JUNE 30, 2008: SINCE WWII, technology experts have worked towards a computer system where information is replicated over many computers distributed over a network, rather than stored in a central computer. Redundancy improves security and means the path that messages follow is no longer pre-set by the network architecture.
The following is a timeline showing the history of its development. While its roots go back to the mid-20th century, the Web itself didn't go public until 1993.
1945 - 1965 - The idea behind the Internet was originally discussed by Vannevar Bush in an article he wrote in the Atlantic Monthly in 1945. He outlined the idea of a computer system where information is shared on a number of computers instead of being stored in silos of centralized computers.
| In the 50s and 60s, the only available computers were massive mainframes, Even then, corporations and other organizations were increasingly dependant on them for manipulating payroll and other business processes. |
The idea was later developed by Paul Baran of the RAND corporation in the 1950s and his solution was made public in 1964 in the RAND Proposal.
1965 - 1985 Over a period of 20 years technology behind the Internet took shape, become easily accessible, and more widely available. Computers became cheaper and more common throughout the world. Networks developed to connect them together. Communications protocols (standard) were developed to simplify routing messages from one computer to another and to allow different types of computers to communicate with each other
1967 - the Information Processing Techniques Office of ARPA [the Advanced Research Projects Group] put together a team of networking experts to create the ARPANet, which launched in October 1969. The first node or network connection was at UCLA. Followed by Stanford, Univ of Calif., Santa Barbara, and the Univ. of Utah, Salt Lake City. Other universities and research institutions were eager to connect.
The early 70s also saw the rise of mini-computers and more, smaller businesses using them.
1971 - the first email application was developed for ARPANet, by Ray Tomlinson. SNDMSG sent messages and READMAIL read them. From the beginning messages were addressed using the @ sign.
By 1973, nodes were being developed in England and Norway and ARPA began searching for technologies that could handle the growing traffic.
1974 - Vince Cerf developed the transmission TCP/IP protocol
The first home computers came in a kit. The Defense Communications Agency took over in the mid-70s when ARPA/IPTO couldn't handle the growing resources needed. They then passed it to the National Science Foundation.
1982 - RFC 822 defines the format for standard e-mail on the Internet. It restricts messages to short lines of 7-bit ASCII text
- TCP/IP becomes the standard protocol for sending information across the Internet in 1982. It is both public domain and UNIX friendly. UNIX is a powerful computing system that allowed multi-tasking long before PC/windows.
1983 - the military backbone of ARPANET separates from the Internet and forms MILNET
1986 - National Science Foundation creates NSFNet, linking universities, government offices, military bases and research labs.
1989 - MCI Mail and Compuserve launched commercial Internet email services. People go online via Bulletin Boards or online services like Compuserve.
1989-90 - Tim Berners-Lee, working at CERN, develops the first web browser as a means of sharing text documents between government and academic organizations. Over the next 12 months, CERN brings an enhanced version online, in-house. Added features include access to ftp and newsgroups; ability to use both WAIS and gopher servers.
1991 (December) - Pei Wei builds first HTML browser
1992 - A number of Web browsers appear for Windows, Mac, UNIX and Amiga.
1993 - HTML goes public.
1994 - HTML 2.0 released to the public. It includes forms and image maps
1995 - the NSF found it was stretched for resources. The internet was turned over to commercial / public control.
1996 - Microsoft admits the web is important and releases Internet Explorer
My first website went up in 1996. Every page was different but the site kept its coherency through the use of frames. We were thinking about usability.
There were many search engines around but very few websites, and it was easy to be found. We wanted to be cool and unique. Nobody knew the rules because they were still being made, and broken.
By 2001 we were designing with tables and thinking about tunnels into web portals. We worried about being found by search engines because business had discovered the web and it was growing like wildfire.
2004- February. Mark Zuckerberg develops theFacebook as a hobby.
2005 - August. Mark Zuckerberg and his partners buy the domain facebook.com. Wikipedia
2006 - September. Facebook opens its doors to everyone. Previously members had to be able to provide a valid college or university email address. There is an almost 300% increase in the numbers of people joining the site.
2009. February. The CRTC will hold new media hearings. Cultural groups are asking for a new ISP levy and more regulation of Internet-based broadcasting;, roadcasters and telecommunications companies support the status quo.