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

Sat Nov 3 16:21:55 CDT 2007

Cerf and Kahn were clear..

"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"

On Nov 3, 2007 4:00 PM, Wayne Walker <wwalker at bybent.com> wrote:

> http://www.snopes.com/quotes/internet.asp
>
> It essentially says that Gore found it interesting enough to stay
> apprised of it's growth.
>
> That's all.
>
> On Sat, Nov 03, 2007 at 03:31:41PM -0500, Hector Bojorquez wrote:
> > 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
> > >
> > > --
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> --
>
> Wayne Walker
>
> # Code comments are lies waiting to happen
>
> wwalker at bybent.com                    Do you use Linux?!
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