5 ms·

Symbolics made Lisp machines. Great company (for some definitions of "great"): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbolics http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbolics

by pinko 15y ago

timr 15y ago
What I don't get is why they're the oldest domain. Even the first few nodes of the internet (BBN, SRI, etc.) were registered as domains later than symbolics.com
- mseebach 15y ago
  It is not necessary to own a domain to connect a node to the Internet. DNS wasn't introduced until 1985, and as there was no domain sharks back then, there was really no rush to register. Edit: DNS dates from 1983, the TLDs we know today from 1985.
  - timr 15y ago
    "It is not necessary to own a domain to connect a node to the Internet." Wow, really? I've managed to pick up a few facts while writing scripts for webpages and connecting my home PC to the information superhighway for all these years, but I must have missed that one. I guess you learn something new every day! Tell me: have you seen the place where the tubes are connected? Are there lots of valves? Ahem. The question is: why did symbolics feel the need to register a domain long before the web, and months before any of the other major players? It seems remarkably prescient, and I'm wondering why they registered it, despite the fact that it (obviously) wasn't mandatory.
    - enf 15y ago
      Registering a domain name was pretty important if you wanted to be able to send and receive e-mail.
      - oikjhgbpokj 15y ago
        Except most of the email ran on internal company systems. To email an external address took a lot of scripts to convert to x.500 or !-path addresses In the early 90s I remember mailing copies of our /etc/hosts to other places we worked with and email often. There was no reliable central DNS
        chopsueyar 15y ago
        In the early 90s I remember mailing copies of our /etc/hosts to other places we worked with and email often. There was no reliable central DNS That is pretty badass.
  - duck 15y ago
    there was no domain sharks back then Ah, the good ol'days.
    - gscott 15y ago
      And domains were free at that time too.
- lispm 15y ago
  Why not? Symbolics originated from MIT research in the late 70s and were selling the first personal workstations in the early 80s. Their machines were connected to the Internet ever since it existed. IIRC at MIT some of the DNS tables were generated from Symbolics network namespaces at that time.
bradleyland 15y ago
You know it's old when the innards look like the inside of a Nortel Meridian Option 11c PBX. http://corporatetelecom-ca.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/images/meridian_1.157202311_std.jpg http://corporatetelecom-ca.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/image...

Symbolics made Lisp machines. Great company (for some definitions of "great"): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbolics http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbolics

by pinko 15y ago

Symbolics made Lisp machines. Great company (for some definitions of "great"): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbolics http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbolics

timr 15y ago

What I don't get is why they're the oldest domain. Even the first few nodes of the internet (BBN, SRI, etc.) were registered as domains later than symbolics.com

mseebach 15y ago
It is not necessary to own a domain to connect a node to the Internet. DNS wasn't introduced until 1985, and as there was no domain sharks back then, there was really no rush to register. Edit: DNS dates from 1983, the TLDs we know today from 1985.
- timr 15y ago
  "It is not necessary to own a domain to connect a node to the Internet." Wow, really? I've managed to pick up a few facts while writing scripts for webpages and connecting my home PC to the information superhighway for all these years, but I must have missed that one. I guess you learn something new every day! Tell me: have you seen the place where the tubes are connected? Are there lots of valves? Ahem. The question is: why did symbolics feel the need to register a domain long before the web, and months before any of the other major players? It seems remarkably prescient, and I'm wondering why they registered it, despite the fact that it (obviously) wasn't mandatory.
  - enf 15y ago
    Registering a domain name was pretty important if you wanted to be able to send and receive e-mail.
    - oikjhgbpokj 15y ago
      Except most of the email ran on internal company systems. To email an external address took a lot of scripts to convert to x.500 or !-path addresses In the early 90s I remember mailing copies of our /etc/hosts to other places we worked with and email often. There was no reliable central DNS
      - chopsueyar 15y ago
        In the early 90s I remember mailing copies of our /etc/hosts to other places we worked with and email often. There was no reliable central DNS That is pretty badass.
- duck 15y ago
  there was no domain sharks back then Ah, the good ol'days.
  - gscott 15y ago
    And domains were free at that time too.
lispm 15y ago
Why not? Symbolics originated from MIT research in the late 70s and were selling the first personal workstations in the early 80s. Their machines were connected to the Internet ever since it existed. IIRC at MIT some of the DNS tables were generated from Symbolics network namespaces at that time.

bradleyland 15y ago

You know it's old when the innards look like the inside of a Nortel Meridian Option 11c PBX. http://corporatetelecom-ca.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/images/meridian_1.157202311_std.jpg http://corporatetelecom-ca.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/image...