The Timeline of Identity
1980s: The Dawn (Apollo NCS)
Apollo Computers needed a way to identify Remote Procedure Calls (RPC) across a network. They invented the "NCS UUID". This laid the groundwork for distributed identity without central coordination.
1990s: Microsoft & The GUID
Microsoft adopted the concept for OLE and COM, calling them "GUIDs". Microsoft's implementation (Variant 2) was famously used in Windows Registry keys and became ubiquitous in enterprise software.
2005: Standardization (RFC 4122)
The IETF formalized the spec to ensure interoperability. This RFC defined the 5 standard versions (v1-v5), unifying the scattered implementations into the system we rely on today.
2024: The Modern Standard (RFC 9562)
RFC 9562 was published, formally promoting Version 7 as the new default for storage-backed applications. It addresses the database fragmentation issues of v4 while maintaining privacy.