The public first gained access to the World Wide Web 25 years ago today

[Shawn Knight]

Today is a very important day in the history of computing – and really, the world itself – as it marks the 25th anniversary of the public gaining access to the World Wide Web.

Wait, haven’t we already celebrated this? Not quite.

Computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee spent the better part of the ‘80s developing a personal database of people and software while working at CERN. In March of 1989, he wrote a proposal for something called "a universal linked information system" that would ultimately become the World Wide Web.

Some consider that to be the true “birthday” of the World Wide Web although it wouldn’t be opened to the public until a couple of years later – August 23, 1991, to be exact.

Berners-Lee, often considered the Father of the World Wide Web, is also responsible for the creation of the HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP), the HyperText Markup Language (HTML) and the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) as well as the first web browser, server and web pages.

In 1993, CERN announced intentions to make the underlying code of the World Wide Web open. Had the technology remained proprietary and in his control, Berners-Lee said, it probably wouldn’t have taken off.

Needless to say, his contributions were far more paramount than anyone could have imagined. Think about it – what would you be doing right now if the Web and the Internet didn’t exist? It’s had such a profound impact on our daily lives that it’s hard to fathom what life would be like without it. Those of us that were around before its existence can relate but for the younger generation that grew up with the Web, it’s all they’ve ever known.

For an in-depth history of the World Wide Web, be sure to check out our feature from a couple of years back.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/66067-public-first-gained-access-world-wide-web-25.html

 

[VitalyT]

Think about it – what would you be doing right now if the Web and the Internet didn't exist?

I would probably be fit, married, and would have never left my home town for darn IT jobs elsewhere.

I blame web for everything.

 

[Scshadow]

Its amazing the pile of crap we've made in 25 years. Thousands of years of known human history and in such a small minuscule amount of time we've got the cesspool known as the internet. I don't want to think about what another hundred, much less a thousand years will bring.

 

[cldmstrsn]

We wont be around another thousand years at the rate we are going.

 

[MoeJoe]

The internet is the scourge of the earth for most.

 

[Evernessince]

I'm more interested to see when government law finally catches up to the internet. There are so many things, like regional locking and IP that were never made to account for the internet. I would at least like to see people who actually know how to operate computers govern them.

 

[Fobus]

Its amazing the pile of crap we've made in 25 years. Thousands of years of known human history and in such a small minuscule amount of time we've got the cesspool known as the internet. I don't want to think about what another hundred, much less a thousand years will bring.

I imagine your comment is also included as a fine example of that cessspool? Kinda ironic considering you're on the internet right now spouting this. SMH...

 

[kbongcawel]

I hope they would still push the rights of anonymity of every user when using the internet and order these ISP's to stop snooping around.

 

[Badvok]

Saying "Those of us that were around before its existence" seems strange since most of the article gives the distinct impression that Shawn was not around before WWW. Those of us who actually were will know that there were numerous alternatives that could have taken off instead.

 

[Phr3d]

"you've got MAIL!"