Where can you find Klufts?
Here are some visible places
|
|
Personal Web Sites
|
|
Bob Kluft
|
Zandvoort, Netherlands
|
|
Ian Kluft
|
San Jose, California, USA
|
|
Matthew Kluft
|
Reno, Nevada, USA
|
|
Companies
|
|
Kluft Mattress,
"The Royal Standard"
|
Ontario, California, USA
|
|
Olympic Medalists
|
|
Carolina Kluft
|
Heptathlon
Gold Medal
Aug 21, 2004
|
Sweden
|
|
Amateur Radio Operators
|
|
K5EJK
|
Ernie Kluft
|
Dallas, Texas, USA
|
|
KO6YQ
|
Ian Kluft
|
San Jose, California, USA
|
|
KE6JCQ
|
John Kluft
|
Susanville, California, USA
|
|
Movie Credits
|
|
Dave Kluft,
movie producer credits
|
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
|
|
Book Authors/Editors
|
|
Cornelis Kluft, PhD
|
Netherlands
|
|
Richard P Kluft, MD
|
USA
|
|
History of Kluft.com
2003 marked the 10th anniversary of kluft.com.
- 1993
- Ian Kluft, a Silicon Valley software engineer,
registered kluft.com to serve as his personal e-mail address.
After using the Internet for 6 years (and UseNet for 9 years)
it was obvious there were no other Klufts on the Net -
the Net was still small enough that you could know that.
But no one knew at the time that the general public was about
to embrace the Internet.
It had previously been the exclusive workplace of
computer scientists and other technical users.
The initial nameservers for the domain were hosted at
Amdahl Corporation in Sunnyvale, California,
where Ian worked at the time.
(Ian founded Amdahl's corporate web site in late 1993 and maintained it
for its first two years.)
At the time, Amdahl was a Fortune 500 company but later was acquired
by Fujitsu, who discontinued the Amdahl name in 2002.
Though some web sites existed in 1993,
the kluft.com domain was initially only configured to serve e-mail.
At the time, the mail was delivered via UUCP over modems
to Ian's Linux e-mail server at home.
- 1994
-
The kluft.com web site was established,
hosted at Announcement Technologies (ATI) in San Jose.
Originally it was just Ian's personal web site.
- 1995
-
As some other Klufts obtained Internet accounts, the first thing they
looked for on the newly-established search engines was "Kluft",
and they found kluft.com.
Primary domain name services for kluft.com were moved to ATI
before Ian left Amdahl late in the year.
Ian decided to move his personal web site down one level from the
top of the web site to a
subdirectory on the same server.
A Kluft Family Home Page index was placed on the top level of the web site.
- 1998
-
The kluft.com web site was moved to the
Thunder.Net
server, hosted at Wallis International's "GeekSpace" hosting site
in Mountain View, California.
- 1999
-
The kluft.com web site had to be moved from GeekSpace at the end of 1999
before the building where they were located was expected to
fall down on January 1, 2000.
No, it wasn't a Y2K bug - that's just ironically when it was
scheduled for demolition to build a new office park. :-)
It led to a lot of Y2K jokes.
- 2000
-
The kluft.com web site and several other refugees of GeekSpace
were hosted for a few months by Dave Zarzycki at his home
in Cupertino.
The kluft.com web site was moved to the new Thunder.Net server
located at
InReach Internet
in Stockton, California.
- 2001
-
Before the economic downturn, kluft.com had links to 3 web sites each
in the USA and Netherlands.
The dot-com collapse affected many ISPs, closing and consolidating many.
One by one, web links began to expire without providing any updates.
- 2002
-
The kluft.com web site was reorganized in December
after everyone else allowed their web pages to expire.
- 2004
-
More links started to come again as the economy improved, more web sites
were established and Carolina Kluft got lots of media attention for her
Olympic Gold Medals.
- 2006
-
We've added our first link to a company named for a member of the
Kluft family... Kluft Mattress.
The business owner, Earl Kluft, is the third generation in a line
of mattress makers.
- 2008
-
The kluft.com web site was moved along with its Thunder.Net hosting to
Layer42 Networks
in Santa Clara, California.
|
|
About the Kluft name
Over the course of running the web site, we have learned there are
at least three unrelated origins of the name Kluft.
(listed alphabetically)
- There is a Dutch origin (Netherlands) where the word
means the land side of a dike/levee.
This is assumed to be where the original Dutch Klufts built their homes.
(The Dutch were among the last in Europe to establish family names.)
- There is a German origin where the word means
a gap or steep rock face.
This is assumed to be where the original German Klufts built their homes.
- There is a Russian Jewish origin whose family name's spelling
was changed to Kluft by a typographical error of immigration officials
in the UK.
Some of the fun things of meeting over the Internet...
Members of the Russian family, who knew the origin of their
family name was basically a clerical error, were interested to meet
others for whom the same name has a history.
Some of us have met unrelated Klufts and become friends, as if family.
|
|
About the Kluft.com web site
Since 1993, kluft.com has been the personal domain of Ian Kluft
of San Jose, California.
From 1995 to 2002, there had been an attempt to put a "Kluft Family Home Page"
index up on the highest level of the web site, with links offered free
to anyone with the name Kluft.
Since it's an uncommon name, there were never very many links listed,
even at its height in 2000.
Unfortunately, as some Internet Service Providers went out of business
(or were taken over by surviving ISPs)
in 2001 and 2002, everyone else's links have gone out of date and no
updates were provided.
After receiving an increasing number of rude comments from readers
about the out-of-date links in late 2002,
the fact will now be emphasized that this index is a volunteer
activity offered on one person's personal web site.
Hopefully the added context will help people set their
expectations of the site properly.
Links continue to be available for anyone
with the name Kluft who asks nicely.
Please contact
webmaster@kluft.com
to list your web page.
|