EXTRA, EXTRA ! WORLD WIDE WEB CELEBRATES BOTH A BIRTHDAY AND AN ANNIVERSARY!!
In a world of “firsts,” Legal Bytes is publishing a Useless But Compelling Fact – both the Question & the Answer at the same time. We will, of course, return to our normal (do we have a "normal") pattern shortly, but this one is too good and too timely to pass up.
Today is the 20th Anniversary or, if you prefer, the 20th Birthday, of the World Wide Web. Yes, exactly 20 years ago, the European Organization for Nuclear Research known as CERN made the technology, promulgated by Sir Tim Berners-Lee, that is the foundation of the World Wide Web, freely available for anyone to use. An international organization established in 1954, CERN also operates the world’s largest particle physics laboratory. The decision to open the technology to everyone transformed the Internet from primarily a communication and data transmission network into a platform where everyone can freely share anything and everything, from music and images and videos, to educational and scientific materials, and where interactions, networked globally, can reach millions and often billions at the speed of light.
To commemorate the event and mark the anniversary, CERN has republished the first website at the original URL from 20 years ago. Not particularly exciting, but definitely enlightening – it shows us how much the World Wide Web has changed and illuminates what may yet be ahead in the evolution of our use of this formidable and dynamic technology. Take a look at the original website and web page at the following URL:
http://www.w3.org/History/19921103-hypertext/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html
What else do we need to say? Well, how about Happy Birthiversary WWW!!!