The Web Is 20 Years Old Today

[Ringel05]

It was twenty years ago today/ Tim Berners-Lee taught the world to play/ Although 20 years ago he would have sworn/ That there wouldn’t have been so much porn. That’s right – the world’s first website, a placeholder page written by Sir Berners-Lee way back on August 6, 1991 in the then-nascent Hypertext Mark-Up Language, is celebrating its 20th birthday today. And, on this important anniversary, we ask what hath the web wrought?

In the past two decades we’ve been given ecommerce and spam, we’ve torn down the music, news, and publishing industries, and we’ve LOLed at more CATS than we can count. We’ve seen empires rise and fall, the dissolution of the line between public and private, and the end of enforceable copyright. We’ve seen new modes of communication drive out unwanted regimes at home and abroad and we’ve heard the endless howl of a million voices calling out at once, most of them in comments on this site.

http://techcrunch.com/2011/08/06/the-internet-is-20-years-old-today/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29

 

[California Girl]

We should all remember to thank Algore.

 

[Truthmatters]

yes we should thank Al Gore for helping write the laws that produced a free and open internet.

I think the site is better than I have ever seen it.

They just keep getting better.

 

[Warrior102]

yes we should thank Al Gore for helping write the laws that produced a free and open internet.

I think the site is better than I have ever seen it.

They just keep getting better.

What laws would those be, brainiac?

Please.

Do tell.

 

[random3434]

Holy Moly. Can't you people have ONE thread where y'all don't attack each other?

Anyway, I was hesitant to get the internet in my home for years. Thought it was a 'vast wasteland' like video games and such. I used it at school for work related things and teaching tools, but never thought I needed it at home.

Then in 2006 my daughter was going into middle school, so I thought I should get it for her to use for research, etc.

I had her 'teach' me how to navigate around the net....and now I don't know how I lived without it for so long!

 

[uscitizen]

And the USA has gone downhill for the last 20 years.
Coincidence?

 

[editec]

It's only 20 years old?

Children's Books OnLine: the Rosetta Project's website (which began under a different handle) will be 16 years olds in August.

We saw the dot.com madness come and go and somehow we still survived.

Wanna know how?

NO DEBT!

 

[nitroz]

Now make faster speeds and bring back unlimited data plans for phones.

 

[tonystewart1]

When we lived in Northen VA I thought I could not live without the internet. I shopped for my grocieries and paid my bills etc.

When we moved back home to souther WV no internet here except for dial up. We did without for years and learned to go to the bank, write checks to pay bills, order from catalogs.

Lately we have been using Hughesnet I bought the wife an ipod and she wanted to download music. I am begining to get back into the swing of online bill paying and shopping.

I could live with it or without it.

 

[Ringel05]

Holy Moly. Can't you people have ONE thread where y'all don't attack each other?

Anyway, I was hesitant to get the internet in my home for years. Thought it was a 'vast wasteland' like video games and such. I used it at school for work related things and teaching tools, but never thought I needed it at home.

Then in 2006 my daughter was going into middle school, so I thought I should get it for her to use for research, etc.

I had her 'teach' me how to navigate around the net....and now I don't know how I lived without it for so long!

Coffee Shop.........

 

[derk]

I remember MSN Chat rooms. The sound of my modem connecting. Now social networking sites. And the rise of anonymity for political change. Having an opinion and voicing it in a blog or the forums is all the rage. Slowly it is replacing the conventional way we deal with the information of news. Now we can instantly be apart of it with our views while its happening. I was online while the planes hit the world trade center. I was simultaneously chatting and watching it unfold on TV. While online it was like being apart of the media cycle, you got instant feedback from some people living in and around there at the time. We take it for granted now, but if something happens we can get an assessment of the events online if you know where to look. Wow 20 years-

 

[konradv]

yes we should thank Al Gore for helping write the laws that produced a free and open internet.

I think the site is better than I have ever seen it.

They just keep getting better.

What laws would those be, brainiac?

Please.

Do tell.

The ones where the government divested itself of most of the internet and allowed private citizens to have access. Before that time you had to be in the military, government or a research institution to get online. Gore would have had a lot less trouble over the years, if he'd added "as we know it today" to his claim of having a hand in creating the internet. Of course, the claim that he said he "invented" the internet is just a lie promulgated by his political opponents. The actual inventors of the internet backed him up, BTW.

Net builders Kahn, Cerf recognise Al Gore ? The Register

 

[Chris]

And the USA has gone downhill for the last 20 years.
Coincidence?

The USA was fine until the Supreme Court appointed George Bush president.