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1989
1989
Tim Berners-Lee proposes the web
Berners-Lee writes a paper entitled Information management: a proposal that envisages a system of interlinked documents that would be stored in a variety of locations, and contain non-hierarchical links to one another. These documents could be looked at using a 'browser' application, which would open the internet to potential mass use. -
The web
1991
The web is born
The first web pages begin to appear. At first they are of limited general appeal, but the system has become a reality. -
Internet explorer
1996
Internet Explorer 3.0
Internet Explorer 3.0 is provided free of charge with Windows 95, a practice known as 'bundling' that later brings Microsoft to the attention of anti-monopoly bodies in the US and EU. With its massive market dominance and tendency to favour Microsoft's own applications such as Media Player, there comes a de facto influence on emerging web technologies; if it doesn't work on IE, it doesn't work for most users. The web is at risk of becoming a proprietary technology. -
Google
1997
Google
Before Google, sites such as Yahoo! created searchable directories of websites, but Google's focus on technology and indexing gives the impression that it is a gateway to the whole web. -
Wiki
2001
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is founded as a "multilingual, web-based, free-content encyclopedia", to which anyone can contribute, and which anyone can access. By 2014 the English-language version has about 4.5million entries. -
Facebook
2004
Facebook
The site, which only becomes generally accessible in 2006, helps millions of people become more active online but is not on the open web as many of its pages, for good reasons, are only accessible to signed-in users. -
2007 iphone
2007
iPhone
The iPhone, like Facebook, is another innovation that makes many people more active online, but at the same time draws them away from the open web, in this case into Apple's app ecosystem. Apps are small applications that may use the internet, or even web protocols, but are not usually web browsers. -
Google chrome
2008
Google Chrome browser and Chrome OS
Google releases a suite of products including a freeware browser called Chrome, and an operating system that consists of the Chrome browser plus a set of web-based applications to replace traditional, locally installed software.