Leonard Kleinrock On The Origins of Packet Switching

An Anonymous Coward writes: "From Ben Sullivan's Tech Blog (http://www.techblog.com). An email from Leonard Kleinrock on why he really was the brains behind packet switching. It's a first-hand account from Kleinrock in a blog. A neat little journalistic scoop for bloggers, and some insights for techheads on Internet history."

From last time

[oregon]

A previous discussion here [slashdot.org].

Re:everyone knows...

[Zeinfeld]

"I invented packet switching" -Al Gore

It is a shame that the GOP have to pay dweebs to sit in front of computers to repeat lies. Gore never claimed to invent the Internet.

Gore correctly and truthfully took credit for getting us the money to develop the Internet. He was also very helpful in the development of the Web. The endorsement of the Web by the Whitehouse had a massive effect on commercial use. It was also the final nail in the coffin for 'Interactive TV'.

Of course if a lie is repeated often enough people will eventually mistake it for the truth. This particular lie was invented because the GOP was frightened of the comparison between Gore who had achieve a lot and their empty suit of whom the best they could say was he would not interfere with his advisers.

His own webpage

[leiz]

He has his very own webpage [ucla.edu] with information about the early days of the internet as well as his accomplishments.

Time Magazine quotes Al

[Anonymous Coward]

Time Magazine, August 18, 1997, Al Gore: ``It was my determined work in the Senate that was responsible for the Internet. I invented it.''

Al Gore thinks he invented the Internet.

Re:How about Donald Davies

[Accelerated Joe]

Donald Davies is largely acknowledged for developing Packet Switching (and even coining that very phrase) at the National Physical Laboratory in the UK, however he was not American so he's largely ignored.

The article covers Davies' involvement. Kleinrock repeats again and again that there is cold hard evidence that he created packet switching before Davies (in his dissertation). This has nothing to do with whether Davies is around to defend himself or not. You really should have read the article.

Re:How about Donald Davies

[Slashamatic]

The commercial uptake of packet switching in the UK was slow though. The General Post Office who used to run all forms of communications in the UK from letters through to telephones (probably including carrier pidgeons) quite liked selling fixed lines.

the early nets did exist in the seventies, but these were research institutions and universities running on top of GPO leased circuits. They were vital for research infrastructure, but there wasn't much interest from other sources with deeper pockets, i.e., the military or commercial interests. The GPO eventially got some of the research switches rebuilt as products by GEC and it launched EPSS (Experimental Packet Switched Service) in the mid seventies.

The commercial PSS net didn't start until later. A lot of the early X.25 work was done in the UK and by that time other interests were getting involved, but now we are talking about the late seventies.

Effectively, the UK was running almost ten years behind the UK by then. Many companies started moving to X.25 nets but the initiative had been lost. I guess if defence interests had got interested in the technology, thst would have given it a financial boost.

Davies, though was not just an expert on packet switched networks, he also had quite a lot to do with computer security. Perhaps he didn't 'discover' PSS, but he certainly contributed a lot there as well as in other areas.

Re:everyone knows...

[isdnip]

In Congress, "initiative" refers to a funding measure. Gore led the charge for the funding for the NSFnet. That was indeed an "initiative". And the NSFnet was *the* major Internet backbone after the ARPAnet and before commercialization.

Finding a different meaning of a word which doesn't apply is simply obfuscation.

Re:Analysis isn't invention

[mgblst]

Off course, today implementation has changed a lot from the beginning, and we have a more ordered system, like the Vegas and Reno BSD algorithms.