[Summary]
The internet “took off” in 1974 with the creation of TCP/IP
(Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol) by Vinton Cerf
and Bob Kahn, fifteen years before the invention of the web. The
internet expanded as a network linking U.S. governmental agencies,
universities and research centers, before spreading worldwide in
1983. The internet got its first boost in 1990 with the invention
of the web by Tim Berners-Lee, and its second boost in 1993 with
the release of Mosaic, the first browser for the general public.
The Internet Society (ISOC) was founded in 1992 by Vinton Cerf to
promote the development of the internet as a medium that was
becoming part of our lives. There were 100 million internet users
in December 1997, with one million new users per month, and 300
million users in December 2000.
***
The internet “took off” in 1974 with the creation of TCP/IP
(Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol) by Vinton Cerf
and Bob Kahn, fifteen years before the invention of the web.
# A new medium
The internet expanded as a network linking U.S. governmental
agencies, universities and research centers, before spreading
worldwide in 1983.
The internet got its first boost in 1990 with the invention of the
web by Tim Berners-Lee, and its second boost in 1993 with the
release of Mosaic, the first browser for the general public.
Vinton Cerf founded the Internet Society (ISOC) in 1992 to promote
the development of the internet as a medium that was becoming part
of our lives. When interviewed by the French daily Libération on
16 January 1998, he explained that the network was doing two
things. Like books, it could accumulate knowledge. But, more
importantly, it presented knowledge in a way that connected it
with other information whereas, in a book, information stayed
isolated.
Because the web was easy to use with hyperlinks going from one
document to the next, the internet could now be used by anyone,
and not only by computer literate users. There were 100 million
internet users in December 1997, with one million new users per
month, and 300 million users in December 2000.
# A worldwide expansion
North America was leading the way in computer science and
communication technology, with significant funding and cheap
computers compared to Europe. A connection to the internet was
much cheaper too.
In some European countries, internet users needed to surf the web
at night (including the author of these lines), when phone rates
by the minute were cheaper, to cut their expenses. In late 1998
and early 1999, some users in France, Germany and Italy launched a
movement to boycott the internet one day per week, as a way to
force internet providers and phone companies to set up a special
monthly rate. This action paid off, and providers began to offer
"internet rates".
In summer 1999, the number of internet users living outside the
U.S. reached 50%.
In summer 2000, the number of internet users having a mother
tongue other than English also reached 50%, and went on steadily
increasing then. According to statistics regularly published on
the website of Global Reach, a marketing consultancy promoting
internationalization and localization, they were 52.5% in summer
2001, 57% in December 2001, 59.8% in April 2002, 64.4% in
September 2003 (including 34.9% non-English-speaking Europeans and
29.4% Asians), and 64.2% in March 2004 (including 37.9% non-
English-speaking Europeans and 33% Asians).
Broadband became the norm over the years. Jean-Paul, webmaster of
the hypermedia website cotres.net, summarized things in January
2007: “I feel that we are experiencing a ‘floating’ period between
the heroic ages, when we were moving forward while waiting for the
technology to catch up, and the future, when high-speed broadband
will unleash forces that just begin to move, for now only in
games.”
# The internet of the future
The internet of the future could be a “pervasive” network allowing
us to connect in any place and at any time on any device through a
single omnipresent network.
The concept of a “pervasive” network was developed by Rafi
Haladjian, founder of the European company Ozone, who explained on
its website in 2007 that “the new wave would affect the physical
world, our real environment, our daily life in every moment. We
will not access the network any more, we will live in it. The
future components of this network (wired parts, non wired parts,
operators) will be transparent to the final user. The network will
always be open, providing a permanent connection anywhere. It will
also be agnostic in terms of applications, as a network based on
the internet protocols themselves.” We do look forward to this.
As for the content of the internet, Timothy Leary, a visionary
writer, described it in 1994 in his book “Chaos & Cyber Culture”
as gigantic glass towers containing the whole world information,
with free access, through the cyberspace, not only to all books,
but also to all pictures, all movies, all TV shows, and all other
data. In 2011, we are not there yet, but we are getting there.