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Use of the definite article

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Please, it's always 'the' ARPANET. See e.g. the DARPA report "A History of the ARPANET: The First Decade", which always uses the definite article; it never uses the bare term "ARPANET" as a subject, object, etc. I'm not sure how the use of bare "ARPANET" got started (perhaps by someone who wasn't a native English speaker), but it's wrong. Noel (talk)

Dubious claim in lede

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1st to use TCP/IP? It's my understanding that testing was simultaneous with SATNET, and full adoption was done by others before arpanet? Satnet went over in early 82, ARPNET in Jan 83 (officially, defacto dec 82)...86.142.118.35 (talk) 23:12, 14 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I'll change the lede to read ARPANET was one of the first to adopt TCP/IP. Whizz40 (talk) 04:03, 15 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

"By 1973, e-mail constituted 75% of the ARPANET traffic" as a dubious claim

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Hey all, Even though it is undoubted and actually referenced that e-mail has grown very quickly in ARPANET traffic since its inception, this actual figure seems unreferenced and even considered as dubious in a recent discussion of the History of computing "SIGCIS" mailing list. References 9 and 84 do not actually state that figure at all and should refer to the previous sentence. I am thus witching the references to the previous sentence,removing the dubious claim, replacing it with a similar, but unquantified, phrasing, adding a valid reference to it. Feel free to discuss it here. Alexandre Hocquet (talk) 23:57, 29 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Quite right. I handled a node and I wouldn't be surprised at the stat. But, I've never seen any actual published stats. O3000 (talk) 00:03, 30 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Done. Here is a link to the discussion on the SIGCIS mailing list as a ref Alexandre Hocquet (talk) 00:08, 30 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

It seems there is a source for 75%, which has been referenced in Hafner (1996) and reused elsewhere:

Looks like this can be restored in the article. Whizz40 (talk) 20:38, 30 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Invention of the Internet

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The following statement in the last sentence of the lead seems inaccurate:

"The ARPANET project was formally decommissioned in 1990, after partnerships with the telecommunication and computer industry paved the way for future commercialization of a new world-wide network, known as the Internet."

This implies that the Internet was newly created after ARPANET was decommissioned, which contradicts established facts, including other Wikipedia articles such as History of the Internet. To suggest that the Internet came about only after it was commercialized is obviously false, as this ignores the fact that email, Usenet, IRC, etc. were developed and active much earlier. The actual infrastructure and technologies of the Internet did not magically change after 1990. The Internet was known as the Internet for many years beforehand. In short, what I am saying, is that the Internet in 1990 was not a "new world-wide network." Laval (talk) 08:15, 9 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

No, it did not imply this. The text merely implies that this network was more commonly known as the Internet from thereon, while previously it was in fact more commonly referred to as the ARPANET. The new term gradually became more prevalent after the NSF expanded the ARPANET with new infrastructure circuits that had no connection to military funding.kbrose (talk) 14:25, 10 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Reworded to read as follows:
"The ARPANET project was formally decommissioned in 1990, after partnerships with the telecommunication and computer industry had paved the way for the adoption of the Internet protocol suite."
Whizz40 (talk) 20:49, 9 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Excellent wording. Thank you. Laval (talk) 12:18, 10 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Therefore this wording is in fact incorrect, or at least misleading, and untimely because the decision to use TCP/IP was far from final, despite already in use for a decade. It was a pragmatic result from commercial preference of developing TCP/IP applications and products. Many academic participants and the large network operators where still promoting the use of OSI technologies. PS: After the NSF funding expanded the network, the result really was as if a new network had been created. Rarely anyone among the academic drivers of the expansion wanted to connect to the old ARPANET branch, but wanted to connect to the NSFNet to connect to supercomputing centers and exchange datasets, papers, and communications among researchers who were constantly pushing for new, faster circuits. In terms of networking technologies, including network management, this was indeed a new network. Internet2 is a similar expression of that. kbrose (talk) 14:25, 10 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
That's not what the sources say and it is absolutely untrue that the Internet in 1990 was "new," as discussed above. Laval (talk) 03:07, 11 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
The sentence does not state that the Internet was new in 1990, but that the ARPANET was decommissioned in 1990, AFTER the arrival of commercial partners and build-out.
What sources? Sources need to reflect history correctly. By 1990, the TCP/IP suite was already in use for almost a decade, it didn't need any paving the way anymore. In fact many industry players were trying to pave the way for OSI protocols, which eventually failed because of the head start that TCP/IP already had. In many ways, the Internet expansion of 1986 forward was a new network in terms of infrastructure, and even of software (c.f. DNS, for example) as the old IMPs were phased out with modern routing equipment interconnect by new links that completely superseded the old infrastructure.
Furthermore, it is widely acknowledged that the ARPANET was a PREDECESSOR to the Internet, and not one and the same, and therefore it is well within bounds that the new network was in fact a new entity. In the academic circles, the main users of the network between 1986 and the very early 1990s, nobody talked about ARPANET anymore, but about NSFNet and Internet. Consequently, the ARPANET was retired in short order.
Other Wikipedia articles, such as NSFNET, correctly reflect this history, and pretty much make it clear that a new network came into existence with the NEW BACKBONES of the NSFNET with speeds of 56kb/s, then T1, and T3 circuits, and other regional networks (such as MERIT, and MIDNET,...), and the commercial backbones (IBM/MCI, ANS). kbrose (talk) 16:35, 11 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
I'll drop the word "new", which may suffice for consensus. Whizz40 (talk) 22:43, 11 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
While that might help, some more nuances are important. The DARPA research formulated, specified (in RFCs), developed and tested TCP/IP. International public data networks already existed as commercial services based on X.25, such as the International Packet Switched Service. So private sector expansion and future commercialization was a matter of time, indeed already existed. An internet was inevitable; even if it relied on gateways. Equally, the Internet that we have today, based on the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP including DNS, etc) was not quite assured at that point, as discussed above. It was the DARPA partnerships with the telecommunication and computer industry in the 1980s that had catalyzed the adoption of TCP/IP. That, along with its use on the NSFNET, at CERN and other benefits of TCP/IP compared with its alternatives, made it the protocol of choice for adoption on existing networks (e.g. JANET) as well as for the private sector expansion and commercialization as it happened. But even then its adoption for the Internet also depended on changes in NSFNET policies and ultimately NSFNET retirement as well as legislative changes in the US. We should be clear on what we attribute to DARPA/ARPANET. Whizz40 (talk) 13:15, 12 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Epilogue: dropped the words "new" and "future" and merged the two proposed sentences to read as follows:

"The ARPANET project was formally decommissioned in 1990, after DARPA partnerships with the telecommunication and computer industry had paved the way for the widespread adoption of the Internet protocol suite as part of the private sector expansion and commercialization of a world-wide network, known as the Internet."

-- Whizz40 (talk) 18:59, 27 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Two new sources for ARPANET history

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For editors looking to improve or update this article and seeking reliable sources for ARPANET history, I've recently learned of two historical documents from or about DARPA that have been made available online:

I don't currently have time myself to see if these sources can help improve this article, but I thought I would leave them here in case other editors do have the time. - Dyork (talk) 12:09, 25 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]

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