Sunday, January 31, 2010

The History and Evolution of the Internet

 

The Internet is a major form of Mass. Communications. People use it every day, all around the world. But about 50 years ago, the Internet did not exist.


In 1957, the USSR launched Sputnik, the first artificial Earth satellite. A year later, the US lauched the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA). In 1962, Dr. Licklider was chosen to improve the military's use of computer technology. He wanted to make the use of computers more interactive. He then estableshed the ARPANET.


In 1969, the first sign of evolution had been made. UCLA and Stanford were both with a computer, and they tried to send text to eachother. They wanted to type in "LOGIN", but after they typed the "G", the computer had crashed.


E-mail was first adapted in 1972. Ethernet, a protocol for many local networks, appeared in 1974, an outgrowth of Harvard student Bob Metcalfe's dissertation on "Packet Networks." The dissertation was initially rejected by the University for not being analytical enough. It later won acceptance when he added some more equations to it.


In 1993, Microsoft developed MicroSoft Internet Explorer. At first, the internet was only used for research, education, and government uses.


In 1998, Bill Gates lauched Windows 98 for desktop. Soon after, wireless Internet was launched.


Now-a-days, people use internet for social networking. Sites like Facebook, Twitter, Linked-In, YouTube, Flickr, Second Life, delicious, blogs, wikis, and many more let people of all ages rapidly share their interests of the moment with others everywhere.


Because of the economic downturn that started in 2008, many schools (and students) are finding it difficult to afford textbooks. This has meant that more and more are turning to free Internet cybertexts, such as the one you are now reading.


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