[1st-mile-nm] After 50 Years, This Still Sounds Familiar

[Richard Lowenberg]

(Excerpted text sections from):
"The First Fifty Years Of The Internet",
an article in the latest issue of Vanity Fair, recounting the first fifty years
of the Internet's history, by assembling a bunch of the people who were
involved in different stages from conception right up until today, and getting
them to talk about it.

The article notes that both Paul Baran and Donald Davies, entirely
independently, came up with the idea of packet-switched networks.

Amusingly, AT&T plays the roll of the clueless big company who wants nothing
more than to kill the Internet and keep its monopoly.

Paul Baran: The one hurdle packet switching faced was AT&T.  They fought it
tooth and nail at the beginning.  They tried all sorts of things to stop it.
They pretty much had a monopoly in all communications.  And somebody from
outside saying that there?s a better way to do it of course doesn?t make
sense. They automatically assumed that we didn?t know what we were doing.

Bob Taylor: Working with AT&T would be like working with Cro-Magnon man.  I
asked them if they wanted to be early members so they could learn technology as
we went along.  They said no.   I said, Well, why not?  And they said, Because
packet switching won't work.  They were adamant.  As a result, AT&T missed out
on the whole early networking experience.

AT&T trying to kill the Internet, not seeing the business opportunity and
insisting things could never work (when they obviously did)?  That all sounds
mighty familiar...


-- 
Richard Lowenberg
1st-Mile Institute
P.O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504
505-989-9110;   505-603-5200 cell
rl at 1st-mile.com  www.1st-mile.com

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