Why IRC's Inventor Posted Code to Bring It Down
IRC's inventor called his own network doomed, then posted a program to bring it down, but had not tested it.
How a fight over open servers split the chat network that taught the internet to talk live, and why its famous war night was mostly strangers retyping the news.
Sources
8- Article4
- Interview4
The sources the story leans on most, primary sources first. Read dates are when the page was consulted; the live page may have changed since.
Image & music credits
21- License unknown9
- CC BY-SA 3.04
- CC BY 2.03
- CC BY-SA 4.02
- CC BY 4.02
- CC BY-SA 2.01
19 photos, 1 font, 1 music track, from the hosts linked below. Each file name links to the file's page, which carries the full license terms.
| # | Use | File | Author | License |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Photo | https://web.archive.org/web/19970619024605im /http://www.mirc.co.uk/mirc.gif | mIRC home page, 'What does mIRC look like?', June 1997 (via the Wayback Machine) | License unknown |
| 2 | Photo | https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/NSFNET-backbone-T1.png | Wikimedia Commons, NSFNET-backbone-T1.png | License unknown |
| 3 | Photo | http://www.kumpu.org/omakuva.gif | Jarkko Oikarinen's home page, kumpu.org | License unknown |
| 4 | Photo | Flickr - Government Press Office (GPO) - Patriot missiles being launched to intercept an Iraqi Scud missile.jpg | https://www.flickr.com/people/69061470@N05 | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
| 5 | Photo | https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Tolsun 2.jpg | Urpo Lankinen (User:Wwwwolf), Wikimedia Commons, September 2001 (CC BY 2.5) | License unknown |
| 6 | Photo | https://web.archive.org/web/19970619024605im /http://www.mirc.co.uk/chan1.gif | mIRC home page, 'What does mIRC look like?', June 1997 (via the Wayback Machine) | License unknown |
| 7 | Photo | https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Tolsun 1.jpg | Urpo Lankinen (User:Wwwwolf), Wikimedia Commons, September 2001 (CC BY 2.5) | License unknown |
| 8 | Photo | IBM 3270 PC.jpg | HungryHorace | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
| 9 | Photo | Tampere in 1987.jpg | Felix O | CC BY-SA 2.0 |
| 10 | Photo | Netsplit 2.svg | Scott5114 | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
| 11 | Photo | DEC VT100 terminal.jpg | Jason Scott | CC BY 2.0 |
| 12 | Photo | Denver-colorado-skyline.jpg | unknown author | CC BY 2.0 |
| 13 | Photo | Indoor Hot Tub Christmas Party.jpg | Joe Shlabotnik | CC BY 2.0 |
| 14 | Photo | https://archive.org/details/wired-magazine-03.04-1995-april/page/n122 | Wired 3.04, April 1995, via the Internet Archive (wired-magazine-03.04-1995-april) | License unknown |
| 15 | Photo | Sun SPARCstation IPX prototype.JPG | NapoliRoma | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
| 16 | Photo | 002 2020 04 21 Uhren fuer den Innenbereich.jpg | Friedrich Haag | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
| 17 | Photo | https://archive.org/details/wired-magazine-03.04-1995-april/page/n125 | Wired 3.04, April 1995, via the Internet Archive (wired-magazine-03.04-1995-april) | License unknown |
| 18 | Photo | Billiard Table at Cooch Behar Palace 03.jpg | Kingshuk Mondal | CC BY 4.0 |
| 19 | Photo | https://gdb.rferl.org/6436626c-66ee-43c0-b8fb-9a1802959ec6 w1024 q10 s.jpg | RFE/RL: 'People gather in front the Russian White House in Moscow on August 21, 1991' | License unknown |
| 20 | Font | https://int10h.org/oldschool-pc-fonts/ | IBM VGA 8x16 from VileR's Ultimate Oldschool PC Font Pack | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
| 21 | Music | The Solid Energy Crew - Imagine.wav | "Imagine (1998)" by The Solid Energy Crew (Andreas Viklund) | CC BY 4.0 |
_-_Patriot_missiles_being_launched_to_intercept_an_Iraqi_Scud_missile.jpg){kind=link}
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