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CERN's World-First Browser Reborn: Now You Can Browse Like It's 1990

Posted by msmash on from the blast-from-the-past dept.

A team at Switzerland-based research center CERN has rebuilt WorldWideWeb, the world's first browser created in 1990 for its researchers. From a report: Earlier this month a group of developers and designers convened at CERN, or The European Organization for Nuclear Research, to rebuild WorldWideWeb in celebration of its 30th anniversary. The WorldWideWeb browser was built by Sir Tim Berners-Lee in 1990 on a NeXT machine, following his March 1989 proposal for a 'Mesh' or global hypertext system for CERN that he would later call the World Wide Web. The system aimed to address information loss that came with a high turnover and CERN's constantly changing technology. This was an acute problem at CERN that Berners-Lee predicted the world would also face within the next decade. Besides the browser, Berners-Lee developed 'httpd', the first hypertext server software for serving up early webpages. The WorldWideWeb browser simulator is now available online to view in a modern browser. For anyone curious to know how to use it, the developers have provided written instructions and a video demo.

2 of 71 comments (clear)

  1. I shed a tear by Mr.+Dollar+Ton · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I remember the telnet interface... It was so exciting.

    Who knew this would turn the Internet to a shithole where cheap tricks for data collection and crap dominate in such a short time.

  2. Can we have it back? by quonset · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I mean, looking at the bloated spyware we have to deal with today, that web browser is still light-years ahead of what we have now. Sleek, a clear, easy to use menu system, BORDERS so you know where one part ends and another begins, no interference by the browser when trying to type, the list goes on.

    What this world needs is a good web browser. This was it. It's been all downhill from there.