[124801] in North American Network Operators' Group
Re: What is "The Internet" TCP/IP or UNIX-to-UNIX ?
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Vadim Antonov)
Mon Apr 5 05:48:44 2010
Date: Mon, 5 Apr 2010 02:47:56 -0700 (PDT)
From: Vadim Antonov <avg@kotovnik.com>
To: Barry Shein <bzs@world.std.com>
In-Reply-To: <19385.11469.542125.882532@world.std.com>
Cc: nanog@nanog.org
Errors-To: nanog-bounces+nanog.discuss=bloom-picayune.mit.edu@nanog.org
It wasn't Moscow State U. It was privately-owned network (called RELCOM)
from the day one (which was in 1990, not 1987... in 1987 connecting a
dial-up modem to phone network was still illegal in the USSR), built by
DEMOS co-op (that company is still alive, by the way). Moscow State U was
one of the first customers (the guy responsible for connecting MSU later
founded Stalker Inc. which makes hi-perf e-mail servers).
It was UUCP-based initially, though I decided to avoid pathalias (it being
a horrible kludge) and wrote UUCP message router which translated domain
hostnames into UUCP next-hops - this is why email to .SU never used bang
paths.
The ability to build dirt-cheap networks over crappy phone lines and using
some no-name PCs as message and packet routers was noticed, see for
example: "Developing Networks in Less Industrialized Nations" by Larry
Press (EEE Computer, vol 28, No 6, June, 1995, pp 66-71)
http://som.csudh.edu/cis/lpress/ieee.htm
--vadim
On Sun, 4 Apr 2010, Barry Shein wrote:
>
> I remember around 1987 when Helsinki (Univ I believe) hooked up
> Talinn, Estonia via uucp (including usenet), who then hooked up MSU
> (Moscow State Univ) and the traffic began flowing.
>
> You could just about see the wide-eyed disbelief by some as they saw
> for example alt.politics, you people just say almost *anything!*, with
> your real name and location attached, and NOTHING HAPPENS???
>
> I still believe that had as much to do with the collapse of the Soviet
> Union as the million other politicians who wish to take credit.
>
> It's arguable that UUCP (and Usenet, email, etc that it carried) was
> one of the most powerful forces for change in modern history. All you
> needed was some freely available software, a very modest computer, a
> modem, a phone line, and like so many things in life, a friend.
>
> And then once you "got it", you looked towards connecting to the
> "real" internet, you knew just what you were after.
>
>
>
