An extensive history of the Internet, Web, Email, Usenet, IRC, and MUDs is covered here, and has been reviewed by many of the people that helped build the technologies: http://livinginternet.com/i/ii2.htm One correction - many references claim that Leonard Kleinrock first invented packet switching, which is the technology underlying the Internet Protocol. In fact, as described at the site, Paul Baran and Donald Davies first invented packet switching, independently, at about the same time. Kleinrock worked on digital message switching, and played an important part in the development of the ARPANET, but did not discover the magical properties of packets (many users of the same infrastructure, network robustness, etc). I've read the original papers on this subject, and corresponded with both Kleinrock and Baran. Davies published a paper on this matter posthumously a couple of years ago, and it was covered by the NY Times. This canard should not be further propagated - those involved in the academic community will appreciate the importance of proper credit -- it belongs to Baran and Davies. Cheers, Bill ____________________________________________________________ | | William Stewart | billstew@livinginternet.com | | Fun: http://LivingInternet.com/fun/ | | "That's our new computer. We can pinpoint any fire in town with that. | It's perfect for us, because, you know, we're the fire department." | - Andy, movie "Roxanne", 1987 |____________________________________________________________