Groklaw: The Daemon, the GNU and the Penguin, Excursus: UUNET & Ch. 11

“By the mid-1980s there were several commercial networks in
operation. But they were limited in service and, generally quite
high in price. None was what we would think of as an ISP.

“In the Autumn of 1985, Rick Adams (then at ‘seismo’),
approached Debbie Scherrer, vice-president of USENIX, with a plan
for a centralized site, accessed via Tymnet by subscribers,
supplying Usenet access. In an email dated December 6, 1985, Debbie
expressed interest in this…”

Complete
Story