Old Weird Ward
Unless otherwise noted, that which is posted here is opinion, which is protected by the First Amendment to the US Constitution. If you don't like my opinions, go somewhere else. Nobody is forcing you to actually read this drivel.
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Saturday, August 23, 2003
- - - - - Internet Efficiency - - - - -
Ran across an interesting line at Jerry Pournelle's website (HERE), which I quote:
"The Internet wasn't intended to be efficient, it was intended to be reliable. It also wasn't intended to become so widespread. It has done pretty well given that it is operating with about 10,000 times as many clients as it was designed for."
A little, very short, history: The Internet was indeed intended to be reliable. It was originally designed to allow academics and government and military people to exchange data, and was called "Arpanet", as it was built under the aegis of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA. It was originally envisioned that no more than 64,000 computers would ever be hooked up. This is one of the few military-related programs that has borne real fruit for the general populace.
Some others that you might not have thought about recently: Aircraft traffic control systems (pioneered by British and American armed services, particularly the Navy with it's aircraft carriers), medicine - particularly emergency room services (Army and Navy, trying to keep wounded soldiers and sailors alive), and the Interstate Highway system, which was pushed into being by President Eisenhower, because he remembered a trip with troops, from East Coast to West Coast, by road, as a young officer in the 1920's. These 3 examples have had a profound effect on American life, and all started out as military projects.
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