The Internet
Facebook is Born
February 4, 2004
Mark Zuckerberg launches Thefacebook, which later becomes Facebook. The world changes forever. And we like it.
Yahoo! Buys GeoCities
January 28, 1999
Yahoo! buys GeoCities for $3.65 billion USD. GeoCities was an early web hosting service getting its start in 1994. As a testament to its popularity, there were at least 38 million pages remaining on GeoCities when Yahoo! shut it down in 2009.
Jim Clark Leaves Silicon Graphics
January 27, 1994
Silicon Graphics Inc. co-founder Jim Clark leaves the company to start Mosaic Communications, the operation that later became Netscape Communications Corp. With Netscape cofounder Marc Andreesen, Clark helped popularize the World Wide Web by distributing the company’s browser for free.
Java Released; Coffee Drinkers Confused
January 23, 1996
The first version of the Java programming language was released. The ability of Java to “write once, run anywhere” made it ideal for Internet-based applications. As the popularity of the Internet soared, so did the usage of Java.
Twitter.com is Born
January 21, 2000
The domain name twitter.com was registered. However, it wasn’t until 2006 that the domain was purchased by Twitter, Inc. and took the form we know today.
The Happy99 Worm Appears
January 20, 1999
The Happy99 worm first appeared. It invisibly attached itself to emails, displayed fireworks to hide the changes being made, and wished the user a happy New Year. It was the first of a wave of malware that struck Microsoft Windows computers over the next several years, costing businesses and individuals untold amounts of money to resolve.
Yahoo.com Registered
January 18, 1995
The domain name yahoo.com is registered. Previously, the web site was called “David and Jerry’s Guide to the World Wide Web”. I think they chose wisely.
Drudge Report Legitimizes Internet Reporting
January 17, 1998
Matt Drudge breaks the story of the Bill Clinton–Monica Lewinsky affair on his website The Drudge Report. This incident brought to the limelight the emerging Internet news industry. Almost overnight it seems, traditional news media, especially newspapers, begin to lose ground to Internet news sources.
Wikipedia Goes Online; Bookshelves Clear Up
NCSA Opens
January 15, 1986
The National Science Foundation opens the National Center for Supercomputer Applications (NCSA) at the University of Illinois. In 1992 – 1993, Marc Andreesen would invent his Mosaic web browser while a student there, which he later transformed into Netscape. I remember opening the Mosaic program on a Mac in my dorm’s computer lab in 1993. Not knowing what it was, and because the homepage was set to the University of Illinois, I clicked around a few hyperlinks but quickly got bored. Little did I know what I had stumbled upon until several months later.