While it didn't see widespread use until about 1995, Tim Berners-Lee started writing the code for the first browser (which was black and white but a true GUI nonetheless), as well as the HTTP protocol and the HTML language in September 1990, a quarter century ago this month!

It should be noted that despite popular belief, the Web is not the same thing as the Internet. The first transatlantic Internet connection happened way back in 1973 when Norway hosted an Arpanet connection, and there was already a quite extensive if small global Internet from about 1985 onwards.

This is what it looked like, except it would have been black and white.

http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/3112/worldfirstwebbrowser1.jpg

I should note that while Tim Berners-Lee was already planning to create the Web at CERN as early as 1988, and had been working on similar programs as early as 1980, he didn't actually manifest a Web browser until December 1990 and the first server aside from his own didn't appear until sometime in 1991. So the idea the Web was invented in 1989 is somewhat misleading being he thought of it much earlier than that (apparently he had the basic idea in his mind as far back as about 1975) and didn't actually create and share a product until a little later. 1989 just represents the first time he referred to a "web" concept on paper.

So, I guess next year is the 25th anniversary for The Web?

While it didn't see widespread use until about 1995, Tim Berners-Lee started writing the code for the first browser (which was black and white but a true GUI nonetheless), as well as the HTTP protocol and the HTML language in September 1990, a quarter century ago this month!

It should be noted that despite popular belief, the Web is not the same thing as the Internet. The first transatlantic Internet connection happened way back in 1973 when Norway hosted an Arpanet connection, and there was already a quite extensive if small global Internet from about 1985 onwards.

This is what it looked like, except it would have been black and white.

http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/3112/worldfirstwebbrowser1.jpg


I can't believe what The Web used to look like 25 years ago compared to what it is now. :o

I should note that while Tim Berners-Lee was already planning to create the Web at CERN as early as 1988, and had been working on similar programs as early as 1980, he didn't actually manifest a Web browser until December 1990 and the first server aside from his own didn't appear until sometime in 1991. So the idea the Web was invented in 1989 is somewhat misleading being he thought of it much earlier than that (apparently he had the basic idea in his mind as far back as about 1975) and didn't actually create and share a product until a little later. 1989 just represents the first time he referred to a "web" concept on paper.


What's interesting is that, from my recollection, the "Web" was really only intended at first to be a program that would use hypertext to make it easier to look up information within the CERN computer network. Obviously, it turned out to be a little bigger than that. Another interesting tidbit is that both the first web server, and the first web browser, were developed by Tim Berners-Lee on a computer by NeXT inc., the company that Steve Jobs founded after he left Apple in the mid '80s. The first web server went live at CERN on Christmas Day 1990.

The first web server located here in he United States was at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, located in Menlo Park, California. It first went online in December 1991, after SLAC's Paul Kunz had visited CERN in September of that year and found himself captivated by the technology. Tim Berners-Lee announced the WWW project to the general public on August 6, 1991 by posting the information on the Usenet Hypertext newsgroup.

What's interesting is that, from my recollection, the "Web" was really only intended at first to be a program that would use hypertext to make it easier to look up information within the CERN computer network. Obviously, it turned out to be a little bigger than that. Another interesting tidbit is that both the first web server, and the first web browser, were developed by Tim Berners-Lee on a computer by NeXT inc., the company that Steve Jobs founded after he left Apple in the mid '80s. The first web server went live at CERN on Christmas Day 1990.


Yeah in a way you could say the Web wouldn't exist if it weren't for Steve Jobs!  :o

I think Tim had bigger visions for the Web than using it at CERN only, but the Internet was pretty much all academic in 1990 and I doubt he could have foreseen billions of ordinary people using it a mere 20-25 years later. People actually poo pooed the first browser as being pointless the first couple years or so amazingly, and it seems like he lost some enthusiasm for the project. If it wasn't for Robert Cailliau's faith in the Web it's highly likely it wouldn't have gone anywhere and we'd still be using something like Gopher or USENET today. Or we'd still be stuck with AOL ;D