Where Wizards Stay Up Late

by Matthew Lyon

  Chapter Two

  The description of Paul Baran’s work on distributed communications is based on personal interviews with Baran, as well as various interviews conducted by the Babbage Institute. The description of Donald Davies’s early work on packet-switching is based on interviews and correspondence with Donald Davies, and on Martin Campbell-Kelly’s articles and interviews. Arthur Norberg and Judy O’Neill’s awesome report, “A History of the Information Processing Techniques Office of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency” also guided us through biographical material and through the early years of IPTO. The report served as the basis for their book Transforming Computer Technology: Information Processing for the Pentagon, 1962–1986 (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996).

  Paul Baran and Professor Manley Irwin supplied the information concerning AT&T’s lawsuits against parties thought to be depriving AT&T of revenues.

  Doug Engelbart’s patent for his mouse came on November 17, 1970. It is patent No. 3,541,541.

  Chapter Three

  The history of Bolt Beranek and Newman was based on personal interviews with Dick Bolt and Leo Beranek. The description of Lincoln Laboratory was based on interviews with Wes Clark, Frank Heart, Larry Roberts, and Len Kleinrock. The description of events surrounding the request for proposals for the Interface Message Processor was based on interviews with Jerome Elkind, Frank Heart, Dave Walden, and Severo Ornstein, as well as various interviews conducted by the Charles Babbage Institute.

  Chapter Four

  The description of the building of the Interface Message Processor was based on interviews with Dave Walden, Ben Barker, Severo Ornstein, Bob Kahn, Frank Heart, Alex McKenzie, and Will Crowther. We also relied on ARPA’s request for proposals and on BBN’s proposal.

  Chapter Five

  The description of UCLA’s preparations for and receipt of the IMP Number One is based on interviews with Len Kleinrock, Steve Crocker, Mike Wingfield, andVint Cerf. The description of the Network Working Group’s early work in layered protocols was based on interviews with Steve Crocker, Jon Postel, andVint Cerf. The description of the first log-in session between UCLA and SRI was based on interviews with Len Kleinrock and Charley Kline. The description of the gridlock tests conducted in early 1970 was based on interviews with Bob Kahn, Dave Walden, andVint Cerf.

  John Melvin helped us in our unsuccessful search for whoever might have been at the other end of the initial log-in session between UCLA and SRI. Now we know who it was not. We are still eager to know who it was.

  Chapter Six

  The description of the early ARPANET sites was based on BBN quarterly technical reports, technical papers, and interviews with John Melvin and John Day. Alex McKenzie supplied information on the early days of the Network Operations Center. The description of the IMP’s maintenance problems and subsequent resolution was based on interviews with Ben Barker, Frank Heart, Severo Ornstein, and Alex McKenzie. The description of the ICCC ’72 demonstration of the ARPANET was based on interviews with Al Vezza, Bob Kahn, Steve Crocker, Len Kleinrock, Jon Postel, Alex McKenzie, and Larry Roberts. “PARRY Encounters the Doctor” was published in its entirety as an RFC and appeared in Datamation magazine, July 1973.

  Chapter Seven

  The description of Ray Tomlinson’s original e-mail hack and his choice of the @ sign as a separator—and as a problem for UNIX users—was based on interviews with Tomlinson and JohnVittal.

  Parts of the MsgGroup archives were first sent to us by Ed Vielmetti. Einar Stefferud saved them all and deposited them at the Boston Computer Museum. Ken Harrenstien helped us straighten out some early mailing-list history. Ned Freed supplied us with comparative figures on e-mail usage.

  The description of the origins of Adventure was based on interviews with Don Woods, Will Crowther, and Dave Walden. Woods’s recollections of Adventure also appear in The Unix Book of Games, by Janice Winsor, Prentice-Hall Computer Books, 1996. Observations on page 208 about proclamations of officialness on the Net come from “How Anarchy Works,” by Paulina Borsook, Wired magazine, October 1995. The history of the finger program came from Les Earnest.

  Chapter Eight

  Descriptions of the packet-radio and packet-satellite programs were based on various technical papers (see bibliography), as well as on personal interviews withVint Cerf, Alex McKenzie, and Bob Kahn. Some material was taken from interviews conducted by the Charles Babbage Institute. The description of the evolution of TCP/IP was based on interviews with Vint Cerf, Bob Kahn, John Shoch, Alex McKenzie, and Jon Postel.

  The description of the origins of Ethernet was based on interviews with Bob Metcalfe. Butler Lampson’s description of Ethernet is taken from Fumbling the Future, by Douglas Smith and Robert C. Alexander (William Morrow, 1988), p. 97.

  Ole Jacobsen’s article, “The Trouble with OSI,” ConneXions, volume 6, no. 5, May 1992, particularly the reference to double AA batteries, helped guide the section on OSI vs. TCP/IP. Peter Salus’s book Casting the Net, (Addison-Wesley, 1995), and his article “Protocol Wars: Is OSI Finally Dead?” in ConneXions, volume 9, no. 8, August 1995, also helped frame the debate.

  Danny Cohen gave us permission to edit slightly and reprint the poem that he read to those gathered at the Act One Symposium at UCLA in 1989.

  Bibliography

  Books

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