Where domain name actually came from?

Sorry for this silly question. But I really need to know about this basic stuff. Where domain names came from? like dotcom...dotnet..

 

Early 1980’s Universities wanted to connect their Local Area Networks (LANs) to the Internet. Ethernet made that desire possible, and as a result networking mushroomed.

· Summer 1980 – The NSF board decided to invest $5 million in the CSNET.

· 1981 – Bill Joy, at Berkeley, received ARPA funding to integrate TCP/IP into the Berkeley version of UNIX.

· August 1982 – Jon Postel and other in the MsgGroup decided to create a separate transfer protocol for e-mail. This decision led to the creation of Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP).

· 1982 – Joy teamed up with two Stanford Business School graduates to create a company called Sum Microsystems, which sold powerful computer “workstations” with Berkeley’s TCP/IP version of UNIX. These workstations greatly aided the re-popularization of TCP/IP.

· January 1, 1983 – ARPANET changed from NCP to TCP/IP.

· By June 1983 – More than 70 sites were connected to CSNET.

· November 1983 – The rapid growth of the internet caused massive problems in bookkeeping. To deal with this problem a group including Jon Postel, Paul Mockapetris and Craig Partrige published RFC 882 which created the domain name system (DNS) to make Internet navigation easier. With DNS, users can type host names such as “USC-ISIF” instead of “10.2.0.52.” Every Address would have information from specific to general.

· 1983 – The DCA decided that the ARPANET was too large to maintain high security standards. Therefore, ARPANET was broken into the networks: MILNET (sites carrying non-classified military information) and ARPANET (sites for the computer research community).

· October 1984 – RFC 920 establishes 7 generic “top level domains” (gTLDs, including .com, .net, .org and .gov) to provide domain space for corporations, non-profits, schools, networks, US government offices and the US military.

· 1985 – DARPA put pressure on Internet Users to adopt DNS addresses.

· 1985 – Using 5 new supercomputer centers, NSF built a “backbone” network called NSFNET in response to interest from non-computer science researchers. NSF agreed to connect self-organized regional networks to the backbone.

· 1985 – After Bob Kahn left, DARPA decided that ARPANET was obsolete compared with the faster NAFNET, and therefore decided to close ARPANET down.

· January 1986 – After a grand summit meeting, network representatives decided that the DNS system could and would work.

· By 1986 – The vast majority of the American computer science departments and many private corporations were connected to CSNET.

· November 1987 – RFC 1020 transfers control of Internet Protocol numbers from Jon Postel and ISI to the Network Information Center (NIC) at SRI International. First transfer of DNS activity to private sector.

· 1988 – The US Government chose Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) over TCP/IP for the new standard.

· 1989 – ARPANET passed the torch to NEFNET and the regional networks, and ceased to exist.



· September 1991 – RFC 1261 transfers NIC to Government Systems, Inc., in a document written by Network Solutions (NSI) employees.

· January 1, 1993 – NSI and National Science Foundation (NSF) sign Cooperative Agreement granting NSI authority to manage DNS registration and database. Agreement set to expire on 9/30/98.

· October 22, 1996 to May 1, 1997 – The Internet International Ad Hoc Committee (IAHC, a coalition of participants including ISOC, IANA, ITU and WIPO among others) forms to recommend policy and procedure changes for administering gTLDs.

· February 28, 1997 – IAHC releases the "generic Top Level Domains Memorandum of Understanding" (gTLD-MoU) as its recommendation of DNS policy; IAHC holds working meetings and solicits signatories to the Memorandum.

· May 1, 1997 – 80 organizations sign the gTLD-MoU and the IAHC dissolves. Dissenters to gTLD-MoU claim that it bypasses governance structures and fails to protect individuals/small businesses in Internet policy debates; there is further concern regarding the centralization of power over DNS in a non-governmental organization.

· January 30, 1998 – Department of Commerce issues a proposed policy statement, known as the Green Paper, to improve the technical management of Internet names and addresses. Elements of the gTLD-MoU are incorporated.

· June 5, 1998 – In response to comments received regarding the Green Paper, Department of Commerce issues a statement of policy, known as the White Paper, calling for the end of direct federal support of Internet name and address coordination services; and calls for "Newco" to be created and take over the DNS. Many of the same concerns raised in the gTLD-MoU debate resurface.

· July/August 1998 – The International Forum on the White Paper holds a series of meetings around the world to address issues left open in the White Paper such as dispute resolution and the formation of new registries.

· November 21, 1998 – The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) incorporates with aim of receiving designation as "Newco".

· November 25, 1998 – Department of Commerce signs Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with ICANN recognizing ICANN as the "Newco" called for in the White Paper.

Source : http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/icann/pressingissues2000/briefingbook/dnshistory.html