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Revision as of 13:57, 18 December 2011
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (July 2009) |
Kevin Robert Elz, often referred to in computing circles as Robert Elz, or simply kre, is a computer programmer and a pioneer in connecting Australia to the Internet, and more recently, in connecting Thailand.
Career
Some of his achievements include developing a number of important Internet RFC documents, helping connect Australia to the world-wide Internet, developing the internet-based research network within Australia, and operating the .au domain registry from 1986 through to the late 1990s. He also managed the aus.* Usenet hierarchy from its inception in the 1980s until the mid-1990s.
He is an Honorary Fellow at the University of Melbourne, where for some years he worked in the Computer Science department.
Amongst undergraduate students within the department in the mid-1990s, he was considered a semi-mystical figure,[citation needed] having written the BSD operating system's quota system and contributed to its timezone management system.[citation needed] He was rumoured to have a work contract which allowed him time off whenever cricket was being televised.[citation needed]
Having previously lived and worked in Melbourne for many years, he currently lives in Hat Yai, Songkhla, Thailand,[1] where he is an honorary lecturer in the Computer Engineering Department of the Prince of Songkla University.[2]
Operation of .au
As the architect of the early domain-name eligibility criteria for ".com.au", Elz is largely responsible for Australia's not experiencing a domain name gold rush in the mid-1990s. The eligibility policy required a direct connection between a company's official name and its domain name, in contrast to the strictly first-come-first-served policy of the .com registry.
Elz was, however, criticised during his tenure, as domain name applications often took many months to be examined[citation needed], despite the commercialisation of the Internet and customer demands for quick turnaround times[citation needed]. He was also responsible for the controversial handing-over of the operation of ".com.au" to Melbourne IT in 1996.[citation needed]
References
External links
- Origins and Nature of the Internet in Australia by Roger Clarke