It wasn't Moscow State U. It was privately-owned network (called RELCOM) from the day one (which was in 1990, not 1987... in 1987 connecting a dial-up modem to phone network was still illegal in the USSR), built by DEMOS co-op (that company is still alive, by the way). Moscow State U was one of the first customers (the guy responsible for connecting MSU later founded Stalker Inc. which makes hi-perf e-mail servers).
It was UUCP-based initially, though I decided to avoid pathalias (it being a horrible kludge) and wrote UUCP message router which translated domain hostnames into UUCP next-hops - this is why email to .SU never used bang paths. The ability to build dirt-cheap networks over crappy phone lines and using some no-name PCs as message and packet routers was noticed, see for example: "Developing Networks in Less Industrialized Nations" by Larry Press (EEE Computer, vol 28, No 6, June, 1995, pp 66-71) http://som.csudh.edu/cis/lpress/ieee.htm --vadim On Sun, 4 Apr 2010, Barry Shein wrote: > > I remember around 1987 when Helsinki (Univ I believe) hooked up > Talinn, Estonia via uucp (including usenet), who then hooked up MSU > (Moscow State Univ) and the traffic began flowing. > > You could just about see the wide-eyed disbelief by some as they saw > for example alt.politics, you people just say almost *anything!*, with > your real name and location attached, and NOTHING HAPPENS??? > > I still believe that had as much to do with the collapse of the Soviet > Union as the million other politicians who wish to take credit. > > It's arguable that UUCP (and Usenet, email, etc that it carried) was > one of the most powerful forces for change in modern history. All you > needed was some freely available software, a very modest computer, a > modem, a phone line, and like so many things in life, a friend. > > And then once you "got it", you looked towards connecting to the > "real" internet, you knew just what you were after. > > >
