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The Internet At 35

Anonymous writes "CNN has a story on the 35th anniversary of the Internet, overviewing its past and the future. According to the article the history began on 'September 2, 1969, as bits of meaningless test data flowed silently between the two computers.' So, happy birthday, the Internet!"

52 of 321 comments (clear)

  1. editors? by ack154 · · Score: 5, Funny

    So which is it? 25? or 35? Come on... :p

    1. Re:editors? by Whyte · · Score: 5, Funny

      The real news is that this is actually the year 1994!

      --
      -- No matter how great your triumphs or how tragic your defeats, approximately one billion Chinese couldn't care less.
    2. Re:editors? by Quasar1999 · · Score: 5, Funny

      1969... it's 2004... math... err... ummm... hold on, let me get a calculator for you... err... let's see... what's the thingy I gotta do? Add??? No... subtract... ah... there we go... 25!!!

      --

      ---
      Programming is like sex... Make one mistake and support it the rest of your life.
    3. Re:editors? by adrianbaugh · · Score: 4, Funny

      It's actually 1994 and the editors are using a brand-spanking-new Intel Pentium (ding-ding ding-DING!) chip to do their math. Oh, wait...

      --
      "'I pass the test,' she said. 'I will diminish, and go into the West, and remain Galadriel.'"
      - JRR Tolkien.
    4. Re:editors? by tunabomber · · Score: 5, Funny

      C'mon- give the Internet a break- it's just going through a little bit of denial.

      Don't worry, the Internet, it's OK to be 35- you're a hot technology trend! You know what they say about the lifetime of those! The Internet, why are you sobbing? Come back!

      --

      pi = 3.141592653589793helpimtrappedinauniversefactory71 ...
    5. Re:editors? by suwain_2 · · Score: 5, Funny

      I come up with -35.

      Seems like a substantial difference. Maybe it's just round-off errors or something.

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      ________________________________________________
      suwain_2 :: quality slashdot p
    6. Re:editors? by suwain_2 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Does that mean the Internet can drink now?

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      ________________________________________________
      suwain_2 :: quality slashdot p
    7. Re:editors? by britneys+9th+husband · · Score: 3, Funny

      Really? I came up with 65,501.

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  2. Haha by pHatidic · · Score: 5, Funny

    35 Years Ago Today: Frist PSOT!!!1

    1. Re:Haha by nEoN+nOoDlE · · Score: 3, Funny

      Nah, things were a lot more civilized on the internet back then... it went more like

      Geek 1: Pip, pip! I do believe I have the first post!
      Geek 2: Oh drat! You beat me to it, ol' chap!
      Geek 1: Cheerio!

      --
      Don't trust a bull's horn, a doberman's tooth, a runaway horse or me.
  3. Over the hill by cloudscout · · Score: 5, Funny

    "The Internet At 25"... but it started in 1969. I think this "Internet" is a lot like some 35 year old guys I've seen in various chatrooms trying to convince all of the co-eds that they're really 25.

  4. Memories.... by JoeLinux · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...Ah yes, the internet. Putting porn and pipebomb instructions in the hands of 13-year olds since September 3rd, 1969...

    1. Re:Memories.... by pHatidic · · Score: 5, Funny

      Remember ten years ago when the porno used to load line by line? I remember being 13ish when my friend linked me to some surprise.jpg and it loaded line by line for like 5 minutes and then at the bottom the girl had a penis. What the fuck. I should really sue AOL for scarring me for life.

    2. Re:Memories.... by emc · · Score: 5, Funny

      What the fuck. I should really sue AOL for scarring me for life.

      I have always thought that all non-AOL users should get to sue AOL for bringing all of these 'users' onto the Internet in the first place.

    3. Re:Memories.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      In my younger years not many of my friends had modems so my friends and I used to pass around floppy disks containing porn in the Amiga IFF-ILBM format. Although they loaded a lot faster than over a 2400 baud modem, squinting was often required to interpret the photographic images dithered down to only distinct 32 colors.

      Also, these disks would normally come with a viewer program so that they could be just booted and cycle through the images, but some of the viewer utilities were over-complicated and required the use of pull-down menus that you couldn't see because the palette of the image put all of the dark shades down at the start of the palette and the Amiga's interface used palette entries 0 and 1 to draw the widgets.

      Operating pull-down menus blind and one-handed isn't easy, I'll have you know.

    4. Re:Memories.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny
      We'd stare at the image as it came across line by line, and try to figure out what body parts we were looking at.

      Those were the days when porn was fun. Now that I can see thousands of pictures in an hour it's kind of boring. Either that that thing about marriage killing your sex drive is true. Hmm.

    5. Re:Memories.... by Colonel+Cholling · · Score: 5, Funny

      You young whipper-snappers had it easy. I used to have to spend 3 hours feeding punched cards into the mainframe just to get the front panel LEDs to light up in the shape of a nekkid lady.

      --

      I am Sartre of the Borg. Existence is futile.
  5. First Data Transmitted on the Internet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    1) 1 x 1 pixel of goatse.cx 2) Two sentence SPAM email trying to get investors into something called TCP/IP 3) The famous "Nixon" worm of '69. Crippled 3 machines.

  6. I get the feeling... by msgregory@earthlink. · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...that the largest discussion of the difference between 25 and 35 in the history of the internet is about to ensue.

  7. The Internet... by kjones692 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Ah, the Internet. Designed so that even in the event of nuclear war, our military leaders would still be able to access pornography.

    --

    Love the Third Amendment?
  8. 35 years going on 25 by Aexia · · Score: 3, Funny

    Is the Internet going through a mid-life crisis or something? First it found it out that Al Gore wasn't his real father; it was actually adopted by the US government. Then everyone blamed it for the tanking economy.

    And now it's just bought a Porsche and is going in for botox treatments.

  9. If the internet was a girl. by eBayDoug · · Score: 5, Funny

    It would forever be 29 years old.

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    1. Re:If the internet was a girl. by antifoidulus · · Score: 3, Funny

      And will spend millions of dollars on "age defying switches"

  10. Lighten up by outriding9800 · · Score: 4, Funny

    I think the editors are under enough stress. I mean they first have to make sure the article wasnt posted 3 times before and do a spell check. Now you all want them to check basic math. gessh give them a break

  11. Holy mother of Christ on a stick by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    I've got to go through high school and university again? Bum

    This time I won't do computer science.

  12. dunno about the Internet but by dsanfte · · Score: 2, Funny

    Not sure about this Internet thing, but I heard about the IntarWeb from a friend and gave it a shot. It's great! There's free Britney pics, lots of this "pr0n" stuff at various sites starting with the word goat, and forums full of all kinds of wonderful religious fanatics, ready to convert me to their cult. I love it!

    --
    occultae nullus est respectus musicae - originally a Greek proverb
    1. Re:dunno about the Internet but by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      i think i've heard of one of the cults that you're talking about...something like the cult of lienooks...

  13. And in this time of Celebration let us not forget by INeededALogin · · Score: 1, Funny

    Al Gore

  14. Re:Yay! by nkh · · Score: 5, Funny

    I hope you don't live in the USA or you are in serious trouble for copyright infrigement on the "Happy Birthday" song!

  15. Internet Day - Sept 2 by Ravensign · · Score: 4, Funny

    Sept 2 should be a national holiday.

    What are you getting for Internet Day?

    Why a new Cisco 7x00 series router!

    Thank you Linus Claus!

    --
    "Sig free in '03!"
  16. Re:What progress by nuclear305 · · Score: 4, Funny

    "All joking aside though, I have no idea how people got anything done before the internet."

    That was back when people still left their houses to find their friends, and read books to research those obscure factoids :)

  17. ...I blame Y2K. by Behrooz · · Score: 2, Funny

    I blame Y2K. Anyway, is it 1994 or not? I need to know if they'll let me into the bar tonight.

    --
    "We have to go forth and crush every world view that doesn't believe in tolerance and free speech." - David Brin
  18. Re:What progress by toxcspdrmn · · Score: 4, Funny
    That dude who discovered fire and the wheel did pretty well for humanity
    That was the same guy both times? Cool.
    --
    "E pur si muove!" - attributed to Galileo Galilei, 1564-1642
  19. Well, 35 years was a good run. by e9th · · Score: 2, Funny

    But I knew back in '73 when we got our IMP that no good would come of it.

  20. Too bad you can't buy intelligence, eh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Now I understand why you paid $115 for your current user ID, dolo666.

  21. Re:I motion that... by zdzichu · · Score: 5, Funny

    What you are talking about? Increasing delay? There is already 10 years delay on this article!

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    :wq
  22. First Spam by TheFairElf · · Score: 4, Funny
    "...as bits of meaningless test data flowed silently between the two computers"

    So they first tested Internet with spam? With that kind of a start no wonder we're in the current mess!

  23. hahah by Vlion · · Score: 2, Funny

    ooo look!
    25 is isomorphic to 35- it changes randomly.
    First 25, now 35, looky 25 is coming back soon!

    --
    /b
    |f(x)dx = F(b) - F(a)
    /a
  24. In the year 2014.... by monoqlith · · Score: 5, Funny

    The Internet suddenly has a mid-life crisis. Looking back on its life, it realizes its squandered its time on earth on porn, e-commerce, and petty IM conversations. . The Internet feels hollow and worthless. To console itself, it buys a Porsche from www.porsche.com, and takes it out on the road. Now feeling youthful and vibrant, the Internet uses the Porsche to woo a younger network. Soon enough, the Internet and the younger network are in the throes of a sultry affair. One night, the Internet's rubber breaks and he accidentally gets the younger network pregnant. Scared, the Internet runs away, and the younger network is left on its own to raise the Subnet. The Subnet grows into a full Class C and then into an Internet of its own.

  25. The internet is lots of girls by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    And defying statistics, 99% of them just turned 18!

  26. I don't trust your math by tunabomber · · Score: 5, Funny

    And another thing- if the Internet really is 25 (or 35, whatever)- how come she has so many web sites that say she just turned 18?

    --

    pi = 3.141592653589793helpimtrappedinauniversefactory71 ...
    1. Re:I don't trust your math by Fus · · Score: 2, Funny

      I hope not! If thats the case, I'm in really big trouble with the Feds. Honest, I didnt know she wasnt 18!!

      --
      _____^_-________ Fus Was Here
  27. And... by atomm1024 · · Score: 5, Funny
    The "meaningless test data," by the way, read thusly:
    g00b3r69: hey a/s/l?
    h0t_arpa_chik: 19/f/dc
    g00b3r69: kewl 20/m/dc wanna cyber?
    h0t_arpa_chik: k
    In other news, September 3 marks be the 35th anniversary of Goatse (and, additionally marking the birthday of leetspeak, we must remember that back then it was known only by its IP address -- 60.47.53.101).
    --
    Signature.
  28. Re:What progress by The+One+and+Only · · Score: 2, Funny

    Maybe YOUR lifestyle. If so, hand over your geek license.

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  29. OSQ by Aggrazel · · Score: 4, Funny

    They have the internet on computers now?

  30. 35 and counting by yintercept · · Score: 4, Funny
    ...bits of meaningless test data flowed silently between the two computers

    What I am looking forward to the day when we finally get beyond the meaningless test data phase...uh, anyway, I looked at /. for the day and am off to the email account to perform a spam harvest.

  31. Re:I motion that... by Guppy06 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Why? So Taco can make extra-sure that the story he's posting is, in fact, a dupe?

    (What, you honestly think they were all accidental?)

  32. Houston we have a problem... by dfj225 · · Score: 3, Funny

    "Working with NASA, Cerf is also trying to extend the network into outer space to better communicate with spacecraft."
    Astronaut: Houston, we have a problem...one of the display screens is reading "j00 R pAwned".

    --
    SIGFAULT
  33. Not only is the Internet 35, but so is the WWW!!! by skintigh2 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Just ask the "tech" "reporter" at AP "news."

    Web Turns 35, but Still Work in Progress
    http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=st ory&cid=52 8&e=1&u=/ap/20040829/ap_on_hi_te/internet_s_birthd ay

  34. Re:What progress by jesser · · Score: 2, Funny

    All joking aside though, I have no idea how people got anything done before the internet.

    Why don't you search Google and find out?

    --
    The shareholder is always right.
  35. Count with porn by superpulpsicle · · Score: 3, Funny

    The birth of the Internet should count when the first porn picture was published. Seriously, until it was made to the masses with a non-scientific use did it matter to the public.

    1. Re:Count with porn by CreatureComfort · · Score: 2, Funny


      You think it took until it was made open to the public for the first porn was available? You obviosly don't know how boring it could be sitting and feeding punch cards in... Go ASCII pr0n! Woohoo...

      --
      "Unheard of means only it's undreamed of yet,
      Impossible means not yet done." ~~ Julia Ecklar