Fri 9 Feb 2007
Reno and Cindy, who are both brilliant and superlatively interesting, both posted links to this fabulous 4-minute video on the Internet.
Cindy observed, and I entirely agree, that it is a real trip for those of us who have been around and engaged in the evolution of the Internet. But it is also a good easy-to-follow explanation of how the Internet “works” both now and earlier.
Yes, in about 4 minutes, with a cool soundtrack and everything.
It reminds me of the conversation I had with Dave back in about 1994, when he told me that I had to go find out more about this cool World Wide Web thing, because it made the whole (previously techie and difficult, though to us facinating) Internet “point and click.”
Yup, Dave was the first person to convince me to find a Web Site. But Reno was the first person to show me how to send e-mail, and that was all the way back in 1987. The next people I sent e-mail to were Brian and Todd.
February 9th, 2007 at 9:31 pm
“This World Wide Web thing will never catch on… total fad. You should take a look before the government shuts it down.” - Dave, 1994.
February 10th, 2007 at 3:18 pm
My boss at an internet startup said the same thing in 1993 — “Too graphics intensive. Nobody will use it. Gopher is the technology to count on.”
Mind you, that was when a 14.4 modem cost hundreds of dollars…\
(This post brought to you via the Village Grounds high-speed wireless internet connection.)
February 10th, 2007 at 11:15 pm
Gopher. Gopher! A those goofy Minnesotans. Gopher was way too sensible and appropriate to catch on, while silly people like those Stanfordites and their “Yet Another Hierarchical Hotlist, Ohyeah!” went with the more graphically oriented “HTML.”
Anyone remember surfing the web using LYNX?
February 11th, 2007 at 10:24 am
I definitely remember using Lynx… I also have a copy of “The Internet Directory” from 1994. It’s a 700 page book claiming to have “the most complete listings” for resources on the internet. The section of the WWW is two pages long and lists a total of 9 sites. “Try it out and you’ll see the power of a hypertext interface to information.” By comparison, the section on Mailing Lists is over 200 pages long and contains over 1500 listings. Fun!
February 11th, 2007 at 3:15 pm
Minnesotans? This was a Harvard-dropout Portlander.
February 11th, 2007 at 9:11 pm
Gopher was developed at the U of Minnesota. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gopher_%28protocol%29)
(Which I actually remember, as the copyright info was onscreen while I sloooooooowly waited for files to transfer.)
February 11th, 2007 at 9:14 pm
Dave, that book is an awesome snapshot of history! 9 sites? I love it.