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5.0 out of 5 stars
Historically significant; written just before the Web, March 4, 2009
This review is from: The Matrix: Computer Networks and Conferencing Systems Worldwide (Paperback)
This book has been published for 20 years, yet it is a trifle amazing that now in 2009, I am the first reviewer of it on Amazon. Quarterman's book is now obsolete, but it is of historical significance to those studying the development of the Internet and its Web progeny. The book was written just prior to the onset of the Web, and shows the myriad email systems then in use.
In 1989, the now common me@somewhere.com had yet to dominate. If you have never seen any alternative addressing schemes, this can be a fascinating read. Several competing networks were common. Especially Decnet, which had addresses like SSDPVAX::wes, which meant a user wes at a Decnet node SSDPVAX. And routing was primitive and explicit. So to send to that machine, someone else on Decnet might address BERKELEY::SSDPVAX::wes, meaning that the BERKELEY machine would get the email and then forward it to SSDPVAX.
Another network well described by the book used the bang [!] notation. This also had a similar notation for explicitly specifying a relay node. Even the Internet had this facility, and it was needed in all 3 networks. Routing then was very primitive, and you often had to help things along by giving a relay node. Nowadays, who even thinks twice about this?
The reader should also note the very primitive GUIs in the book. Essentially, it's almost all text based. This goes hand in hand with the puny bandwidths then common.
A lot of the book is devoted to internetworking. How to connect between these disparate networks and send emails. Which by the way gives rise to the Matrix in the title. If you have n networks, then an n x n matrix describes the myriad interconnecting schemas needed.
Even when you tote up all the networks in the book, look at its global survey. What we had were by today's standards isolated islands of connectivity.
After the Web came out in 91-2, the current TCP/IP grew, and pushed the other networks into obsolescence. Maybe that are some vestigial Decnet networks out there. But you can safely ignore these, and you don't have to worry about emailing to and from them.
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