[Air-l] "listserve"

[Ellis Godard]

How does this account for how "listserves" became appropriated as a generic
from the brand ListServ?

-eg

 

 

From: Alex -Vipowernet [mailto:alex at islands.vi] 
Sent: Tuesday, May 29, 2007 7:39 AM
To: air-l at listserv.aoir.org; ellis.godard at csun.edu
Subject: Re: [Air-l] "listserve"

 

In the DOS era - before Windows - all file names were 8 characters long, so
listserve.exe would have been truncated to listserv.exe. Probably the reason
it is 8 characters long.  Who did it? Who wrote it? No idea... 

 

Alex Randall - survivor of DOS 1.0 in 1981... 

 

----- Original Message ----- 

From: Ellis Godard <mailto:egodard at csun.edu>  

To: air-l at listserv.aoir.org 

Sent: Tuesday, May 29, 2007 12:02 AM

Subject: [Air-l] "listserve"

 

I may have asked this before (I know I've at least raised the issue
elsewhere, perhaps not here), but anyone how or when mailing lists became
"listserves"? The etymological origin is probably ListServ (with MajorDomo,
one of the leading mailing list software programs) and "list server", that
beast which manages mailing lists. Was the adoption vague and gradual, or is
there someone to whom blame (credit?) can be pinned?

-eg


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