This month marks the 25th anniversary of the World Wide Web. In March, 1989, Tim Berners-Lee sent a memo announcing to his colleagues the creation of the World Wide Web. Berners-Lee created a universal language, systems and rules, for computers to communicate across servers. What was shocking to learn is that no one read the memo. No one. In May, 1990, he sent the memo again.
And here we are! There are a few more details to the story, which you can read/ listen to in NPR’s interview with The Man himself.
Today, Berners-Lee is still working on it, working to keep the World Wide Web open.
What started as an open source, document-sharing exercise, has become a way of life. Millions of people world wide are employed in areas of code writing, design, editing, writing, and more all for internet-based interactions. We use the web to communicate, store and share information, entertainment, and shopping. A report by Forrester Research Inc. claims that around 10.3% of total retail sales in the U.S. will be online purchases by 2017. What once required long, obnoxious, loud dial-up connections is now done almost instantly from anywhere on mobile devices.
Check out this video below to appreciate just how far the World Wide Web has come. Please be sure to “adjust your VCR tracking” for best results in viewing the video. My, how far we’ve come!