Actually this comes from an IBM Mainframe restruction. Eric Thomas who wrote Listserv wrote it as a VM application back in 1986. The application was really BITNET-centric and so limited by IBM coding restrictions. For Eric's version of history see: http://www.lsoft.com/corporate/history_listserv.asp On Tue, 29 May 2007, Alex -Vipowernet wrote: +In the DOS era - before Windows - all file names were 8 characters long, +so listserve.exe would have been truncated to listserv.exe. Probably the +reason it is 8 characters long. Who did it? Who wrote it? No idea... + +Alex Randall - survivor of DOS 1.0 in 1981... + + ----- Original Message ----- + From: Ellis Godard + To: air-l@listserv.aoir.org + Sent: Tuesday, May 29, 2007 12:02 AM + Subject: [Air-l] "listserve" + + + I may have asked this before (I know I've at least raised the issue + elsewhere, perhaps not here), but anyone how or when mailing lists became + "listserves"? The etymological origin is probably ListServ (with MajorDomo, + one of the leading mailing list software programs) and "list server", that + beast which manages mailing lists. Was the adoption vague and gradual, or is + there someone to whom blame (credit?) can be pinned? + + -eg + + + _______________________________________________ + The air-l@listserv.aoir.org mailing list + is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org + Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org + + Join the Association of Internet Researchers: + http://www.aoir.org/ + +_______________________________________________ +The air-l@listserv.aoir.org mailing list +is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org +Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org + +Join the Association of Internet Researchers: +http://www.aoir.org/ + ========================================================================== Paul Jones "Work as if you live in the early days of a better nation." Alasdair Gray http://www.ibiblio.org/pjones/blog/ pjones@ibiblio.org voice: (919) 962-7600 fax: (919) 962-8071 ===========================================================================