History of the Internet

J.C.R. Licklider introduces idea of an "Intergalactic Network"

Nov 4, 1962

He thought of a global computer network and became head of DARPA.

The term "Internet" is used

Nov 4, 1974

Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn use the term in a Transmission Control Protocol paper.

Ethernet is invented

Nov 4, 1976

by Dr. Robert Metcalfe. Ethernet comprises coaxial cables that quickly transport data. It was an important aspect in developing LANs.

First Spam Email

Nov 4, 1978

Sent by Gary Thuerk to 400 users of ARPANET.

Every machine connected to ARPANET had to use TCP/IP

Nov 4, 1983

Transmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol became the core of the Internet. All computers communicated udner the same standards.

Dr. Jon Postel described his idea for .com, .org, .gov, .edu and .mil

Nov 4, 1984

TCP/IP becomes mandatory for the entire NSFNET program

Nov 4, 1985

Determined by Dennis Jennings.

Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) is released

Nov 4, 1987

by CompuServe, accidentally, since there was a patent pending on the technology.

First Commercial Dial-up Internet

Nov 4, 1989

Offered by The World, an Internet Service Provider (ISP).

World Wide Web is released

Nov 4, 1992

by Corportaion for Education and Research Network (CREN). Also: NSFNET is upgraded to 44.739 Mbps

Mosaic for X is developed

Nov 4, 1993

This is the first widely used internet browser. It was developed by Marc Adreessen, NCSA and the University of Illinois. Basically, it was a graphical interface for the World Wibe Web. Adreessen would later coordinate the development of SSL as well.

Pizza Hut offers online ordering

Nov 4, 1994

Through their website

eBay is released

Nov 4, 1995

by Pierre Omidyar. Also: An annual fee was imposed for all domains, except .gov or .edu.

Internet2 and Hotmail are released

Nov 4, 1996

Internet2 is a network of research and education institutions.
Microsoft bought Hotmail for $400 million the following year.

Google receives funding and becomes Google Technology incorporated

Nov 4, 1998

from Andy Bechtolsheim (Sun Microsystems)

Wi-fi is standardized

Nov 4, 1999

Also: Sean Fanning releases Napster.

The Dot-com Bubble Burst

Nov 4, 2000

Wikipedia is launched

Nov 4, 2001

Apple Launches the iTunes Store

Nov 4, 2003

Gmail is Launched

Nov 4, 2004

Offering 1 GB of storage, compared to the 2 MB and 4 MB of Hotmail and Yahoo, respectively.

Youtube is launched

Nov 4, 2005

Later bought by Google

Twitter and Facebook are released

Nov 4, 2006

Mobile data traffic exceeded voice traffic every single month

Nov 4, 2009

This is tragic :(