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Today we do not conceive a day without using the Internet. Since we got up we used the smartphone to send WhatsApp messages, emails, check social networks and even to make the purchase of the supermarket. However, a few decades ago it was not so simple or so affordable for everyone.
The arrival of the Internet was a revolution in the way we communicate, work, study and in general, live. In fact, with the popularization of its use worldwide, the development of a new economic paradigm would take place:
The most incredible thing is that he has done it in a short time, since cyberspace, as it is also known, does not even reach 30 years. And the web as we know it today with its WWW and the world of browsers has even less time.
The invention of the Internet, unlike many other inventions, was not a fortuitous event. In fact, it comes from the military world, just like GPS. His goal was to make the US military communications system less vulnerable in the Cold War era. From that time until now, much has changed.
What is the Internet?
The term Internet derives from a combination of the words inter (meaning between) and network (net). His concept is broad, but the SAR defines it as: A decentralized computer network formed by a communication network system, which is interconnected by a family of TCP / IP protocols. These are a set of network protocols that allow the transmission of data between computers.
Many other concepts that sometimes are confused with him come off the Internet. An example of this is the World Wide Web, better known as WWW or simply the Web. This is a set of protocols designed for remote consultation of hypertext files, which use the Internet as a means of transmission. And it is not the only service. There are also others such as emails (STMP), online conversations (IRC), FTP and P2P file transmission, or multimedia and telephone conversation service (VoIP), among others.
As for the types of Internet connection, there are several. At first, the connection to the network of networks was done by dial-up, that is, through a cable taking the connectivity of a telephone line. Later, other more modern types of connections such as ADSL and fiber optics appeared. In the case of mobile devices, there is 3G, 4G (LTE) and the latest 5G connectivity.
Who invented the Internet
To know the internet history we must go back to the 1960s. This communication platform, essential today, is the result of the initial work of two computer scientists: Leonard Kleinrock and J.C.R. Licklider. Each one made incredible contributions that made the development of the Internet possible, so there is not a single person known as the founder of the Internet.
It could be said that its origin dates back to 1961 when Leonard Kleinrock, a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), published a theory about the use of packet switching to transfer data. According to this theory, the information that leaves a device is divided into several blocks, called packets, to be transmitted over the Network.
The following year, investigations were initiated by ARPA (changed to DARPA in 1972), an American agency responsible for the development of new technologies for military use, on the creation of a computer network that would allow communication between users of several computers, promoted through networking (networking).
CR Licklider, also of MIT, was appointed head of the ARPA information processing office at the end of 1962. While there, he created the concept of Galactic Network, which was basically an idea related to a global computer network . That same year, Paul Baran, who was a US government researcher, presented a system based on a series of computers connected to a decentralized network that was immune to external attacks. This project was based on Leonard Kleinrock’s packet switching theory.
In the following years, the work of several researchers and computer scientists continued to try to establish the ‘galactic network’, that is, a network that could be accessed from any corner of the world. So, In 1965 Lawrence G. Roberts, MIT researcher, managed to connect two computers through a switched telephone line. It was a TX2 located in Massachusetts with a Q-32 located in California. Although it was low speed and limited, the connection worked, becoming the first wide area network in the world.
Two years later, in 1967, one of the most important conferences in informatics and communications was held in the United States. It was there when engineers and computer scientists talked about ARPANET, which would be the first communications network. For 1969 Michel Elie, also known as one of the Internet pioneers, managed to connect the computer of the UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) with another of the SRI (Stanford Research Institute). Subsequently, the work team achieved the connection of 4 computers each located at university headquarters in the United States through the Message Processor Interface of Leonard Kleinrock.
By 1971 there were already 23 computers connected to ARPANET. That same year the first email was sent successfully, which would be the substitute for postal mail in the following years. From there, the Internet did not stop evolving. In 1972 the InterNetworking Working Group was born, an organization responsible for managing the Internet, and the following year Norway and England joined the Network, each with a computer.
In the early 1980s, the TCP / IP protocol was defined, as well as the word ‘Internet’ to refer to the network of connected computers. By 1984 there were already 1,000 computers connected and five years later, in 1989, there were already 100,000. At present, according to figures from the Global Digital Report 2018 there are more than 8,400 million devices connected to the Internet worldwide.
Main milestones in Internet history
Talking about a brief history of the Internet is difficult given that in order to have the Network we have today, innumerable investigations and projects were carried out. However, throughout the history of the Internet there were very important moments thanks to which we have the modern platform that we enjoy today.
Internet is born (1974)
The connected computer system was already a reality since the 1960s. However, if we ask ourselves when the internet was invented It should be said that in 1974, which was when the term was born. Was created by Vinton Cerf, Yogen Dalal and Carl Sunshine at Stanford University, who also created the TCP / IP (Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol), which allows computers from different networks to connect to each other. In 1983 TCP / IP became the standard Internet protocol.
The first virus appears (1988)
Computer viruses are not a new thing. In 1988, 6,000 of the 60,000 connected computers were infected with the first virus called the “Worm” Morris. To deal with this problem, the Computer Emergency Group was created, which was managed by Mellon University.
Launch of the World Wide Web (1992)
Between 1989 and 1990 the Englishman Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web and in 1992 it was presented publicly. It was a system of distribution of hypertext documents that were interconnected and accessible via the Internet.
Netscape is born, the first commercial browser (1994)
Netscape was the first commercial browser in the Internet world. With it you could search the Web and write the first web addresses. He had several versions and in 1997 became the first browser to include a scripting language in web pages thanks to the JavaScript introduction. In 1995 Internet Explorer appeared and little by little this took over the market share of Netscape until in the mid-2000s it disappeared completely.
The first mobile phone with Internet appears (1996)
The Finnish company Nokia was the first to launch the first mobile phone with Internet. It was the Nokia 9000 Communicator, which was presented at the CeBIT Technology Fair in Hannover in 1996. This equipment had a folding cover and the ability to send and receive faxes, as well as emails.
Hotmail arrives, a free email service (1996)
In 1996, the Hotmail free email service was also born, which Microsoft bought at the end of 1997. This was a golden era for email communication, which was dominated by the company of Bill Gates. In 2001 they launched Windows Live Messenger, which would be the start of instant messaging. In 2012, Hotmail was renamed Outlook.com, and Windows Live Messenger was losing ground in favor of Skype as communication software via chat and video, a company that was subsequently purchased by Microsoft.
Google is born (1998)
1997 was the founding year of Google, the company that years later would take over almost all Internet services. He was born as a search engine called BackRub, but was soon changed to Google. In 1998 he presented the world as a search engine and quickly managed to outshine the search engines that already existed as Altavista or Yahoo. Today Google is the most used search engine, with a 92% market share, which means that your competition is almost non-existent.
Wi-Fi is born (1999)
This technology, which allows the wireless interconnection of electronic devices, was born from the need to create a compatible wireless connection mechanism between different devices such as laptops, mobile phones, game consoles, televisions, music players, etc. Thus, in 1999, 3Com, Intersil, Airones, Nokia, Lucent Technologies and Symbol Technologies joined together to create the Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance, called today Wi-Fi Alliance.
The Internet bubble burst (2000)
The dot bubble It was a term that was used to refer to the period of growth in the stock market that companies linked to the Internet had. In March 2000, the NASDAQ, the stock exchange where all technology companies in the United States are traded, peaked and then exploded. Between 1997 and 2000 there was a speculative economic current in which many believed that virtual companies would make them millionaires overnight. After a while investors began to lose faith and came a chain reaction that ended with a lot of money lost and the closure of hundreds of companies. The NASDAQ lost 10% of its value in a single day.
Facebook is created (2004)
Facebook was not the first social network. Since 2003 MySpace already existed, but the first was the platform that undoubtedly changed the rules of the game. It was created by Mark Zuckerberg in 2004, although it was not until 2006 that it was released for the public (it was first a network exclusively for university students). Facebook offered a new space where each person could create their own virtual world to share photos and comments with friends. Today this social network has 2,271 million active users per month.
YouTube is born, the leading video platform (2005)
Another great Internet milestone was the creation of YouTube. In February 2005 it was founded by Steve Chen, Jawed Karim and Chad Hurley; Three former PayPal employees. Its objective was to become a page with a database with videos that people uploaded voluntarily. In October 2006, it was bought by Google for 1,650 million dollars, without a doubt one of the best investments of the company. Currently, this platform is the reference of free videos on the Internet and has more than 1.9 billion active users per month.
Google Chrome reaches the world of browsers (2008)
Until 2008, users used Explorer or Firefox to surf the Internet. However, everything changed when Google launched Chrome that year, soon becoming the king of browsers. Until last year, according to StatCounter data, Chrome had 66% of the market share.
Registered domains exceed 200 million (2010)
According to a Verisign report, made at the end of the third quarter of 2010, there were 201.8 million registered domains to date. The most popular so far was the .com extension, and it still is.
The Internet of our times (2010 – 2019)
Since 2007, with the arrival of the iPhone and the 3G connection for the modern Internet on mobile phones, it began a different era for communications through the Network. Platforms such as Facebook and YouTube were consolidated and applications such as WhatsApp, Instagram arrived , Snapchat and Pinterest. The era of streaming music and TV programs with important services such as Spotify and Netflix also began. Today the world of Internet continues to grow. There are more and more Internet users, 53% of the world’s population uses it.
Internet Impact
According to a survey conducted at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the Internet is considered the main technological development That has changed the world. It has become an effective tool in the globalization process, bringing entrepreneurs and customers closer, bringing improvements to education, as well as communication and knowledge in general.
Do you know how the development of the Internet has impacted different aspects of life? Find out below.
In the world economy
Like transport or energy, the Internet has become a factor of production in the activities of the economy modern And it is that the Network allows companies around the world, small and large, to participate in world trade. Thanks to the Internet, for example, products can be exported to more markets. According to the study Digital dividends overview, which Forbes cites, if Internet use in the exporting country increases by 10%, the number of products traded between two countries may increase by 0.4%.
The Internet also improves capital utilization, since it reduces costs and thus contributes to increasing the efficiency and productivity of the workforce. In addition, it encourages competition because there are more and more connected companies that can be accessed no matter where in the world they are.
In society
When analyzing the history of the Internet it is evident how the development of this technology It has been progressively changing our lifestyle. Modern society is far from that of our grandparents and even that of our parents. Internet revolutionized not only the way we communicate, but also to do many things.
It has created an interconnected world in which there seems to be no barriers at all. The case of the emergence of social networks becomes very important, because their use has changed the way we behave and interact with the real and virtual world. We live in a hyperconnected world in which all or almost everything we do through the Internet.
In education
The value for education is in the access to information. Its use provides learning in which there are no limits because it is an inexhaustible source of information. Through the internet people can create and share knowledge, develop new ways of teaching that are more striking for students, while stimulating their imagination.
For many, the future of education is networked. The Internet allows students to stop being passive recipients of the knowledge imparted by a teacher and make them become active recipients. This means that it is they who seek the information and decide how to receive it, when and how far to do it.
The Internet also allows students to work collaboratively without having to be in the same space and not even at the same time. There are many tools that allow the construction of knowledge with the use of the Internet.
In the companies
The Internet has an influence on the world economy precisely because it has changed the way companies operate. Today it is said that, if a business is not on the Internet, it does not exist. Online commerce has gained relevance in recent years, but check out the success of companies such as Amazon, Alibaba or eBay.
Web pages have become the main means for the promotion of products and services. And that is why digital marketing, for example, has disrupted traditional marketing, that is, advertising that is done in media such as television, radio or posters. And it is that companies have understood that the best way to reach a wider audience and increase their profits is through the Internet.
This is a brief explanation of how the Internet has impacted some of the most important areas of life. However, all this is summed up in one thing: a change of culture. The Internet has revolutionized the way we live in every little aspect that even makes it difficult for us to conceive our life without this technology.
We have also witnessed many of the milestones that have marked the history of the Internet. We went from writing letters to writing emails. We connected to Windows Live Messenger to talk with friends and now we do it from anywhere by sending a WhatsApp message. And we no longer settle for listening to a voice on the other side of the phone, but we use video calls to see each other no matter how far we are from the other person. Some of these achievements are not directly related to the Internet, but none would have been possible had this communication network system not been invented.