Timeline- The Evolution of the Internet

  • ARPANET connects Stanford and UCLA

    ARPANET connects Stanford and UCLA
    The world's first successful packet-switched wide area computer network,  ARPANET, was established on October 29th, 1969.  The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) initiated the first connection by sending a logon request to SRI International (then known as Stanford Research Institute). This remote access started a brand-new, adaptable network structure for sharing computer resources.
  • Ray Tomlinson Invents E-mail

    Ray Tomlinson Invents E-mail
    Email was created to Ray Tomlinson. He was an American computer programmer who created the email system on the ARPANET for the very first time in 1971.
  • CYCLADES

    CYCLADES
    It was one of the first networks experimenting with the concept of packet switching, unlike the ARPANET, was designed to facilitate internetworking. The CYCLADES network was the first to make the hosts responsible for delivery of data.Datagrams were exchanged on the network using transport protocols that do not guarantee reliable delivery, but only attempt best-effort. The network ensured a concept later to be known as the end-to-end principle.
  • ARPANET is 75% E-mail

    ARPANET is 75% E-mail
    Despite all that the world wide web had to offer at the time, email was the most common use for ARPANET.
  • Gary Thuerk creates Spam

    Gary Thuerk creates Spam
    Gary sent the first spam email to everyone, his original goal was to advertise DEC machines. The email worked, and he sold $13 or $14 million dollars worth of DEC machines from his spam email. Gary likes to think of his email as the first e-commerce email, not the first spam email. Many people complained about this email taking up all of their disk space, but nonetheless, this email marks the start of e-commerce and spam emails alike.
  • USENET Creates First Social Network

    USENET Creates First Social Network
    Usenet carried out the same functions now carried out by web forums and social networks before the web as we know it existed. Usenet is still used to publish articles, maintain mailing lists, and even upload files despite it  losing popularity. Usenet is a massive internet forum with thousands of subforums. The Usenet system is set up as a federated network, so all of Usenet can be accessed by connecting to just one Usenet server.
  • ARPANET goes TCP/IP

    ARPANET goes TCP/IP
    Before this, there was no common method for connecting the various computer networks. Transfer Control Protocol/Internetwork Protocol (TCP/IP) is a brand-new communication protocol. This made it possible for various computer types connected to various networks to "talk" to one another. On January 1, 1983, TCP/IP became the official protocol for ARPANET and the Defense Data Network, resulting in the creation of the Internet. A universal language that could now link all networks.
  • Protocol Wars for Data Transfer

    Protocol Wars for Data Transfer
    From the 1970s to the 1990s, there was a lengthy argument in computer science known as the "Protocol Wars" that divided engineers, organisations, and countries over which communication protocol would produce the best and most reliable computer networks. The Internet-OSI Standards War, which climaxed  in the late 1980s and early 1990s, was "won" by the Internet protocol suite ("TCP/IP") by the mid-1990s, and most other protocols have since vanished as a result.
  • Tim Berners-Lee Proposes Internet

    Tim Berners-Lee Proposes Internet
    Beside is an image of the NeXT computer used by Tim Berners-Lee at CERN. At CERN in 1989, British scientist Tim Berners-Lee created the World Wide Web (WWW). To meet the demand for automated information-sharing between scientists in universities and institutes around the world. CERN released the code for the World Wide Web to the public on April 30, 1993. Later, CERN made a release available under an open licence, which was a more reliable strategy for maximising its reach.
  • Archie is Born

    Archie is Born
    Archie, the first internet search engine is developed by McGill University student Alan Emtage. Archie derives from the word archive, but is often associated with Archie comics. This association helped name the search engines that came after it Jughead and Veronica. Archie was an index of PTF files and allowed users to browse the internet. People could search for what they wanted but had to download the file to see if it was actually what they were looking for.
  • The First Webcam

    The First Webcam
    Researchers rig up a live shot of a coffee pot so they could tell from their computer screens when a fresh pot had been brewed. Later connected to the World Wide Web, it becomes the first webcam.
  • Tim Berners-Lee Invents HTML

    Tim Berners-Lee Invents HTML
    Tim Berners-Lee created the first iteration of HTML in 1993. Since then, HTML has existed in a variety of forms. HTML 4.01, which became a recognised standard in December 1999, was the most widely used version throughout the 2000s. A common markup language called XML is used to make other markup languages. Today, there are hundreds of XML languages in use. Each of these languages was written in a common language (XML), making it easy to share their content between applications.
  • The first Webpage

    The first Webpage
    World’s first website and server go live at CERN, running on Tim Berners-Lee’s NeXT computer, which bears the message “This machine is a server. DO NOT POWER DOWN!” This is part of the developing idea of the internet.
  • First Graphical Browser (Mosaic)

    First Graphical Browser (Mosaic)
    Mosaic is the first browser to show images inline with text, instead of in a separate window. Mosaic was preceded by the world wide web.
  • Amazon Launches

    Amazon Launches
    Technically, Boston Computer Exchange, which debuted in 1982, was the first eCommerce business. Another, more well-known store made its debut with the introduction of the Internet. Book Stacks Unlimited was an online bookstore that launched in 1992, two whole years before Amazon, a company that would go on to become the most popular online store. Despite not being the first online retailer, Amazon is credited with popularising online shopping.
  • AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) is Created

    AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) is Created
    AIM fostered the need we have today to constantly stay in touch with our loved ones and friends online. Millions of individuals used AIM in the late 1990's and 2000's, where LOL-ing and emoticons were popularised. At its peak, AIM had 36 million users, but has now lost its user base to the likes of, Facebook, Instagram and Slack.
  • Google Launch

    Google Launch
    In contrast to previously curated sources like LexisNexis or Yahoo! Google indexed the internet exceptionally well without human intervention and in a way that did not require the user to be familiar with the index or Boolean search techniques.Google began indexing previously offline information (remote archives) to make that knowledge searchable. Photos and videos appeared later. Google cars then started driving around and mapping streets.GPS, gave the ability to navigate almost any city.
  • Lewinsky Scandal puts News Online

    Lewinsky Scandal puts News Online
    During the first generation of online news, the general public chose to interact with news on television, or on newspapers rather than online. This changed during the Lewinsky scandal. The quick changes and updates on the potential impeachment of the president forced media to turn primarily towards the internet to provide information quickly to readers. Many started to use the internet as a primary source for news after the Clinton Lewinsky scandal.
  • Napster is Released

    Napster is Released
    Before Napster getting music off of the internet was tricky, people would spend hours trying to pull a song off the internet so they could listen to it offline and it just wouldn't work. Napster was unbelievable for the time, you have free access to all of the songs you could imagine, and allowed you to share songs as well.
  • iPhone Introduces First Mobile Web

    iPhone Introduces First Mobile Web
    An iPhone is not just a phone, it is an internet device that has had a large effect on the world. It has exploded mobile internet traffic, and internet traffic in general over the years, and made lives easier and reliant on the internet.