History of the Internet

In response to a need for secure computer-to-computer communications, DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration, commissioned a study in computer-to-computer technologies back in the early 1970's. From this beginning the Internet was born. During the next 20 years the Internet was used solely as a combination of military and academic network, linking computers first nationwide, then ultimately world wide.

The idea behind the Internet is really very simple and can be conceptualized thusly:

Two computers are connected via a single wire. In order for one computer to talk to the other, it sends a signal requesting permission to speak. If the other computer is busy, it replies with the equivalent of a "Please wait, I am busy" otherwise it replies, granting permission. Since both computers know what the other one is talking about, by virtue of the fact they are running similar software, the data can be passed from computer to computer.

In the previous example this is very straightforward and trivial. Now however, instead of a single wire, we replace the connection with the Internet, which can be many dozens of computers between the two computers wishing to talk.

Now the situation appears to be more complex, or is it? Computer A and Computer B wish to talk to each other, but there is nearly 3000 miles between them. Using the Internet, the number of places through which the data has to travel is really transparent to the user.

In effect, the link between Computer A and Computer B can take many paths. It can travel hundreds or even thousands of miles out of the way in order to reach the other computer. All you need to know is that it will get there.

As the 1980's progressed the face of computing changed significantly, and with it, the Internet. More and more commercial and personal computers were going on-line, until, they exceeded the number of the original users.

The 1990's signaled the start of the "connected" era, with the end of the cold war, and improvements in military communications, the original Military users of the Internet left for other communications systems. The Internet was left much as it is today, a collection of internationally based users and computers.

With improvements on the desktop, there arose a need for better graphics on the Internet. The Internet up to this point, had been largely a text only system.

The graphics capabilities implemented were called HTML, and a means was invented to allow users to view these HTML files in their graphic format. With the Internet largely in place, all that was needed was to invent the transmission mechanism. That mechanism was dubbed the World Wide Web, or Web for short.

How Big is the Internet?

It's difficult to judge the size of the Internet. People and systems are being added daily. However, it is estimated that in the United States alone, 27.5 million people are connected to the Internet.

There are over 150,000 unique domain names in the US alone.

Some of the largest Internet Search Engines have over 30 million web documents listed, with an annual growth rate exceeding 28%.

In the newsgroups there are over 15,000 distinct and different groups in which to exchange ideas and conversation.

There are more than 65 countries currently connected to the Internet.