Do you remember the last time you spent a day without the internet? We all use it daily to read the news, talk with friends, listen to music, work, search for LeoVegas Casino Welcome bonus, and so much more. The internet has become integrated into every aspect of our daily routines and we cannot even imagine functioning without it. However, just a couple of decades ago the internet was nonexistent. Have you ever wondered how it originated? Why did the world need a network of communication? If you’d like to know why was the internet invented and how it grew into a database of millions of people that we use every day, take a look at this brief history of the internet.
The first days
It might be surprising to know that the internet, which we now use among other things for entertainment, playing games, and other fun activities, actually has its roots in the military.
In the late 1960s, the U.S. military wanted a network over which armed forces would be able to communicate. The military research team developed ARPANET, which is one of the first versions of the Internet we know today. Soon military computers began connecting with one another, then they made connections with universities and other countries until finally the whole world was connected.
The name
As we all know, the Internet is no longer called ARPANET. We no longer even remember this name. This is the name given after the research unit which developed it – Advanced Research Projects Agency. In 1984, the internet connected 1000 computers from research labs and universities and finally got the name we know today.
4 billion users
The number of internet users has grown immensely since 1984 and there are now between 4 and 4.5 billion users worldwide. The prediction is that the internet will only continue to grow from there as it is difficult for people to imagine their lives without it today. With the growing number of people using the internet, it has spread from the U.S. to other countries and continents, with Asia and Europe as especially fertile grounds for the internet. Researchers say that the only difference will be that in the future people will use mobile phones rather than PCs to access the Internet.
The rise of the Domain Name System
The Domain Name System, with endings such as .com, or .gov was also invented in 1984. Of course, having your own domain was a sign of professionalism and internet privilege so it did not come cheap. However, the real growth of domain prices happened after 1998 when domain name sales rose almost 10 times. Still, .com remains the most popular domain name even today.
The Web
The Internet that we are most familiar with today began developing in 1990 when Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web. Since then this has been the most popular platform for publishing texts and information on the internet.
In a way, the Web has started an unbelievable rate of progress we are still witnessing today. In 1993 we got our first web browser Mosaic.
Since then Mosaic has been substituted with today’s browsers such as Chrome, Safari, or Firefox, but it is still remembered as a stepping stone for Web sites and pages back in the day.
Working on the Internet
One of the latest aspects of this ever-growing phenomenon is that you can work online. E-commerce is just one of the major ways businesses have crossed over to the digital sphere and in some parts of the world, people shop online more than they do in real life. Moreover, there are numerous ways you can now make a living over the Internet and the number of people working from home has been growing every day.