| 1956 |
Sputnik launched by the USSR. The US forms the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) to gain competitive advantage in science and technology for the military. |
| 1965 |
Ted Nelson coins the word hypertext. |
| 1967 |
Andy Van Dam and others build Hypertext Editing System – the core of HTML which is the layout language used on the Internet. |
| 1968 |
Doug Engelbart demonstrates NLS, a hypertext system. |
| 1969 |
ARPANET group set up by the DoD for research ‘networking’. First ever Internode set up at UCLA. First manned moon landing. |
| 1972 |
First International Conference on computer communications. ARPANET was demonstrated on 40 machines. E-mail was invented and demonstrated to work where users collected their messages remote from the network. |
| 1973 |
First international link up. England and Norway connect up and HM the Queen sends her first e-mail message. |
| 1977 |
THEORYNET created at the University of Wisconsin providing electronic mail to over 100 researchers in computer science. |
| 1978 |
The Aspen Movie map, the first hypermedia videodisc, shown at MIT. |
| 1979 |
USENET established, which enables and lists newsgroups.
Prestel and MicroNet established in UK. The personal computer is born. |
| 1981 |
Minitel (Teletel) is established in France by French Telecom. This is then used to organize strikes and blockades in the late 1980s.
Ted Nelson conceptualizes ‘Xandu’ a hypertext database encompassing all written information. |
| 1982 |
First definition of an ‘internet’ as a connected set of networks. This comes from INWG establishing TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) and IP (Internet Protocol) the core communication of the Internet. |
| 1983 |
ARPANET split into ARPANET and MILNET. Personal computers become popular as desktop workstations. |
| 1984 |
Over 1000 host computers. JANET (Joint Application Network) established in UK. Number of computers breaks 1000. |
| 1986 |
ARPANET bureaucracy prevents it from being used to interconnect centres. NSFNET established by NASA and DoE. This enables connections to grow, especially between universities. MS-DOS 3.0 becomes networkable. |
| 1987 |
Over 10,000 host computers. Office-based IT revolution comes about. Windows Version 1. released by Microsoft. Apple Computers introduces Hypercard, the first widely available personal hypermedia authoring system. |
| 1989 |
Over 100,000 host computers. Electronic mail provider CompuServe links up with the Internet through Ohio State University. |
| 1990 |
ARPANET ceases to exist. Electronic mail provider MCI links up with the Internet. |
| 1991 |
Commerical Internet Exchange (CIX) Association Inc. formed. WAIS released from Thinking Machines Corporation. Gopher released by University of Minnesota. |
| 1992 |
Over 1,000,000 host computers – growing exponentially. Internet Society is chartered. World wide web released by CERN. First audio multicast and video multicast. Local area networks are common. Modems fall dramatically in price. |
| 1993 |
US White House, UK Government, United Nations and the World Bank go online. Internet Talk Radio begins broadcasting. Businesses and media start to take notice of the Internet. Mosaic takes the Internet by storm; WWW proliferates at a 341,634 per cent annual growth. |
| 1994 |
Communities begin to be connected though local suppliers. Interflora takes flower orders. Shopping malls and mass
marketing grow. Mass e-mailing takes place and are correspondingly censored. |
| 1995 |
Many millions of host computers are now established. Netscape takes the Internet market by storm and gains 80–90 per cent market share of the ‘browser’ market (i.e. software interface to the WWW). 10,000 businesses go online. Electronic payments systems become practical and widespread, supported by Barclaycard. TV programmes encourage readers to write in using e-mail. Increased interest in the Internet by the general population. More than 30 providers in the UK. Local Points of Presence (PoP) covers 90 per cent of the UK population. Microsoft release Windows ’95 and MSN. MSN will enable every Windows ’95 user to access the Internet for a monthly subscription. Sun Microsystems release Internet programming language called Java, which radically altered the way applications and information can be retrieved, displayed and used over the Internet. The number of Internet hosts is over 4,000,000. |
| 1996 |
The number of Internet hosts is over 9,000,0000. More than $1 billion spent at Internet shopping malls. The www browser war, primarily between Netscape and Microsoft, rushed in a new age in software development. Search engine technology takes off. |
| 1997 |
The number of Internet hosts now over 16,000,000. |
| 1998 |
La Fete de L'Internet – a countrywide Internet fest held in France. Digital TV launched, the emergence of portals, e-commerce and online auctions. |
| 1999 |
E-trade, online banking, MP3 music technology and WAP (Wireless Applications Protocol) emerge. |
