Internet: 35 Years Old

What do we all owe to the internet? When it all began, no one had any idea what computers would come to mean to the world and how they would transform our lives. Consider ATS, alone. It boggles the mind. I'm really glad to have lived to see it.

Internet Turns 35, Still Work in Progress
Thirty-Five Years Old, Internet Remains a Work in Progress As Speed, Capacity Tests Continue

The Associated Press

NEW YORK Aug. 29, 2004 � Thirty-five years after computer scientists at UCLA linked two bulky computers using a 15-foot gray cable, testing a new way for exchanging data over networks, what would ultimately become the Internet remains a work in progress.

University researchers are experimenting with ways to increase its capacity and speed. Programmers are trying to imbue Web pages with intelligence. And work is underway to re-engineer the network to reduce spam and security troubles.

All the while threats loom: Critics warn that commercial, legal and political pressures could hinder the types of innovations that made the Internet what it is today.

Stephen Crocker and Vinton Cerf were among the graduate students who joined UCLA professor Len Kleinrock in an engineering lab on Sept. 2, 1969, as bits of meaningless test data flowed silently between the two computers. By January, three other "nodes" joined the fledgling network.


[edit on 04/8/29 by GradyPhilpott]

I thought Al Gore invented the internet ?

Originally posted by elevatedone
I thought Al Gore invented the internet ?

Oh, yeah. I forgot. Here it is in his own words.

lol... when I first read the post I was gonna say, "I don't owe '�t' anything. I owe Al Gore something since he created it!" Sees someone beat me to the punch though.

Originally posted by GradyPhilpott

Originally posted by elevatedone
I thought Al Gore invented the internet ?

Oh, yeah. I forgot. Here it is in his own words.

That's a good site. It's debunks the "Al Gore claimed he invented the Internet" myth as does snopes.

Just bad wording on his part about how he (and most politicians of the day) helped create the pro-tech environment of the 90's that did make the Internet what it is today. But it was excellent wording in the 2000 chain mail attacks that made the myth that he claimed he "invented" it still what it is today...namely believed.