[SATLUG] OT: Walmart Selling Linux PCs/ Right-Left paradigm

[Hector Bojorquez]

Sorry Al.. but unless you were directly involved in the intricacies of how
things were funded and/or were involved in the engineering and coding in
those think-tanks (like Cerf and Kahn were).. I just don't see how your
opinion on the matter can trump their direct involvement...unless it's just
political spite
On Nov 3, 2007 2:49 PM, Al Castanoli <afcasta at satx.rr.com> wrote:

>  On Fri, 2007-11-02 at 12:48 -0500, Hector Bojorquez wrote:
> > It was me...
> > I said that Wal-Mart don't get my money cause of their right-wing
> support.
> > I don't think we can ALWAYS keep politics out.
> > And just for fun...
> > I , for one, DO credit Al Gore with helping to "create the initiatives"
> that
> > led the Internet as we know it.
> > As Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn (inventors of TCP/IP) said
> >
> > "As the two people who designed the basic architecture and the core
> > protocols that make the Internet work, we would like to acknowledge VP
> > Gore's contributions as a Congressman, Senator and as Vice President. No
> > other elected official, to our knowledge, has made a greater
> contribution
> > over a longer period of time. Last year the Vice President made a
> > straightforward statement on his role. He said: "During my service in
> the
> > United States Congress I took the initiative in creating the Internet."
> We
> > don't think, as some people have argued, that Gore intended to claim he
> > "invented" the Internet. Moreover, there is no question in our minds
> that
> > while serving as Senator, Gore's initiatives had a significant and
> > beneficial effect on the still-evolving Internet. The fact of the matter
> is
> > that Gore was talking about and promoting the Internet long before most
> > people were listening. We feel it is timely to offer our perspective. As
> far
> > back as the 1970s Congressman Gore promoted the idea of high speed
> > telecommunications as an engine for both economic growth and the
> improvement
> > of our educational system. He was the first elected official to grasp
> the
> > potential of computer communications to have a broader impact than just
> > improving the conduct of science and scholarship. Though easily
> forgotten,
> > now, at the time this was an unproven and controversial concept"
> >
> > Had it been left up to Republicans who don't like funding research that
> they
> > don't see  IMMEDIATE or MILITARY benefits... well.. many of us wouldn't
> have
> > Information technology jobs.
> >
> > So yeah... Sometimes it is just FINE to talk about politics.
>
> I guess historical corrections in the media have worked... Much of the
> early work on the current Internet were done on milnet.  The move from
> the standard of NCP to TCP/IP was only possible at first because of
> government funding early development on the IMP.  Then, before the
> InterNIC was farmed out to Network Solutions, one of the greatest
> contributors in terms of funding and full time computer scientists and
> network engineers was General Atomics (part of what the media calls the
> military industrial complex). General Atomics stepped away from the
> InterNIC because of media scrutiny of their operations.  Without General
> Atomic's support, the NSF could no longer afford to administer it, and
> contracted .com and .net domains out to Network Solutions.  If you think
> that was an improvement over the original InterNIC, I guess you weren't
> managing domains back then and having to deal with what we
> affectionately termed notwork solutions.
>
> The folks I worked for when milnet was folded into the Internet were a
> bunch of egghead scientists and engineers, and they formed the original
> Internet Engineering Task Force. We didn't see many politicians on the
> operations room floor at the time.
>
> Given all the scientific inaccuracies in "An Inconvenient Truth", it
> appears the Nobel prize was given for political reasons more than for
> having actually accomplished anything.
>
> I respect Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn, but I think they're giving too much
> credit to Gore.
>
> Al Castanoli
>
> --
>  _______________________________________________
> SATLUG mailing list
> SATLUG at satlug.org
> http://alamo.satlug.org/mailman/listinfo/satlug to unsubscribe
> Powered by Rackspace (www.rackspace.com)
>