Not sure, I think it was more complex than that. The "tcpmux" port 1 in /etc/services hints to some of the story. And wasn't there an early competing name syste

Not sure, I think it was more complex than that. The "tcpmux" port 1 in /etc/services hints to some of the story. And wasn't there an early competing name system (called NAMES maybe?) that included the port as well, which lost out against DNS for... some reason? I think there were some nuances that are long forgotten.