Computer1

History of the Internet

By ashley-s

  • USSR launches Sputnik

    USSR launches Sputnik
    first artificial earth satellite. Why is this relevant? The start of global telecommunications. Satellites play an important role in transmitting all sorts of data today.
    In response, US forms the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) within the Department of Defense (DoD) to establish US lead in science and technology applicable to the military.

  • Birth of Internet

    Birth of Internet
    ARPANET commissioned by DoD for research into networking Why is this relevant? First node at UCLA (Los Angeles) closely followed by nodes at Stanford Research Institute, UCSB (Santa Barbara) and U of Utah (4 Nodes).

  • People communicate over a network

    People communicate over a network
    15 nodes (23 hosts) on ARPANET.
    E-mail invented -- a program to send messages across a distributed network. Why is this relevant? E-mail is still the main way of inter-person communication on the Internet today.
    We will study how to use and send E-mail shortly in this course.
    You will make extensive use of E-mail for the rest of your life

  • Global Networking becomes a reality

    Global Networking becomes a reality
    First international connections to the ARPANET: University College of London (England) and Royal Radar Establishment (Norway)
    Ethernet outlined -- this how local networks are basically connected today.
    Internet ideas started.
    Gateway architecture sketched on back of envelope in hotel lobby in San Francisco. Gateways define how large networks (maybe of different architecture) can be connected together.
    File Transfer protocol specified -- how computers send and receive data.

  • Large growth in Internet

    Large growth in Internet
    Number of hosts breaks 100,000
    First relays between a commercial electronic mail carrier and the Internet
    Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and Internet Research Task Force (IRTF) comes into existence under the IAB

  • Friendly User Interface to WWW established

    Friendly User Interface to WWW established
    Gopher released by Paul Lindner and Mark P. McCahill from the U of Minnesota. Why is relevant? Text based, menu-driven interface to access internet resources.
    No need to remember or even know complex computer command. User Friendly Interface (?).
    Largely superseded by WWW, these days.

  • GOOGLE

    GOOGLE
    Google arrives. It pioneers a ranking system that uses links to assess a website's popularity. Google's simple design is soothing while existing search engines cram their pages with animated adverts.

  • Music

    Music
    Shawn Fanning launches Napster. The peer-to-peer software enables internet users to swap MP3 music files stored on their computers and to find each other through a central directory. Record labels are furious. By July 2001, they had effectively stopped Napster operating. (See my history of file sharing).

  • Already half

    Already half
    Nearly half of us are connected: UK telecomms regulator Oftel reports that 47% of UK homes have internet access and 58% have a PC. Of those online, 15% use broadband and 92% are satisfied with their service.

  • Facebook

    Facebook
    In February, Facebook announces it has 400 million active members. That's larger than the population of the US and UK combined.