Happy Birthday, Internet!

NobodyExpects writes "I'd like to wish a happy birthday to the Internet! Today marks its 40th birthday! In fall 1969, computers sending data between two California universities set the stage for the Internet, which became a household word in the 1990s. On September 2nd 1969, in a lab at the University of California, Los Angeles, two computers passed test data through a 15-foot gray cable. Stanford Research Institute joined the fledgling ARPANET network a month later; UC Santa Barbara and the University of Utah joined by years end, and the internet was born."

Comments

Looking forward...

[alain94040]

Before everyone starts posting stories about how they grew up on their Apple II using a 300 baud modem, let's have a forward looking discussion.

The Internet as we define it today was born 40 years ago when two big computers were hooked up with a cable and exchanged data. Let me ask: what are the milestones that will matter 10, 30 years from now? Some guesses (pick your favorites):

- wires, what wires?: The Internet goes wireless, with the invention of Wifi (circa 1991 - yes, really that old)

- device, what device?: The Internet goes ubiquitous, we don't even have to carry those bulky iPhones around (circa ???)

- telepresence: I see you, you see me, in HD, anytime, wherever you and I are. Maybe we can even shake hands. Definitely coming in the next decade.

- oracle: all knowledge, all questions, answered all the time (that might change the way we think of our education system!)

Who said innovation is slowing down? We are still in the stone age of the Internet.

Re:Looking forward...

[commodore64_love]

$1000 for an Apple II isn't that bad. Certainly cheaper than the first Macintosh at around $4000. Hmmm. I guess that's why most home hobbyists owned the cheaper $400 Ataris and $200 Commodores.

Milestones:

Killer App (circa 1993) - The hypertext web browser. Prior to its invention few people had a reason to get internet. They were satisfied to just keep using local bulletin boards, but once they saw the Mosaic web browser running on their friend's or their college's IBM or Mac or Amiga, they immediately wanted it.

Carterphone decision (circa 1981) - It eliminated the monopoly AT&T had on the modem and brought competition. People always ask why is competition is needed? This is a perfect example. From the 1950s to the 1980s the only speeds available were 110 bit/s and 300 bit/s. The monopoly caused stagnation. After the breakup of AT&T multiple companies began a "speedwar" that rapidly moved speeds from 300 to 56000 in only ten years time. If AT&T still had a monopoly over 300 baud modems, the 90s's web explosion would have been impossible (too slow).

Usenet/Fidonet (circa 1982) - They weren't originally part of the internet, but they helped set the standards. Most of the emoticons ;-) and abbreviations (ROTF-LOL) we use today originated on these early text-only forums. And they allowed people to communicate not just locally, but all around the world like today's web. And it was free (no long-distance charges).

DSL/cable internet (circa 2000) - Allowed people to escape the 56k barrier and download videos, as well as streaming TV shows.

That's about all I can come-up with. Most of the advancement has been gradual.

Re:Looking forward...

[NotQuiteReal]

No doubt Google can deliver far more information faster than ever before.

This is not a bad thing -- IF you can figure out which information is worthless and which is the the right answer.

That should be the motivation to learn enough to learn enough so that you can decide which Google results pass "the sniff test".

Of course the topic of your query has a lot to do with how well you will be able to tell if the results are the real deal.

I thought I was done, but that last sentence made me realize the "quick answer" future could either hasten or slow an "Idiocracy" future...

When did ARPAnet become "internet"

[commodore64_love]

When did that transition happen? Late 70s?

I've been using the net since 1987 (shortly after Star Trek TNG premiered). It's been a fun ride going from 1.2k bit/s and pure text. There were a few graphical bulletin board services added in 1989, but they were little more than vector-based graphics and took several minutes to load! None of them had music or video like we have today.

Re:happy b-day

[commodore64_love]

>>>thx for the porn

I still remember my first downloaded porn "video". It was about 64 kilobytes, took about 10 minutes to download, was a grainy 320x200, and only lasted 1/2 a second. It looped repeating the same "action" over-and-over which I'm sure you can guess what that was.

I then upgraded to a 4000-color 7 megahertz Amiga so I could get something more realistic-looking. ;-) Anyway here's that original movie that I downloaded ~25 years ago (porn) http://girls.c64.org/a_porno_movie_02.gif . And if for some strange reason you want to download it, you can find it here (porn) http://girls.c64.org/a__show.php?squery=&sfield=&cat=ani&style=&offset=41

Re:wireless Internet is much older

[Cthefuture]

Indeed. I cut my Internet teeth watching 1200 baud data flow in KA9Q NOS via packet radio. It was so slow and synchronous that you could really examine each packet as you were doing stuff, taught me way more about networking than any book.