American History 1988
Chapter 100 - 94: The Eve

Chapter 100: Chapter 94: The Eve

The privatization of the NSF network had already begun? Stephen was initially surprised, but he quickly thought of something. "Winton, are you talking about that place in Northern Virginia?"

As the head of the NSF Network Office, Stephen had heard about the changes in Virginia later that year. It seemed that the signs of network privatization had already appeared there.

"UUNET," Winton glanced at the other people in the office, "I think someone should have heard of it."

Yo-Yo net? Everyone looked at each other in confusion, their eyes slightly bewildered. The name was just too strange. Was Winton sure he wasn’t joking?

Seeing that no one had spoken up, President Kennedy had to ask, "Winton, this Yo-Yo..."

"Well, I admit~" Just then, John McCarthy, who was sitting next to Stephen, raised his hand, "When I was teaching on the East Coast, I was one of its users."

"John, you never mentioned this to me?" Being his old friend, as well as the person in charge of the NSF network, Stephen felt betrayed.

"Stephen, it’s just an insignificant small network service provider that has been established for two years and has accumulated only a few hundred thousand users," John gestured for him to relax, the influence of UUNET was limited.

"Hey, John, you had something good and didn’t share it with us?" It was then that the always cheerful Donald Knuth joined in, "That’s not geek at all; I feel like our friendship has been betrayed."

"Come on, UUNET is completely different from the NSF network." John waved his hands vigorously to explain, "They are building their own servers, a network that has nothing to do with the NSF network."

"Well, that’s too costly." Stephen was very clear about laying new lines; although it comes with complete autonomy, the expense is astronomical.

"That’s why they only have a few hundred thousand users." John McCarthy nodded in agreement, that scale wasn’t even a fraction of the NSF network.

Starting from scratch does free them from NSF constraints, but without ample funding, they couldn’t make it work.

"But this is already real privatization, isn’t it?" Winton Cerf, who started the conversation, looked at Stephen, "Additionally, the NY-SERNET route of the NSF network in New York State has been sold by the state government to William Schrader’s PSInet."

William Schrader was the previous manager of that route and, to some extent, even an employee of an NSF subsidiary organization. "Stephen, you couldn’t possibly be unaware of this."

"Well, I admit~" Stephen spread his hands with an authoritative look, "I know about the transaction, but the NSF is just a scientific research institution; we have no control over the New York State government."

"Hey~Stephen, you’ve quietly begun the privatization of the NSF network. Yet you’ve always told me you were unsure and needed my opinion!" John McCarthy looked at his old friend with a face full of shock, "Stephen, I feel like our friendship is being tested."

"OK~OK~" Stephen pressed his hands downward, signaling everyone to quiet down. "Alright, gentlemen. It seems everyone has their independent thoughts on the privatization of the NSF network. Now that we are all here together, why don’t we share the information we have?"

Don Kennedy was the first to nod. He was completely out of the loop and was purely interested in the gossip. It wasn’t his fault; as a university president, he had countless daily concerns, and the network was just one of them.

Winton Cerf, along with John and Donald Knuth, also nodded. Privatization was an inevitable trend, and getting a grip on the news earlier would allow them to secure their positions in advance.

But although everyone nodded in agreement, no one spoke. Seeing this, Stephen had to set an example.

"PSInet is an agreement Schrader and the New York State government signed privately; they spent money to buy local NSF assets from the government. Then they turned around to provide network services for the same customers, that is, the local government.

Government departments and local universities liked the deal because they believed private companies were more efficient. Additionally, in terms of expenses, it was much cheaper than the NSF network.

The New York State government even claimed they were using public funds to promote the birth of a private enterprise. That’s the situation, and PSI’s emergence was termed perfect. They obtained operating assets and a group of paying users."

While NSF nominally managed the network, it was only responsible for the expenses of a few main backbone parts. Those local switches not covered were maintained entirely by local governments and institutions.

The New York State government essentially outsourced this part of the work, and PSI became the operator. Their charges were much lower than the previous maintenance costs of the state government, and institutions like universities were very satisfied with PSI’s efficiency.

Therefore, the deal received unanimous support from the local internet users, and PSI actually broke away from the NSF network to operate independently.

Stephen wasn’t sure whether this beginning was good or bad, and he had no right to question New York State’s affairs. However, he had been observing PSI’s performance, which in a sense also served as a testing ground for NSF network privatization.

After hearing his explanation, everyone from Stanford breathed a sigh of relief. At least, they were happy to see such changes.

"Now it’s your turn. Those things happening outside of the NSF network—I may know even less than you do." Stephen spent most of his time in the Arlington, Virginia office. With the internet changing day by day, he knew many things were brewing quietly.

"As for UUNET, I just mentioned it." John McCarthy shrugged his shoulders and turned his gaze toward Winton.

As one of the fathers of the internet, Winton was the most sensitive to its changes. "Besides UUNET, another company, America Online (AOL), also started offering similar services this year. However, its scale might be smaller, but its potential for later stages looks promising.

Because compared to SPI and UUNET, AOL pays more attention to content services. They provide users with online news, interactive communication, games, and even shopping, among various activities.

You know, everyone has network services, but whoever can offer a more attractive online life will attract more customers."

Wow~President Kennedy was amazed; up until now, his most frequent use of the network was just to send emails.

News? Games? Shopping? These were beyond his imagination.

"What about you, Knuth?" Not waiting for Stephen to ask, President Kennedy eagerly took on the role. He wanted to hear more about the current state of network development. Maybe Stanford needed to reconsider its support projects.

A smiling Donald Knuth, who was also known for his humor, said, "Is it finally my turn? My bladder almost couldn’t hold out."

Everyone laughed at this, and the youngest person sitting here was in their fifties. At that age, some problems are common to all.

"Alright, let’s get back to business," Knuth chuckled, "You’re all focusing on the West Coast and the East Coast, but you’re overlooking the Midwest.

In Ohio, there’s an earlier business network, the American Network, which may be even larger in scale than that so-called What’s-it Network.

Of course, there are drawbacks. The Midwest is too insular. They don’t have much communication with the East and West Coasts, and while the American Network is large in size, it lags far behind in technology."

"The Rust Belt?" The first thing that popped into Kennedy’s head upon hearing Ohio was this.

The others felt similarly; their impression of that area was either "Rust Belt" or "Flyover Country."

Flyover Country, save for a brief glance downward from an airplane on a business trip, has nothing alluring about the Midwest’s inland areas. The term implies slow development and a dull life.

"Yes, that’s the place," Knuth narrated with enthusiasm his discovery, "I went there earlier this year and discovered this interesting network. What’s more surprising is that there was even the seedling of web commercialization."

"Web commercialization?" Not only was Kennedy astonished, but Stephen and Winton were also drawn in.

In such a backward place as the Midwest, commercialized websites had emerged unexpectedly.

"Price’s List," Knuth said proudly, pushing up his glasses, "Isn’t that name easy to remember? What’s more interesting are the little widgets on the webpage.

Winton, you know my specialty is algorithms, but that website even had something akin to a search algorithm application. That excited me, but unfortunately, due to time constraints, I didn’t have a chance to study it closely.

Perhaps once I’ve completed my current projects, I need to have a chat with that designer."

"It’s indeed surprising," Vinton Cerf had never thought that computer technology could originate in the Midwest.

As a Turing Award recipient, Knuth’s achievements in algorithms were foundational. His excitement indicated that there was something commendable about that website.

"But the Midwest is too far, and the privatization of the NSF Net won’t start there," Stephen plainly excluded the American Network of Ohio from their considerations.

Network communication services were juicy targets for both East and West Coasts; the Rust Belt was never within the scope of consideration.

Nobody disagreed on this point; the trendsetters of the Information Age could only emerge on the West Coast or the East Coast.

"So, regarding the privatization of NSF Net, nobody has any objections, right?" Stephen looked toward the Stanford contingent in the meeting room.

"Privatization is the trend, but we don’t want IBM to be the sole giant," Principal Kennedy stated Stanford’s stance plainly; the 1986 breakup of AT&T was a cautionary tale.

Once a behemoth achieves monopoly, no one except the government could be their match.

"I haven’t communicated with IBM yet, but I’ll try to balance things. As for whether SPI, UUNET, or America Online can join the game, that’s not my concern," Stephen, and his public service status, was indifferent to other private enterprises’ reactions.

The faces of the Stanford affiliates in the room varied. Although they all presently held professorships, they also had extensive connections with other Silicon Valley companies.

As said before, Stanford encouraged faculty to commercialize innovations. Vinton Cerf, aside from occasionally returning to Stanford to teach an open class, spent most of his time at MCI.

Vice President of the Department of Information was his other role, and it was no coincidence that MCI was also one of the contractors for the NSF Net.

John McCarthy, who had once received support from the Rockefeller Foundation, had a relatively close relationship with the East Coast IT industry.

Even Stephen, who appeared to be an outsider, actually had a deep relationship with IBM. In America, no one exists in isolation, not even academics.

"Winton, will you be attending the freshman open class at Stanford anytime soon? I’ve got three open classes to teach, and perhaps you could take one off my hands?"

As soon as they left the meeting room, Knuth latched onto Winton, who was preparing to leave. Knuth didn’t want to teach an open class; he was still working on his research project, yet he couldn’t decline the school’s task.

"Donald, I bet you want to slack off again." Winton knew him well; this guy had often asked him to stand in for lectures or classes in the past.

"Is Stanford not your alma mater? Don’t you have any sense of gratitude?"

"Alright, I know your tricks. But let’s make it clear, only one class. I can only stay in California for half a month, then I have to go to Boston."

"Winton, you’ll fall in love with those adorable kids. For half a class, I’ll be there with you," Knuth immediately showed an eager smile having just pretended to be stern.

"Ah ha~ At our age, nothing’s cute anymore."

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PS: More in the afternoon

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