As part of a larger discussion, I prepared a single web page that highlights Internet use and technology as it was in October, 1990. The snapshot also lists all the domains and sub domains in the .com TLD. It may be hard to imagine that the typed list would fit on two letter-size sheets of paper. The entire HTML file is less than 30 KB. While I'm sure that many members of this forum would find the page of interest, I would appreciate getting any technical or historical feedback that the group can provide (except for discussion of today's domain name marketplace). http://www.iaps.com/list-of-internet-com-domains-199010.html The page has a link to a November 1991 text file, copied from an MIT server that contains a "uucp" mapping of the .com and .edu domains in Eastern Massachusetts. A lot of the servers were connected with dial-up connections, and it's interesting to see the administrators' records with poling frequencies and the type of information that was shared freely amongst the Internet community. I hope you enjoy the material and look forward to receiving your comments. TIA, Don PS: Since I'm looking for technical and historical feedback (and new to the Forum), I posted the thread in the Site & Server Administration section.
Nice information, will have a read soon. Also, nice domain you got there, maybe you could have purchased all the LLL.com and if they were available LL.com domains.
Very interesting to see all the information gathered together like that. Thanks for posting. What sort of information were you hoping you may get from this thread?
Agent, I could have been the world's first cybersquatter! It's interesting to note that most companies registered only one domain -- the one that corresponded to their company name. I don't know when foreign TLDs became available since most countries did not have Internet access in 1990. Companies got along fine with one .com domain. toycat, as you can see from the list, almost every domain name was available. mcfox, there are some specifics that I don't remember or cannot readily confirm. For example I cannot accurately recall the typical modem speeds or the size limits for e-mail messages. The speeds were so slow that it's almost impossible to think that I am not making a mistake. I would be grateful if someone would confirm or refute the content. Comments on spelling and grammatical mistakes are welcome too. If I omitted an important "highlight", please let me know. Thanks, Don
If you are making a mistake with modem speeds I would have to say it could be you have given a faster speed than was typical. My memories of typical modem speeds of that era were in the region of 4800 - 9600 bps, however, having said that, circa 1990 was when it began to ramp up and 14.4Kbps did become standard in the early 1990's but not, I believe, until around 1991. That would fall under the 'review website' category and will require you meet the forum guidelines before you can post in that section (You must have been a member for 7 days, not have an overall red reputation and have 10 total posts).
Also, how much did domains cost in those days, and how much would it cost todays society with the inflation?
Prior to 1995, there was no annual fee for registering a domain name. The management of domain registration was subsidized by the National Science Foundation. In 1992, InterNIC, a quasi-governmental organization was formed to manage the DNS registry and services. Also in 1992, Network Solutions Inc. (NSI) was awarded a contract to be exclusive registrar for .com, .net and .org Top Level Domains (TLDs). In 1995, Network Solutions began charging $100 for a two-year registration. Within a couple of years, that fee was dropped to $70 because the price was deemed excessive. In the late 90's, newly-accredited registrars offered cheaper prices. Domains could be registered or renewed for up to 10 years with a single payment. Hopefully I can find the check stubs for our annual registration fees and the purchase dates and prices paid for our 1200 - 28,800 bps modems. Don