History of the Internet
history.html
The Internet's history can be traced back to ARPANET, which was started by the US Department of Defense for research into networking in 1969.
Many people wanted to put their ideas into the standards for communications between the computers that made up this network, so a system was devised for putting forward ideas. Simply stated, you wrote ideas in a paper called a 'Request for Communications' (RFC) and let everyone read it. People commented on and improved your ideas in new RFCs. (This sounds a lot like open source to me.) The first RCF (RFC0001) was written on April 7, 1969. This is probably the closest thing to a 'start date' for the internet. There are now well over 2000 RFCs describing every aspect of how the internet functions.
ARPAnet was opened to non-military users in the 1970's. Most early takers were big universities. International connections started in 1972, but the internet was just a way for computers to talk to each other and for reasearching networking. The World Wide Web and e-mail, as we know them, were not in extistence.
It wasn't until the early to mid 1980's that the services we use most started appearing on the internet. The concept of 'domain names' weren't introduced until 1984. Before this, computers were addressed by their IP addresses. Most protocols for e-mail and other services appeared after this.
The part of the Internet most people are familiar with is the World Wide Web. This is a collection of hyperlinked pages of information distributed over the Internet via a network protocol called HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol). This was invented by Tim Berners-Lee in 1989. He was a physicist working at CERN, the European Particle Physics Laboratory. He wanted a way for physicists to share information about their research; the World Wide Web was his solution. At this time, the web was started, but it was text-only. Graphics came later with a browser called NCSA Mosaic. Both Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Netscape were origianally based on the NCSA Mosaic browser.
The graphical interface opened up the internet to novice users. In 1993, it's use exploded as people were allowed to 'dial-in' to the Internet using their home computers and a modem to ring up an Internet Service Provider (ISP) to obtain their connection. Before this, the only connected computers were at universities and other large organizations that could afford to hire cables between each other to transfer data. But now, anyone can use the Internet, and it has evolved into the 'Information Superhighway' we know and love today.
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Timetable of Events Related to the Internet
1982 -Transmissions Conrol Protocol (TCP) and Internet Protocol (IP) established
Internet is formed as a connected set of networks using TCP/IP
1983 -name server developed at University of Wisconsin which no longer requires the users to know the exact path to other systems
-desktop work stations come into being switching networking needs from a single, large, time-sharing computer connected to the Internet to, instead, connecting entire local networks
-Internet Activities Board (IAB) established
1984 -Domain Name System introduced
-number of hosts breaks 1000
1985 -Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and Internet Research Task Force come into existence
1986 -Networking News Transfer Protocol (NNTP) designed to enhance Usenet news performance over TCP/IP
1987 -number of hosts breaks 10,000
1988 -FidoNet gets connected to the Net, enabling the exchange of e-mail and news
1989 -number of hosts breaks 100,000
1990 -The World comes online (world.std.com) becoming the first commercial provider of Internet dial-up access
-the first remotely operated machine to be hooked up to the Internet, the Internet Toaster by John Ronkey, makes its debut at Interop
1991 -Gopher is released by Paul Linder and Mark P. McCahill from University of Minnesota
-WWW released by CERN, Tim Berners-Lee developer
1992 -the term 'surfing the Internet' is coined by Jean Amour Polly
1993 -InterNIC created to provide specific Internet services:
directory and database services
registration services
infomation services
-U.S. White House comes online
-United Nations comes online
-businesses and media begin taking note of the Internet
1994 -shopping malls are on the Internet
-First Virtual, the first cyperbank opens up for business
1995 -RealAudio, audio-streaming technology, lets the Net hear in real-time
-Radio HK, the first commercial 24 hour, Internet only radio station starts broadcasting
-traditional online dial-up systems (Compuserve, America Online, Prodigy) begin to provide Internet access
-a number of Net related companies go public, with Netscape leading the pack
-registraion of domain names no longer free- A $50 annual fee has been imposed which up to now was subsidized by NSF. NSF continues to pay for .edu registration and, on an interim basis, for .gov
1996 -US Communications Decency Act (CDA) becomes law in the US in order to prohibit distribution of indecent materials over the net; a few months later, an injunction against its enforcement is imposed. The Supreme Court unanimously rules most of it unconstitutional in 1997.
-Restrictions on Internet Use around the world:
China - requires users and ISPs to register with the police
Germany - cuts off access to some newsgroups carried on Compuserve
Saudi Arabia - confines Internet access to universities and hospitals
Singapore - requires political and religious content providers to register with the state
New Zealand - classifies computer disks as "publication" that can be censored and seized
1997 -The American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) is established to handle administration and registration of IP numbers
1998 -Internet users get to be judges in a performance by 12 world champion ice skaters on March 27th, marking the first time a television sport show's outcome is determined by its viewers
-Electronic postal stamps become reality with the U.S. Postal System allowing stamps to be purchased and downloaded for printing from the web
-Open Source software comes of age
1999 -First Internet Bank of Indiana, the first full service bank available only on the net opens for business
-Free computers are all the rage (as long as you sign long term contracts for Net service)
March 28, 2004 at 12:55 AM in Internet evolution | Permalink
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