[vcf-midatlantic] oldest email address in the club

[Dave McGuire]

On 09/08/2016 02:24 PM, Evan Koblentz via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
> Dave, I wasn't trying to start an argument.

  Oh yes you certainly were.  Starting out by trying to "learn me" the
definition of the word "fact" has no place in either a friendly
conversation nor a scholarly exchange of factual information.

>> You know, something that journalists typically know how to do.
> 
> There's no need to insult me.

  Oh, but there is!  You started out by being condescending and
insulting to me, to which I will respond in kind because I'm not there
in person to do anything further.  I was being generous enough to
correct your erroneous information (which just HAD to be correct because
you "saw it on the Internet") when you attacked me.

>>   Do you research and get your facts straight before making such claims,
>> and before pissing in my pool.
> 
> I'm not pissing anywhere. I just think you're underestimating the
> importance of the machinations of federal government in the history of
> the ARPA/NSF/INTER-net(s).

  I know you think that.  You're wrong.  I was there, I was involved.
You were neither there, nor were you involved.

  Inexplicably, I'm driven to correct you further.

  OF COURSE the federal government was involved in ARPAnet.  Just who do
you think ARPA is a branch of?

  MILnet split off of the Internet (with one gateway system remaining)
and allowed both to grow separately and independently.  At that point,
federal involvement in all things Internet essentially ceased, and it
was driven by private enterprise.  The NSFnet backbone morphed into
ANSnet (after ANS, a partnership between IBM, MCI, and Merit, won the
contract) and took over from there.

  (we eventually hired the Hostmaster of the MILnet NIC, too...look it up)

  The point that you're missing is that this backbone existed IN
PARALLEL with the established internet (meaning "inter-network") links
that were spun everywhere at that time, and had been for many years,
mostly between colleges but many corporations as well.  My company was
one such corporation before it transitioned into a backbone end-node
provider in 1994.  The network was HUGE before that.  Huge.

  Your bestowal of credit and accolades is misdirected.  I can teach you
all of this history if you want to learn it, but you have to be willing
to listen.

>> But don't take MY word for it (having only done a lot of that very
>> work myself), ask others who were also there.  I can give you some
>> contacts for your research.
> 
> Dave, I can read.

  Today I have my doubts!

> Keep in mind that sometimes people who focus on the nuts and bolts don't
> see the big picture.

  And sometimes people who cannot get through a day without proving to a
mailing list that they're the end-all, be-all of computing history
forget that there are people in this forum who actually DID this stuff
and speak from personal experience.  If and when you decide to actually
research this stuff, this topic in particular, you'll be interviewing
people like ME for these oral histories.  As much as you're sure to find
that distasteful.

                -Dave

-- 
Dave McGuire, AK4HZ
New Kensington, PA