What I Learned

April 26, 2008 7:48 PM

Vint Cerf on age, marriage, technology, jokes, and a three piece suit.
posted by Toekneesan (11 comments total)

Too short.
posted by Tube at 8:02 PM on April 26, 2008

Back in 1997 when Vint Cerf was the head of Internet operations at MCI they overbilled my little company for $16,000 and after trying everything else I could think of I e-mailed him directly and promptly got back this note:

nic

I apologize first for the delay in responding and
second for what appears to be a saga that must have
been very painful.

Although it will not make much difference for you,
I thank you for taking time to document these problems
and I will certainly take them up in the proper quarters.

Best wishes,

Vint Cerf

A $16,000 credit appeared on our next bill.
posted by nicwolff at 8:22 PM on April 26, 2008 [4 favorites]

"Al Gore had seen what happened with the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act of 1956, which his father introduced as a military bill. It was very powerful. Housing went up, suburban boom happened, everybody became mobile. Al was attuned to the power of networking much more than any of his elective colleagues. His initiatives led directly to the commercialization of the Internet. So he really does deserve credit."

Amen. Al Gore got too much crap for his original statement -- it wasn't entirely true, but it wasn't totally misleading either.
posted by spiderskull at 10:25 PM on April 26, 2008

Amen. Al Gore got too much crap for his original statement -- it wasn't entirely true, but it wasn't totally misleading either.

I've read that "take the initiative" was beltway speak for getting the ball rolling on legislation.
posted by delmoi at 11:47 PM on April 26, 2008

I came to snark, but instead really like the article. The Internet ready makes me wish I was 8 as well. The places we're going to go, man.
posted by bonaldi at 4:06 AM on April 27, 2008

This is the first time in my life I've ever heard of Vint Cerf, but that was a good article. I enjoyed it. And the guy looks good in a three-piece suit.
posted by Nedroid at 7:00 AM on April 27, 2008

I wish I could read the article, but there is an ad over it, and I can't close it because it's overlaid by another ad that doesn't have a close button.

It's the future of the Internet, but not the future I came to read about.
posted by ardgedee at 7:21 AM on April 27, 2008

I love Vint Cerf and I love three piece suits - I've only seen him once or twice, so finding out that he likes his vests was a lovely little bonus for me.

He really does represent the old guard when it comes to the internet, and we're going to be a worse place when we lose people like him.

Open standards and neutrality are so important - necessary just from an ethical standpoint, if nothing else. But the number of big names in the market who understand this are rather small these days.

(As much as I admire Cory Doctorow, he doesn't quite have the pull that a short note from Vint does, you know? if all our advocates for open networks are outside the carriers we're sunk, completely.)

I agree, the article was way too short. I wanted more.
posted by EricGjerde at 8:16 AM on April 27, 2008

He ate in the cafeteria just like everyone else at Worldcon/MCI and he really stood out in that three-piece suit. I wasn't surprised when he left for Google and was happy for him, but dang has telecom (all of the majors) seen a brain-drain/knowledge sink in the last few years.
posted by mctsonic at 2:00 PM on April 27, 2008

Also, he P's on everything.
posted by thisjax at 8:30 PM on April 27, 2008

You know, I think calling him the "Father of the Internet" isn't quite right.

He's more like the Fleet Admiral of the Internet.
posted by blacklite at 4:15 AM on April 28, 2008 [1 favorite]