)
I took Amtrak from San Jose to LA last month and had a great time.
And I hear it's even more comfortable if you get a cabin, that gives you access to the lounge car where they have wine tastings and all sorts of entertainment.
It was great. If you're in no rush it's a great way to travel.
Who created civilisation? (Score:1, Interesting)
The question is pointless. It's like asking who created society, or civilisation.
The WWW, however, now that's another story. I'd say CERN, Switzerland is to be held responsible for that. More specifically, Tim Berners-Lee, creator of HTTP 0.9, HTML, the first web browser, the first web server, and the first web pages.
Somewhat related, the first images to be served on the WWW is believed to be promotional shots for the parody pop group Les Horribles Cernettes [wikipedia.org].
WSJ mangles history (Score:5, Interesting)
Ars on the story: WSJ mangles history to argue government didn't launch the Internet [arstechnica.com]
Re:twisted pair, twisted logic (Score:5, Interesting)
The poster has it wrong.
Surprise!
Robert W. Taylor was never the head of DARPA. He was, however, the guy who proposed and ran the ARPAnet for DARPA, under Director Charles Herzfeld, until he left to become head of Xerox PARC. (Although he got the idea while J.C.R. Licklider was head of DARPA, Taylor didn't pitch it as an actual, fundable project until Herzfeld took over.)
Taylor absolutely does NOT credit Robert Metcalfe (developer of Ethernet) for the invention of the Internet. Instead, he reserves the lion's share of the credit for himself. I know this, because he called me in 1994 to lecture me about what he felt were inaccuracies in a column I wrote for LAN Times about the origins of the Internet. (Specifically, he objected to my statement that the earlier RAND thought experiment on a nuclear-war-survivable, peer-based, packet-switched network was the basis for the development of the Internet.)
You can read more about Licklider, Taylor, and others who were responsible for the devleopment of the Internet in my December 2000 Boardwatch cover story "They Might Be Giants" [starkrealities.com], if you're interested in the real story, as opposed to the WSJ's warm, stinky piece of journalistic shit.
The Anti-Obama crap (Score:4, Interesting)
Obama is the typical college professor who knows a lot of facts and information and theory, but very little real world knowledge. President Woodrow Wilson had the same flaw. (And also lied that he would not take us to war.)
Obama, like Clinton, are 2 of the very few US presidents who came from *nothing* families (alcoholism, dissociated family life, working class at best). Look what they each achieved in their lives. Meanwhile the Bushes and now Romney were born into US$ multimillionaire political families and never had to fight or work to get anything. I ask you this: Look at what you are in life. What have you achieved? My bet is you're still living in the basement playing games. As to Obama's "real world" experience, he has lived many places, seen the world up close. In contrast you probably haven't been out of the basement much. In your 3 short sentences you have shown your total ignorance, and there is no one alive without "flaws" including you... Had you achieved anything your sig wouldn't be "HP Desktop with i7 at 3GHz/8GB versus Dell i5 at 3GHz/12GB. To buy or not to buy?" You'd be able to afford both and a few more. In my home office I have 4 different computers doing different jobs surrounding me, and 2 more around the house (kitchen and bedroom) plus 5 "retired" computers in a closet (all of which still work). Get off my lawn...