Ping is one of the most used network management and troubleshooting tool today and since 1983.It was written by Mike Muuss  and the name comes from sonar technology. A good article about ping is

http://ftp.arl.mil/~mike/ping.html?sess=4f8272bd1e5da03d1a16ba4a69452d93

Ping in Microsoft came along when Microsoft began with dos in the late 80s.  The best link that describes ping in windows systems is

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/ping.mspx?mfr=true