Bill Gates. Chairman and Chief Software Architect, Microsoft Corp

Chairman and Chief Software Architect, Microsoft Corp.

Less than a quarter of a century ago, the Internet was an obscure

network of large computers used only by a small community of

researchers. At the time, the majority of computers were found in

corporate information technology (IT) departments or research

laboratories, and hardly anyone imagined that the Internet would play

such an important role in our lives as it does today. In fact, the very

idea of a “personal computer”, much less millions of them connected

by a global network, seemed absurd to all but a handful of enthusiasts.

Today, the Internet is far from obscure — it’s the center of

attention for businesses, governments and individuals around

the world. It has spawned entirely new industries, transformed

existing ones, and become a global cultural phenomenon. But despite

its impact, today’s Internet is still roughly where the automobile was

during the era of Henry Ford’s Model T. We’ve seen a lot of amazing

things so far, but there is much more to come. We are only at the dawn

of the Internet Age.

In the years ahead, the Internet will have an even more profound

effect on the way we work, live and learn. By enabling instantaneous

and seamless communication and commerce around the globe, from

almost any device imaginable, this technology will be one of the key

cultural and economic forces of the early 21st century.

Why is the Internet such a powerful and compelling technology?

First and foremost, from its conception in the academic

community (largely as a result of government sponsored research)

to its subsequent development and commercialization by the private

sector, the Internet has evolved into a uniquely independent

information exchange — one that is able to grow organically, can

operate reliably with little centralized management, and is built

entirely on common standards.

It is those common standards that helped make the Internet so

successful. From TCP/IP (the technological protocol that is

the “traffic cop” for Internet data) to HTML and XML (the twin

lingua francas of the World Wide Web), common standards have

opened up the Internet to anyone who speaks its language. And since

the language of the Internet is universal and easily grasped, any

business can create products and services that make use of it. That

openness has produced amazing technological competitiveness.

To thrive on the Internet, every business has to make its products,

services and interface more attractive than competitors that are only

a few mouse clicks away.

The “killer application” that transformed the Internet into

a global phenomenon was the World Wide Web. Developed in

the late 1980s at the European Center for Nuclear Research

(CERN) from research by Tim Berners Lee, the Web was initially

created to share data on nuclear physics. By using hyperlinks and

graphical “browsing” technology, the Web greatly simplifies the

process of searching for, accessing, and sharing information on the

Internet, making it much more accessible to a non technical

audience.

As the Web’s popularity surged among students, researchers and

other Internet enthusiasts, an entirely new industry emerged to create

software and content for the Web. This explosion of creativity made

the Web more compelling for users, which encouraged more

companies to provide Internet access, which encouraged still more

individuals and businesses to get connected to the Internet. As

recently as 1994, there were only 500 fairly modest Web sites

worldwide; today the Web has close to 3 billion pages. We can expect

this growth cycle to continue and even accelerate, thanks to more

powerful and cheaper computers, higher speed Internet access on

a wider range of devices, and advanced software that makes it all

work together.

Date: 2015-12-13; view: 588; Нарушение авторских прав