I started this website back in the late 90's and as of November 2015 a lot of it hasn't been changed. I'm a little reluctant to delete any of the old stuff or pave over it with new content so this little bit I'm keeping just as it was when I wrote it back in about 1998. On the first day... Al Gore said, "Let there be an Internet" and there was, and it was good.
Shortly after the Soviet Union launched Sputnik and showed that they were further advanced in technology, the United States government created an organization within the military called the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA). It's purpose was to establish U.S. led science and technology applicable to the military. In 1965, ARPA began work on "ARPANET", a way of sharing research information between research centers. In 1969, four universities were connected to ARPANET to become the first hosts. By 1971, 23 universities and government research centers around the country were connected. At this point, the network was "members only". In 1981, IBM released their personal computer - selling 65,000 units in the first four months at a price of $4,500 each. This marked the transition from military use to public use. By 1987, the number of hosts on ARPANET had grown to 10,000. In 1990, falling victim to its own success, ARPANET is decommisioned - leaving behind the vast network of networks left to be maintained by the hosts. By 1991, the network of approximately 300,000 hosts becomes known as the world wide web. By 1993, the internet traffic had an annual growth rate of 341,634%. In 1994, Netscape corporation is created and Pizza Hut accepts orders over the net. By 1996, on its 25th anniversary, the Internet has over 40 million people connected. Then shortly after, "software-tyrant*", Bill Gates force-feeds Internet Explorer to all the hopeless victims of the Windows/Microsort monopoly, casting the only shadow on the brilliant history of the Internet.
...And the rest is history.
Ty-rant (ti'rent) n. One who exercises absolute power without legal warrant whether ruling well or badly.
