Internet Evolution by V.Cerf

Vinton Cerf is one of my sources concerning internet. I did listen to him at a networking conference in Trieste, I think during September 1989. I did not undestand a thing as I was coming from the OSI world, in addition to being a utter newbie on the subject.

Although, I recalled the word "Arpanet "during a meeting at Didcot around 1981. I understood then that it was about a facility, triggered by a command like MAIL in VMS or UNIX, to assist multi-person collaboration. I was to liaise on a functional programming project between UK-ECRC and US-DARPA using the medium but that's all no more clues about it.

I have just found an old note by him that has the same title that I gave to a presentation I did in Greece at 1994, at the Technical Chamber. My thinking for using the phrase "the internet phenomenon" is elaborated in another blog that is also concerned with internet evolution. There, the influence is the phrase "artificial intelligence" the key term that concerned the pioneers of computing.

I have just followed a lecture by him given to students in Stanford University as a Google Internet Evangelist. The site has a list of very interesting lectures. I noticed that he exhibits an understanding of the Net through the means of his own experience (at the end of the lecture he also casts some future research problems).

I also want to show some light on the issue of "What is the Net ?" via the means of reflecting my own learning path, lasting several years during the period 1990-2000 that happen to cross significant Net happenings (*). It is certainly infinately distant to Cerf's path but none the less cannot help but notice the matching.

Now speaking of key people, I also read an article by Eric Schmidt in the Economist titled "World in 2008, do not bet against the Net". This makes me think how invaluable are such links as knowledge resource.



(*) Karen Ellis now runs Net happenings, did pay attention to my use of the site by making a reference to it (much obliged for the honour, thanks Karen)