"Computers in the future may have only 1,000 vacuum tubes and perhaps only weigh 1 1/2 tons."

  ~Popular Mechanics, 1949
 
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Written by the Cyberspace Pursuit Team   
“We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten. Don't let yourself be lulled into inaction.”

- Bill Gates

In the beginning, there was 'Web 1.0' or the Static Web. This was the first version of the web, but it had its limitations. Web 1.0's main purpose was to provide its users with informational resources of multiple topics. In other words, it was a complicated encyclopedia. However, soon businesses wanted to use this ever growing resource as a way to advertise and sell their products. This is what began the advancement to our present web - 'Web 2.0." Also known as 'The Interactive Web', Web 2.0 brought us into an age of social interaction, bringing about the idea of a "global village". Today, there is speculation on the next phase of the internet, 'Web 3.0'. We believe this next phase will be based on the concept of a new, "intelligent web", called the Semantic Web, a web which may understand more than just key words and phrases of a search, but also the meaning behind the words. In addition to this structural overhaul, we predict that "Web 3.0" will include a variety of other innovations and advancements.

How we got here

The internet is not as young as one might think. The term internet was first used in 1974 by scientists Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn, but the idea of it was conceived by 1959. In that year, the USSR launched Sputnik which, in the eyes of many at the time, put the USSR seriously ahead of the United States in the Cold War. The U.S. had to act, so in January of 1958, it launched the satellite Explorer I into space. Some scientists, though, wanted to create something more 'down to Earth' that would help both the country and the winning of the Cold War.

In 1969, the United States Air Force commissioned a study on how to control bombers, missiles, and nuclear weapons without having a central command center (in case of an overtaking of such a base). It was proposed to form a packet switched networkA packet switched network was a way to transmit data before the internet. This was very unreliable and could lose connection quickly.. After this was deemed successful, the U.S. assigned scientists to reproduce this on a larger scale, but only for the sake of the defense of the nation. Later, in 1984 the server was divided into two separate networks: MILNET and ARPANET. MILNETMIL - Military and NET - Network was strictly for military use while ARPANETARPA - Advanced Research Projects Agency and NET - network was for research. These two networks were still controlled by the Department of Defense.

In 1991, using research from the Department of Defense, CERN, and himself, Tim Burners-Lee created what is known as the World Wide Web (View what the first web address looked like). In 1992 it went public and thus the internet was born!

The Code

The code and style of the internet remained the same for the next decade, and, slowly but surely, the internet evolved from its original script or Web 1.0, to the current style of Web 2.0. Throughout the next articles, both Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 will be explained, compared, and contrasted on how they have and are affecting the web of today. Also, they will explain what many are wondering will be the next generation of the web - Web 3.0. Many are speculating that it will be far greater than the internet we know today.