Open Thread: Happy Birthday, WWW.

Did you know the World Wide Web just had a birthday?

The geneaology is a little confusing (since the World Wide Web is not the same as the Internet), but according to this report, the URL addressing capability of the internet came about on March 12, 1989. That same year, Quantum Computer Services launched its instant message service. In 1991 it became AOL.

World Wide Web for All!

In 1993 began mailing everyone those CD’s that allowed everyone to go online. Remember this?

My late husband, Michael, was a programmer and an early adopter. He signed us up immediately. I still remember that first week. The first time we logged on, we spent hours looking at bulletin boards.  We finally found one board with every famous line from the Simpsons. We were up till 3am downloading every quote. It was such a fun night, full of discovery and excitement.

What about you? What was your very first online experience? Let us know in the comments!

Virge Randall is Senior Planet’s Managing Editor. She is also a freelance culture reporter who seeks out hidden gems and unsung (or undersung) treasures for Straus Newspapers; her blog “Don’t Get Me Started” puts a quirky new spin on Old School New York City. Send  Open Thread suggestions to editor@seniorplanet.org.

Photo by Christian Wiediger on Unsplash