Sim, chegou com a adoção do TCP / IP pela Microsoft com base na API de sockets do BSD, conforme implementado de acordo com a especificação do WinSock.
Winsock follows the Windows Open System Architecture (WOSA) model; it defines a standard service provider interface (SPI) between the application programming interface (API), with its exported functions and the protocol stacks. It uses the sockets paradigm that was first popularized by Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD) UNIX. It was later adapted for Windows in Windows Sockets 1.1
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A local text file in the same format as the 4.3 Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD) UNIX \etc\hosts file.
Uma versão da história é aqui