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.