Internet 25 years old: 25 milestones 'for life'

Twenty-five years ago, the Internet we know today is going to be at the National Science Foundation. Then it created an explosion of information, from email to eBay, the way people communicate and shop has changed forever.

1. World Wide Web

Tim Berners-Lee has created user-friendly "Web sites" that are able to "move" across the Internet. At that time, the Internet was only designed to connect research works at universities together. And today? More than 747 million adults regularly use the Internet worldwide.

2. E-mail

Electronic letters are pushing traditional correspondence back into the past. Since 1988, programs like Eudora have used very simply. And today, nearly 97 billion emails are sent every day by Internet users.

3. Graphical user interface (GUI)

Before Apple unveiled icons that symbolized computer applications, most PC screens only showed monotonous text. Then the Mac's graphical user interface launched in 1984 changed everything. And it was Microsoft's Windows operating system that introduced the GUI (read gooey) to a large number of users.

4. AOL

AOL has brought users to Web portal, chat room and IM. The first subscribers pay for using the service by the hour. In 2001, Time Warner acquired AOL for $ 106 million.

5. Broadband

The answer to the headlines of the dial-up Internet connection. High-speed Internet service blew a new life into online entertainment, opening the door to downloading movies and downloading music. Up to now, about 78% of US households have installed broadband, up nearly 78 times compared to 1998.

6. Google

So popular that it turned into a verb for online search. Google, which currently has a market capitalization of nearly $ 149 billion, has perfected the way of searching and searching information on vast Net seas. As of December last year, Google's websites attracted nearly 500 million visitors.

7. Mosaic / Netscape

As the "brainchild" of Marc Andreesen and colleagues, Mosaic is the first widely used multimedia Web browser in the world. Separated from Mosaic, Netscape's browser dominated during the 90s until Microsoft's Internet Explorer was ousted and deposed since 1998.

8. eBay

Thanks to eBay, we can now buy and sell almost anything in mind (except for body parts). eBay currently has 230 million customers worldwide, and every 100 million auctions take place.

9. Amazon

Initially, this website is just a place to sell books. Then Amazon survived the dotcom recession and switched to business as an "online department store." Now, Amazon.com is the second largest online shopping address, the second most visited retail site after eBay.

10. Wi-Fi

Drinking coffee and surfing the Web: Wireless networks have allowed us to use laptops outside office space and connect to the Internet wherever there is Wi-Fi signal coverage. Last year alone, more than 200 million products equipped with Wi-Fi were sold globally.

11. IM

Web surfers started the "chit chat" routine from the mid-90s with the introduction of ICQ and AOL Instant Messenger. Millions of users have used IM programs to exchange, share messages, photos and even SMS or call each other.

12. Yahoo!

Stanford University's Jerry Yang and David Filo created this famous Web portal in 1994. Now this is still a favorite address for those who need email and photo sharing (Yahoo owns Flickr ) and many other services.

13. Compuserve / Prodigy

In the 1980s, these were the first two public companies to provide Internet access to individual users. If CompuServe aims for more "people in the industry", Prodigy is aimed at mass users.

14. The Well

The predecessor of the virtual social network - The Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link was created in 1985.

15. Erotic

Although the plan for the .xxx domain name reserved for pornographic websites has been shelved, sex has always been one of the most prosperous and noisy businesses on the Internet. Its revenue last year was $ 2.84 billion, and the keyword "Paris Hilton's sex video" will instantly give you nearly 1 million different links.

16. Spam / spyware

Spam and sneaky software that tracks users' surfing habits have exploded in quantity and sophistication over the years. Initially, they only caused unwanted nuisances, but now spam / spyware is both a problem, a pandemic. Spam currently accounts for 90% of the total email traffic on the Internet.

17. Flash

Adobe's Flash software currently runs over 98% of the world's total computers. Want to watch videos on YouTube or MySpace? It is necessary to have Flash. It was Flash that activated the Internet, "laying out" millions of drawings and videos of all kinds.

18. Online map tool

MapQuest was born in 1996 with the mission to show a clear and thorough way for users. Later folks like Yahoo and Google tried to turn to providing digital maps for mobile phones and providing satellite photos of the neighborhood you live in.

19. Napster

Written in a cramped warehouse, Napster has allowed more than 26 million people to access a free, huge digital music database. Hot nape, the record label has allied to close Napster. Now the service is reviving, but is in the form of a legitimate, paid music download service like iTunes.

20. YouTube

Video sharing website was acquired by Google last year for $ 1.65 billion. YouTube has "triggered" a revolutionary "homegrown" content on the Internet, and introduced millions of people to see the charms of characters like Chad Vader, Lonelygirl115.

21. The Drudge Report

Matt Drudge's news news website helped publicize Monica Lewinsky's hot story (the White House intern was involved in a sex scandal with former President Bill Clinton in 1998), paving the way for called "citizen journalism". This site attracts up to 500 million hits per month.

22. Blogger

More than 75 million active blog sites have changed the way the world receives news. The blog challenged traditional media, "lobbying" and protesting the war, sparking controversies and posting all different images.

23. Craigslist

This is a place where all advertising content is free to download, and it has changed the way we search for apartments, truck drivers . everything.

24. MySpace

The address "is" on the network of young people today, with more than 173 million personal websites. News Corp bought MySpace for $ 580 million in 2005.

25. Virtual worlds and games

Worldwide, more than 19 million people are paying to discover online games that play as many players as World of Warcraft or virtual communities like Second Life.

Trong Cam