[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 internet 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.