[ih] infrastructure history [was: who invented the Internet]

[mfidelman at meetinghouse.net (Miles Fidelman)]

John R. Levine wrote:
>> Looking at the details of research, development and operations for 
>> packet-switching and interworking, represented in today's Internet, I 
>> believe there was primarily government funding until the latter '80s, 
>> when commercialization started.  I believe the three notable 
>> exceptions were PARC's ethernet, Digital's routing work, and the 
>> interplay between PARC and ARPA reserarch folk.
>
> I was more thinking of big help in that it was built largely by 
> non-government organizations out of non-government parts, albeit paid 
> for by government money.

Though one interesting aspect is that a lot of the early users WERE 
government organizations and organizations funded by the government - so 
government's role was not just funding, but stimulating demand.

Miles Fidelman


-- 
In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice.
In practice, there is.   .... Yogi Berra