Birth of the World Wide Web
1992 – ISOC
Founded in 1992, The Internet Society (ISOC) is a non-profit organization that assists in the development of Internet education, policy and standards. The organization has offices in the U.S and Switzerland and works toward an Internet evolution that will benefit the entire world.
ISOC is the home of organizations responsible for Internet infrastructure standards, the Internet Engineering Task Force, and the Internet Architecture Board (IAB). ISOC is also a clearinghouse for Internet education and information and a facilitator for Internet activities all over the world. ISOC has run network training programs for developing countries and assisted in the connecting of almost every country to the Internet.
1994 - The Web Browser is Born
Jim Clark and Mark Andreessen founded Mosaic Communications in 1994. Andreessen had been the leader of a software project at the University of Illinois called Mosaic, the first graphical web browser. Jim and Mark changed the name of Mosaic Communications to Netscape Communications and their web browser was soon released to a frantically growing market.
Netscape was the largest browser firm in the world very quickly and dominated the market. Software releases seemed to come out monthly if not faster and it was these Netscape offerings that lead to the term “Internet time”. Business was moving faster everyday. By 1995 Netscape had an 80% market share.
1995 - Windows 95 and the Browser Wars
Windows 95 was released by Microsoft and took the world by storm. The software giant solidified its OS presence and began to make its way into homes across the world. A little know program included with the OS was Internet Explorer, a web browser. Microsoft wanted to challenge Netscape’s dominance in the browser market, and had the OS platform to do it with. Netscape pushed the boundaries of browser technology and made technological leaps forward on an almost daily basis. Netscape was considered the most advanced browser available, and Microsoft had years of catching up to do. One key difference however was Internet Explorer was free and Netscape was not. This was difficult to overcome but Netscape pushed forward in what was now being called the Browser Wars.
Although the term Browser Wars generally refers to the competition in the marketplace of the various web browsers in the early and mid 90’s it is most commonly used in reference to Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator. Microsoft eventually captured Netscape’s market share, and Netscape Navigator ceased to be. Firefox is now the primary browser competitor to Internet Explorer.
1998 – ICANN is Formed
ICANN is the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers and is a not-for-profit public benefit corporation. ICANN helps coordinate the unique identifiers ever computer needs to be able to communicate via their Internet Providers. It is by these identifiers computers can find each other, and without them no communication would be possible.
ICAAN is an organization dedicated to keeping the Internet the Internet secure, stable, and interoperable.
1999 – Y2K Looms
Y2K was short for “the year 2000 software problem” and was also called The Millennium Bug. The problem has been the subject of many books and news reports, and was discussed by Usenet users as early as 1985.
The heart of the problem was that it was thought that computer programs would produce erroneous information or simply stop working because they stored years using only two digits. This would mean the year 200 would be represented with 00 and appear to be the year 1900 to the computer.
Government committees were set up to drive contingency plans around the Y2K issue that would help mitigate damages caused to crucial infrastructure such as utilities, telecommunication, banking and more. Although the failing of military systems was discussed in public forums, the danger there was minimal as the closed systems were all Y2K compliant. Public fears of the Y2K “disaster” grew as the date approached.
Although there was no Y2K disaster either due to concerted efforts or simply because there never was a great danger, there were benefits to the issue such as the proliferation of data back up systems and power contingency systems that protect businesses today.
One of the few Y2K incidents was the US timekeeper (USNO) reported the new year as 19100 on 01/01/2002
2001 – HDTV over an IP Network
Level 3 Communications Inc and the University of Southern California successfully demonstrate the first transmission of uncompressed real-time gigabit high-definition television over an Internet Protocol optic network. This demonstration proved the technology they were using would support high speed data steaming without packet differentiation. Without the need of data packets, HDTV anywhere begins to be discussed.