March 12th, 1989 was a very special day.
That was the day that computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee proposed the idea of what we've come to call the World Wide Web. Google, true to form, has decided to commemorate this special day with a Google Doodle. Would you expect anything less?
The doodle in question shows an old-school computer downloading an image of a rotating earth––remember dial-up modems?
Google certainly does:
Google issued a very straight-forward commemoration in a blog post:
"Vague but exciting."
This was how Sir Tim Berners-Lee's boss responded to his proposal titled "Information Management: A Proposal," submitted on this day in 1989, when the inventor of the World Wide Web was a 33-year-old software engineer. Initially, Berners-Lee envisioned "a large hypertext database with typed links,"named "Mesh," to help his colleagues at CERN (a large nuclear physics laboratory in Switzerland) share information amongst multiple computers.
Berners-Lee's boss allowed him time to develop the humble flowchart into a working model, writing the HTML language, the HTTP application, and WorldWideWeb.app— the first Web browser and page editor. By 1991, the external Web servers were up and running.
The tech giant notes that this invention "would soon revolutionize life as we know it, ushering in the information age":
The Web would soon revolutionize life as we know it, ushering in the information age. Today, there are nearly 2 billion websites online. Whether you use it for email, homework, gaming, or checking out videos of cute puppies, chances are you can't imagine life without the Web.
Not to be confused with the internet, which had been evolving since the 1960s, the World Wide Web is an online application built upon innovations like HTML language, URL "addresses," and hypertext transfer protocol, or HTTP. The Web has also become a decentralized community, founded on principles of universality, consensus, and bottom-up design.
Has it really only been 30 years? Weren't dial-up modems and this sound around just yesterday?
The Sound of dial-up Internetwww.youtube.com
Do you remember when people used to yell: "DON'T USE THE INTERNET! I'M ON THE PHONE!"?
Those were the days.
What if the Google Doodle looked like this, though?
Those computers were ENORMOUS.
We're just happy you're still with us, World Wide Web. It's been a rollercoaster ride.
There are kids alive today who don't know a thing about dial-up modems. That's how old we are today. Thanks, Google!
