Oct. 29, 1969, 10:30 p.m., Pacific Time The Internet is born ... and promptly crashes. Researchers at the U.S. Department of Defense's Advanced Research Projects Agency were trying to figure out a way to combine physically distant computers into one virtual network. Exactly 40 years ago today, the first such network - called Arpanet - was established between machines at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the Stanford Research Institute. The first message transmitted was supposed to be the word "login." The baby network got through "l" and "o" without trouble, but crashed at "g." By the end of 1969, the Internet was four computers old. Within that fledgling circuitry lay the groundwork for what would become, just a few decades later, one of the most important tools in human history.
GLOBAL INTERNET USAGE, as of June 30, 2009
| LOCATION | % Per cent of regional population | Millions of users |
| WORLD | 24.7% | 1.6 billion |
| NORTH AMERICA | 73.9% | 251.7 million |
| LATIN AMERICA/ CARIBBEAN | 30.0% | 175.8 million |
| MIDDLE EAST | 26.7% | 74.5 million |
| ASIA | 18.5% | 704.2 million |
| OCEANIA/ AUSTRALIA | 60.1% | 20.8 million |
| AFRICA | 6.7% | 65.9 million |
| EUROPE | 51.7% | 375.9 million |
The 1970s
In which nobody seems to be able to agree on anything.
The seventies marked the spread of Arpanet to universities across the United States. But around the world, various researchers, government agencies and businesses were busy creating similar networks of their own, using various technical specifications. So rather than one Internet, a series of mini-nets emerged. The 1970s also saw the birth of electronic mail. Although initially offered almost exclusively to businesses, e-mail would see many of its defining characteristics built in this decade, including the use of the @ symbol in addresses and the creation of reply and forward functions. By the end of the seventies, the Internet's slow shift from research and business tool to consumer staple was beginning - first, with the introduction of the modem. Just as the decade came to a close, Compuserve broke new ground by offering an e-mail service to the masses.
The 1980s
In which the Internet's true usefulness - as a place for angry people to yell at each other - becomes clear.
Despite competing network technologies around the world, more and more researchers rallied around the TCP/IP network protocol championed by Arpanet. Eventually, this protocol would become the backbone of the Internet. But even before the World Wide Web revolutionized the idea of global community, the first fledgling social networks were beginning to form. Faster modems in the 1980s made it easier to visit and contribute to Bulletin Board Systems - terminals where computer users could log in and connect. In effect, such systems were the very first social networks. In 1982, the first emoticon was born, when a user suggested what's commonly known today as the sideways happy-face as a means to mark a joke. Towards the end of the decade, a developer in Finland built the world's first Internet Relay Chat client and server - the precursor to many of today's chat programs.
TOP LANGUAGES USED ON THE INTERNET
| Language | Millions of users | Growth 2000-'09 |
| Arabic | 49.3 | 1,862% |
| Russian | 38 | 1,126% |
| Chinese | 361.3 | 1,109% |
| Portuguese | 73 | 864% |
| Spanish | 133 | 631% |
| French | 76.9 | 531% |
| English | 478.7 | 237% |
| German | 65.2 | 136% |
The 1990s
In which adding '.com' to the end of your company's name instantly increases its stock price tenfold.
