photo credit: wikipedia
A few days ago it was the 10th anniversary of iTunes, and today, April 30, is the grand-daddy web-anniversary of them all. This was the day, in 1993, that the very first website went public (royalty free) (although the website had actually existed since 1991 as a work-in-progress).
CERN (the organization that is responsible for creating web standards) has chosen to celebrate the WWW anniversary by returning the original website back to it’s original web address.
According to the Washington Post, interest in this first website has been so high that CERN had to take it down after a brief period because it was getting so much web traffic. Interest brought the website “to its knees.”
And so … here you go. This is like jumping in a time machine!
By clicking on the link below, you will see the very first website exactly as it appeared in 1992. All text of course. The website does have links, and its landing page (plus the links) represents EVERYTHING on the internet. This means that when you are looking at this website, you are looking at the ENTIRE internet of 1992.
Enjoy! 🙂
http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html
sharechair 
This is so awesome, truly amazing! I can’t believe my son was 11 years old and just learning computer at school.
I think it’s awesome, too! I remember my son telling me about it, and I thought (with *great* foresight)… who cares? What possible use could that be? Duh. Silly me.
fascinating … and to think i was using the www for my phd research in 1997 … it grew so rapidly!
Yes! I am also amazed how rapidly it grew. My son went off to college in 1995 and he told me then how he was going to be submitting papers to professors via the internet …. and I was skeptical. Not much imagination on my part!
we were all taken by surprise … i was lucky to be at a university where it was widely used … i can see how others could be left behind!
Okay, that is just weird to the point of making my hair raise on my neck. It’s so bizarre to think of that being all there was such a short (relatively) time ago, and then to think about what’s “out there” now! It really is almost unimagineable. LIke something out of a story by Jules Verne, or H. G. Wells. Who would have ever believed the changes to come?
I remember a boyfriend of my daughter’s asking me why we didn’t have a computer, and I wondered why on earth I would ever need to have one. Now I can’t imagine life without one. What a world, eh?
I remember thinking the same thing! Computer? At home? Why? 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
I know. I couldn’t imagine what I’d ever do with one. Now I can’t live without it. As soon as I had my first one, which was a gift from a friend who had upgraded, I realized how wrong I had been. My first thought was, this is like having unlimited access to the biggest library in the world, 24/7. For a reader like myself, it was heaven! All the info I could ever hope to look up, at my fingertips, any time I wanted it. Wow!
Now, of course, I’m involved in a very personal friendship with Siri, so even my telephone is connected to wonders I had never dreamed of in those days. My favorite iPhone command? “Siri, wake me in 30 minutes, please.” Hahahaha.
How utterly fascinating… even an old fuddy- duddy like me can’t imagine life without the internet!!!
I absolutely love being able to look up things as soon as you think of it. Anything from “how deep is that lake?” to “when did that happen?” and “who wrote….. ?” Love the instant information. 🙂
When I first heard, I was in my 20’s and I thought “It’ll never catch on”
I was a whole lot older, but certainly not wiser. 🙂
😆
This is awesome. Wow! As a history buff, this is like the best thing ever since whipped cream in a can was invented! 🙂 xoxox
It is! It is!
Reblogged this on Marsha Lee and commented:
For you history buffs, this is one of the most interesting primary sources I’ve seen a long time. The very first website. WOW! History Day 2014 project!!!!!!
Thanks, Marsha, for the reblog!! 🙂
Thanks for sharing it. Imagine how long ago this was, and there were quite a few links even then! 🙂
I remember Classics Illustrated – I even read Moby Dick on there so it saved me pretending I’d read the book when I was older.
Anyway – about technology in the past – did you know that the first men on the moon had never seen a digital watch?
No digital watch for the moon men … wow. Considering how far we’ve come in the technology world, it is amazing that we got to the moon when we did. (or did we??? Hmmmmm?? 🙂 )
Oh how interesting, major blast from the past! What no sponsored pop-ups? 😀
ha! Ha! 😆
My first knowledge of the Internet came around 1994 when I was listening to a San Francisco Giants game on the radio and one of the announcers gave a website address for the team. They chuckled afterward, especially about the “www” part, and I chuckled along with them. I still remember thinking that neither they nor I had any idea what this Internet thing was about, and, best of all, we all knew it.
What a great story. Little did we know….. 🙂
Incredible! Technology is on lightening fast speed for change!
I agree! It is mind-blowing how fast things have changed.
Reblogged this on Through The Lens and commented:
this was interesting
I can hardly believe it was only ten years ago, Marsha. What amazing strides have been made since then. 🙂
Ummm…just wondering if I missed something. Wouldn’t this have been more than twenty years ago? 1992 to 2013? Or am I confused? Something that happens quite often, btw!
🙂
No, it was the iTunes 10th anniversary that threw me, Marcia. Sorry for the confusion. Bet you thought my math was ‘up to maggots’. 😀
Ooooh. Now I get it! I was totally confused. Trust me, this is not an unusual state for me! Thanks for clarifying. I’ll try to keep up now!
😀
I am still amazed by how much my life has been changed by the Internet. I first ‘got’ the Internet (via a very slow dial up connection) in 1996, I was 16. By the time I went to university it seemed natural to ‘check the Internet’ (although then I was using meta search engine, that would search lots of search engines). I learnt to type ( accurately and at speed) in chat rooms, I can still type very fast and it got me several temping office jobs when I was in my 20s.
I remember that dial-up … and the sound that went with it. I think all of us who lived with it will always remember the sound. But I’m guessing you could play a recording of the sound for your students and no one would be able to identify it. Sounds like you did a great job teaching yourself to type. 🙂
We’ve come a long way, baby! I’m trying to recall just what I was doing, where I was living, and what I was thinking in 1992.
We know that you weren’t spending much time on the internet! 😆
Amazing and fun to look back at the start of it all. How simple yet what promise. 🙂
I didn’t “see” anything coming. I remember questioning my sons .. “why would anyone want to do this?” And now look at us all! 😆
Hi! I’m at work surfing around your blog from my new iphone 4! Just wanted to say I love reading through your blog and look forward to all your posts! Carry on the excellent work!