Time Sharing (1950s-1960s)

• Connect remote 'dumb' terminals to scarce computers
• Send 'live' real time messages to load tapes (1966)
• Develop programs to store messages when operator not there
• Email (late 1960s)

Develop programs to store messages of multiple users

• BBS- beginning of shared access to online messages (early 70s)
• few computers- used by govt. and researchers by late 1970s
• beginning of 'computer conferencing'
• 1978 Ward Christiensen and Randy Suess- hacker like BBS
• 1981- IBM BC comes out; spread of grassroots BBS accelerates
• UseNet- Automatically share messages between computers
• Jim Ellis and Tom Truscott of Duke and UNC share. 1979
• FidoNet-
• Tom Jennings. Link independent BBS via automatic mail programs
• Creates globally accessibly, inexpensive, computer network that anyone with a personal computer could join

Multi-User Dial-up Systems [late 1980s to mid 1990s]

• Source, CompuServe, Prodigy, France's Minitel- vast investments to capture place on new market (Sears/IBM's Prodigy spend and lose $billion)
• Mass-Media Models- One provider will capture the market
• What Service- believed users wanted to access 'information' rather than chat.
• Minitel- French sponsor nation wide electronic network to replace telephone books. Used for biz, personal, educational uses. Locks users into their standard of terminals and connectivity standards.
• Centralized- often use 'dumb' terminal
• American Online (AOL) one of few remaining services in US- struggles to look like open standards, flat rate of competition

Videotex/Videotext [summary of key ideas of reading]

• Connect to a central server through your television
• Critics fear for privacy; central control of content
• Reality- people had other info alternatives; don't like dual use of TV's
• Result- a failure

ArpaNet-Internet [summary of key ideas of reading]

• Network of Networks
• Internet is really defined by its common 'protocol' or standard of connection
• Gateways from Internet can lead to other Networks (FidoNet, Intranets, Company Networks such as DecNet).
• Intra-net- Uses the Internet Protocol (IP) but is not publicly accessible.

• History
• US Defense Dept. sets up in late 1970s to link Military, Contractors, University research community
• Need to provide robust/reliable comm. in era of nuclear war- use of a decentralized, digital, packet switching topology
• Sharing super computer resources leads to regional networks 1980s
• Subsidized backbone restricts content there, but anyone can use the protocols.
• Commercial Use of IP grows so that by early 1990s, the majority of traffic is actually commercial even if the original backbone was still subsidized
• Jan, 1993, Public finally discovers Internet
• 1994. Original Merit-IBM-MCI backbone no longer subsidized
• Development of new, experimental high speed backbones (Internet 2, etc.) while most of the network explodes with new users
• Global, Decentralized Network- so how control content, development?

• Open Standards
• Standards are set by the global Internet Society (ISOC), by the users themselves.
• Ad hoc development, rather than being set by central body
• State/National Sponsored networks (ISDN as 7 layer protocol) developed too slowly.