1969 - CompuServe founded in Columbus, OH as computer time-sharing service; drove emergence of online service industry; 1979 - first service to offer electronic mail capabilities, technical support to personal computer users; 1980 - first online service to offer real-time chat (CB Simulator); 1982 - formed Network Services Division to provide wide-area networking capabilities to corporate clients; 1998 - acquired by AOL .

October 29, 1969 - Internet created; connection established between computers at UCLA, Stanford Research Institute in first wide area packet switching network, two node ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network) of US Department of Defense, over 50 kbps line provided by AT&T.

1971 - Ray Tomlinson (Bolt Beranek and Newman) wrote/sent first email program through ARPANET (Internet) between two machines side by side; selected @ symbol to separate login name from host name in email.

May 22, 1975 - Robert M. Metcalfe, of Woodside, CA, David R. Boggs/Charles P. Thacker of Oalo Alto, CA and Butler W. Lampson, of Portola Valley, CA, received a patent for a "Multipoint Data Communication System with Collision Detection"; Ethernet; assigned to Xerox Corporation.

December 13, 1977 - Robert M. Metcalfe, of Woodside, CA, David R. Boggs, of Palo Alto, CA, Charles P. Thacker; of Palo Alto, CA, Butler W. Lampson of Portola Valley, CA, received a patent for a "Multipoint Data Communication System with Collision Detection" ("apparatus for enabling communications between two or more data processing stations comprising a communication cable arranged in branched segments including taps distributed thereover"); ethernet; assigned to Xerox Corporation.

December 1984 - Stanford University computer scientists Len Bosack, Sandy Lerner co-founded Cisco Systems; named for San Francisco, gateway to Pacific Rim; 1991 - John Chambers hired as Senior Vice President, Worldwide Sales and Operations; January 1995 - Chambers appointed CEO.

1986 - Eric Thomas, engineering student in Paris, wrote first version of LISTSERV, first email list management software; prior to invention, all email lists administered manually.

November 12, 1990 - Tim Berners-Lee, consulting software engineer at CERN (European Laboratory for Particle Physics, originally known as Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire), largest Internet node in Europe,  wrote program for first web browser (browser-editor), called WorldWideWeb, on  NeXT computer; December 25, 1990 - communicated with first web server at info.cern.ch; August 6, 1991 - put first website online, CERN telephone book (immediately useful,  rapidly accepted); 1994 - founded World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) at Massachusetts Institute of Technology; comprised companies willing to create standards,  recommendations to improve quality of Internet; December 2004 - accepted chair in Computer Science at School of Electronics and Computer Science, University of Southampton, UK.

April 21, 1993 - Mosaic web browser 1.0 released; written at National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA); Marc Andreesen one of founders of Netscape, Jim Clark one of founders of Silicon Graphics led development team.

February 1994 - Stanford University Ph.D students Jerry Yang, David Filo created Yahoo! (acronym for Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle!).

April 4, 1994 - Jim Clark, Marc Andreessen founded Mosaic Communications, renamed Netscape Communications; first commercial browser enabled better links, faster moves through Internet; October 1994 - Netscape web browser 1.0 released; August 10, 1995 - Netscape, developer of Navigator, popular software for surfing World Wide Web, went public; largest Initial Public Offering (IPO) in Wall Street history - five million shares priced at $28, traded to high of $72 (market value of $1.96 billion).

April 12, 1994 - Laurence Canter, attorney in Arizona, used first Internet spamming program; created software program,  simple Perl script, that flooded Usenet message board readers with notice for "Green Card Lottery" to solicit business for his law firm of Canter & Siegel; reaction from online community vigorously critical, condemned advertising; new, burgeoning business of unsolicited mass Internet advertising spawned; term "spam" coined from sketch in "Monty Python's Flying Circus" BBC television show (waitress offered menu full of variations of spam to unwilling patron).

August 1995 - Microsoft released Internet Explorer 1.0; released Windows 95, sold more than 1 Million copies within 4 days.

December 15, 1995 - Alta Vista web site, developed by researchers at Digital Equipment Research Laboratories in Palo Alto, CA, made public; first web-page discovery tool to gain wide popularity; initially indexed 16 million web pages; January 5, 1996 - handled 2 million requests per day; November 1996 - 22 million requests per day.

January 1996 - Larry Page, Sergey Brin began collaboration on search engine called BackRub (named for unique ability to analyze "back links" pointing to given website); September 1998 - Google Inc. opened (play on word googol, coined by Milton Sirotta, nephew of American mathematician Edward Kasner, popularized in book, Mathematics and the Imagination by Kasner and James Newman; refers to number represented by numeral 1 followed by 100 zeros; reflected company's mission to organize seemingly infinite amount of information available on web); September 21, 1999 - beta label came off website, search engine launched; August 19, 2004 - initial public offering; priced at $85 per share. Traded above $300 per share within first year; November 6, 2007 - traded at $747.24, all-time high.

July 4, 1996 - Hotmail went online (created by Sabeer Bhatia,  Jack Smith); acquired by Microsoft for $400 million.

December 23, 1997 - Jorn Barger, of Robot Wisdom, regarded as first blogger; began business of hunting, gathering links to things in which he was interested; David Winer (Scripting News), Cameron Barrett (CamWorld) early proponents.

October 1, 1998 - ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) created through Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between U.S. Department of Commerce, ICANN to transition management of Domain Name System (DNS) from U.S. government to global community; not-for-profit public/private partnership dedicated to keeping Internet secure, stable, interoperable; assumed responsibility for selling top-level domain names for Internet (coordination role of Internet’s naming system).

June 28, 1998 - Microsoft released Windows 98.

April 1, 1999 - David Smith, of New Jersey, arrested, charged with originating "Melissa" e-mail virus, infected more than 1 million computers worldwide, caused more than $80 million in damage (served 20 months in federal prison in exchange for helping FBI track authors of other computer viruses).

October 25, 2001 - Microsoft released Windows XP.

2002 - Blake Ross (17), Dave Hyatt launched Mozilla Firefox project, community-made Web browser; November 9, 2004 - released Firefox 1.0, open-source and non-profit web browser; 2006 - Interbrand named Firefox one of top ten brands in world (over 15% of world’s Web users use it); with Joe Hewitt formed Parakey, Inc. to develop software billed as Web-based operating system; July 2007 - acquired by Facebook.

2002 - Jonathan H. Abrams founded Friendster in Mountain View, CA; April 2004 - removed as CEO; June 27, 2006 - Abrams, of Sunnyvale, CA, received a patent for a "System, Method and Apparatus for Connecting Users in an Online Computer System Based on Their Relationships Within Social Networks" ("...computer system collects descriptive data about various individuals and allows those individuals to indicate other individuals with whom they have a personal relationship").

August 2003 - Tom Anderson, Chris DeWolfe founded MySpace, interactive, user-submitted network of friends, personal profiles, blogs, groups, photos, music, videos for teenagers and adults internationally, in Beverly Hills, CA; revenues generated by advertising, no paid-for features for  end user; July 2005 - acquired by News Corporation for $580 million.

February 2004 - Mark Zuckerberg, Dustin Moskovitz, Chris Hughes launched Facebook from Harvard dormitory room as a social utility to help people communicate more efficiently with friends, family,  coworkers; June 2004 - moved operations to Palo Alto, CA.

February 14, 2005 - Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, Jawed Karim founded YouTube, Inc. in Menlo Park, CA; November 2006 - acquired by Google for $1.65 billion.

November 2006 - Google paid $1.65 billion in stock for YouTube,19-month old video-sharing start-up

November 2007 - Growth in email users (% change in visitors from November 2006 - November 2007)

(source: comScore)

February 1, 2008 - Microsoft made an unsolicited $44.7 billion bid for Yahoo in attempt to better compete with Google.

(source: San Francisco Chronicle)

(Cisco Systems), David Bunnell with Adam Brate. (2000). Making the Cisco Connection: The Story Behind the Real Internet Superpower (New York, NY: Wiley, 218 p.). Cisco Systems, Inc.; Cisco Systems, Inc.; Telecommunication; Telecommunication--Equipment and supplies; Routers (Computer networks).

(Cisco Systems), Jeffrey A. Young (2000). Cisco Unauthorized: Inside the High-Stakes Race to Own the Future (Roseville, CA: Forum, 310 p.). Cisco Systems, Inc.; Internet industry--United States; Internetworking (Telecommunication)--United States.

(Cisco Systems), Ed Paulson (2001). Inside Cisco: The Real Story of Sustained M & A Growth. (New York, NY: Wiley, 314 p.). Cisco Systems, Inc.; Computer industry--Mergers--California; Consolidation and merger of corporations--California. 

(Cisco Systems), John K. Waters (2002). John Chambers and the CISCO Way: Navigating Through Volatility. (New York, NY: Wiley, 192 p.). Chambers, John T.; Cisco Systems, Inc.; Chief executive officers--United States--Biography; Internet industry--United States--Management.

(Cisco Systems), Robert Slater (2003). The Eye of the Storm: How John Chambers Steered Cisco Through the Internet Collapse. (New York, NY: HarperBusiness, 289 p.). Chambers, John, 1949- ; Cisco Systems, Inc.--Management; Corporate turnarounds--United States--Case studies; Computer industry--United States--Management--Case studies; Data transmission equipment industry--United States--Management--Case studies; Computer industry--United States--History; Data transmission equipment industry--United States--History; Internet industry--United States--History.

(Google), John Battelle (2005). The Search: The Inside Story of How Google and Its Rivals Changed Everything. (New York, NY: Portfolio, 288 p.). Co-founding Editor of Wired, Founder of The Industry Standard. Google (Firm); Google; Internet industry--United States; Web search engines; Internet searching; Information society--United States. Story of Google's success: how search technology works, power of targeted advertising, impact on society.

(Google), Neil Taylor (2005). Search Me: The Surprising Success of Google. (London: Cyan, 192 p.). Google; Google (Firm); Google; Internet industry--United States; Brand name products -- Case studies.

(Google), David Vise, Mark Malseed (2005). The Google Story. (New York, NY: Delacorte Press, 336 p.). Reporter (Washington Post); Researcher. Google (Firm); Google; Internet industry--United States; Web search engines; Internet searching; Information society--United States. Account of the populist which media company.

(Lycos), Bob Davis (2001). Speed Is Life: Street Smart Lessons from the Front Lines of Business. (New York, NY: Currency, 203 p.). Former CEO of Lycos. Davis, Bob, 1956- ; Lycos, Inc.; Telecommunications engineers--United States--Biography; Executives--United States--Biography.

(Netscape), Michael A. Cusumano and David B. Yoffie (1998). Competing on Internet Time: Lessons from Netscape and Its Battle with Microsoft (New York, NY: Free Press, 361 p.). Internet Software Industry, Netscape Communications, Microsoft Corporation.

(Netscape), Joshua Quittner and Michelle Slatalla (1998). Speeding the Net: The inside Story of Netscape and How It Challenged Microsoft (New York, NY: Atlantic Monthly Press, 323 p.). Netscape Communications Corporation--History; Microsoft Corporation--History; Internet software industry--United States--History.

(Netscape), Jim Clark with Owen Edwards (1999). Netscape Time: The Making of the Billion-Dollar Start-up That Took on Microsoft (New York, NY: St. Martin's Press, 276 p.). Netscape Communications Corporation -- History; Internet software industry -- United States -- History.  

(Yahoo!), Anthony Vlamis & Bob Smith (2001). Do You? Business the Yahoo! Way: Secrets of the World's Most Popular Internet Company. (Milford, CT: Capstone, 231 p.). Yahoo! Inc.; Internet industry--United States.

(Yahoo!), Karen Angel (2002). Inside Yahoo!: Reinvention and the Road Ahead. (New York, NY: Wiley, 276 p.). Yahoo! Inc.; Success in business.

Janet Abbate (1999). Inventing the Internet. (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 264 p.). Internet, Computer Network. 

Eds. William Aspray, Paul. E. Ceruzzi (2008). The Internet and American Business. (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 596 p.). Rudy Professor of Informatics Indiana University in Bloomington); Curator of the National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution. Internet--United States--Economic aspects; Electronic commerce--United States; Internet industry--United States; Internet--United States--Social aspects; Information technology--United States--Economic aspects. Impact of commercialized Internet since 1995 on American business and society; new business models, new companies, adjustments by established companies, rise of e-commerce, community building; dot-com busts, difficulties encountered by traditional industries; new problems (copyright violations associated with music file-sharing, proliferation of Internet pornography).

Tim Berners-Lee with Mark Fischetti (1999). Weaving the Web: The Original Design and Ultimate Destiny of the World Wide Web by Its Inventor. (San Francisco, CA: Harper, 226 p.). Berners-Lee, Tim; World Wide Web (Information retrieval system)--History. 

Edward Castronova (2005). Synthetic Worlds: The Business and Culture of Online Games. (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. Associate Professor of Telecommunications (Indiana University). Internet games--Social aspects; Internet games--Economic aspects. Implications of online game industry for business and culture.

Jack Goldsmith and Tim Wu (2006). Who Controls the Internet?: Illusions of a Borderless World. (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 240 p.). Internet--Social aspects; Internet--Government policy; Internet--Law and legislation. Internet's challenge to governmental rule in the 1990s, ensuing battles with governments around the world.

Katie Hafner and Matthew Lyon (1996). Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins of the Internet. (New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 304 p.). Internet.

Shannon Henry (2002). The Dinner Club: How the Masters of the Internet Universe Rode the Rise and Fall of the Greatest Boom in History. (New York, NY: Free Press, 288 p.). Technology Reporter (Washington Post). Chief executive officers--Washington Metropolitan Area; Internet industry--Washington Metropolitan Area; High technology industries--Washington Metropolitan Area; Stocks--Washington Metropolitan Area; Investments--Washington Metropolitan Area. 

Leslie S. Hiraoka (2005). Underwriting the Internet: How Technical Advances, Financial Engineering, and Entrepreneurial Genius Are Building the Information Highway. (Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, Inc., 297 p.). Department of Management Science (Kean University). Internet; Internet--Economic aspects; Information superhighway.  Internet's commercial development.

Michael Indergaard (2003). Silicon Alley: The Rise and Fall of a New Media District. (New York, NY: Routledge, 256 p.). Associate Professor of Sociology (St. John's University). Internet industry--New York (State)--New York; High technology industries--New York (State)--New York; Internet; Electronic commerce.

Casey Kait and Stephen Weiss (2001). Digital Hustlers: Living Large and Falling Hard in Silicon Alley. (New York, NY: Regan Books, 344 p.). Internet industry--New York (State)--New York--Case studies; Entrepreneurship--New York (State)--New York--Case studies.

Philip J. Kaplan (2002). F'd Companies: Spectacular Dot.com Flameouts. (New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 191 p.). President of PK Interactive. F'd companies : spectacular dot.com flameouts / Philip J. Kaplan; Business failures--United States--Case studies; Internet industry--United States--Case studies; Electronic commerce--United States--Case studies.

Byung-Keun Kim (2005). Internationalising the Internet: The Co-Evolution of Influence and Technology. (Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing, 300 p.). Professor, School of Industrial Management (Korea University of Technology and Education). Internet--Economic aspects; Internet--Social aspects; Technological innovations--Economic aspects; Technological innovations--Social aspects. Global formation of Internet system, how digital economy formed.

Sarah Lacy (2008). Once You're Lucky, Twice You're Good: The Rebirth of Silicon Valley and the Rise of Web 2.0. (New York, NY: Gotham, 304 p.). Reporter (BusinessWeek). Web site development industry--California; Internet industry--California; Web 2.0. Where the "dot.bomb" books left off -  growth of social networking (Facebook, Digg, Youtube), entrepreneurs (Marc Andressen, Paypal's Max Levchin); futuristic hyperbole of dot.com era not wrong, just early.

Michael Lewis (2001). Next: The Future Just Happened. (New York, NY: Norton, 236 p.). Internet--Social aspects; Internet--Economic aspects.

Charlene Li, Josh Bernoff (2008). Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies. (Boston, MA: Harvard Business Press, 286 p). Vice President and Principal Analyst (Forrester Research); Vice President (Forrester Research). Online social networks --Economic aspects; Information society --Economic aspects. Global groundswell of people using online social technologies to discuss products, companies, write news, find deals; affects every industry, foreign to powerful companies (feel vulnerable); how to turn   threat into opportunity: 1) evaluate new social technologies as they emerge, 2) determine how different groups of consumers participate in social technology arenas, 3) apply four-step process for formulating future strategy, 4) build social technologies into business .

Eds. Robert E. Litan and Alice M. Rivlin (2001). The Economic Payoff from the Internet Revolution. (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 292 p.). Technological innovations--Economic aspects; Business enterprises--Computer network resources; Internet; Evolutionary economics. 

Robert E. Litan, Alice M. Rivlin (2001). Beyond the Dot.coms: The Economic Promise of the Internet. (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 130 p.). Internet--Economic aspects--United States--Forecasting; Industrial productivity--United States; Labor productivity--United States.

D. Quinn Mills (2002). Buy, Lie, and Sell High: How Investors Lost Out on Enron and the Internet Bubble. (New York, NY: Financial Times Prentice Hall, 288 p.). Internet industry--Finance; Internet industry--United States; Online information services industry--Finance; Investments.

Christos P. Moschovitis (1999). History of the Internet : A Chronology, 1843 to the Present. (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 312 p.). Internet (Computer network); Telecommunication--History. 

Greg Pelling and the Cisco Systems IBSG Asia Pacific and Japan Team (2005). Cisco Net Impact: Competitive Advantage from Internet Innovators in Asia Pacific and Japan. (Singapore: Wiley (Asia), 323 p.). Managing Director Asia Pacific and Japan for Cisco Systems Internet Business Solutions Group; Former Senior Partner for PWC Technology Consulting Practice. Internet--Economic aspects--Asia; Internet--Economic aspects--Pacific Area; Internet--Economic aspects--Japan; Business enterprises--Asia--Computer network resources; Business enterprises--Pacific Area--Computer network resources; Business enterprises--Japan--Computer network resources; Computer networks--Economic aspects--Asia--Case studies. How to achieve visible benefits from the Internet and how to use it to manage organizations in Asia Pacific.

Anthony B. Perkins, Michael C. Perkins (2001). The Internet Bubble: The Inside Story on Why It Burst--and What You Can Do To Profit Now. (New York, NY: HarperBusiness, 327 p.). Internet industry--Finance; Online information services industry--Finance.

Robert H. Reid (1997). Architects of the Web: 1,000 Days That Built the Future of Business. (New York, NY: Wiley, 370 p.). Computer software industry--United States--History; Businesspeople--United States--Biography; World Wide Web--History.

Stephen Segaller (1998). Nerds 2.0.1: A Brief History of the Internet. (New York, NY: TV Books, 399 p.). Internet--History; Computer networks--History; Telecommunications engineers--United States; Information technology--History--20th century.

Clifford Stoll (1995). Silicon Snake Oil: Second Thoughts on the Information Highway. (New York, NY: Doubleday, 247 p.). Computers and civilization; Internet; Information technology.

Linus Torvalds and David Diamond (2001). Just for Fun: The Story of an Accidental Revolutionary. (New York, NY: HarperBusiness, 262 p.). Torvalds, Linus, 1969- ; Linux; Computer programmers--Finland--Biography. 

Walter B. Wriston (2007). Bits, Bytes, and Balance Sheets: The New Economic Rules of Engagement in a New Wireless World. (Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press, Stanford University, 160 p.). Former Chairman, CEO of Citicorp. Internet--Economic aspects; Information technology; Electronic commerce. Consequences of changes produced by new economy of Internet; new rules (based on economic dogma not human nature), intellectual capital more important than physical capital; information revolution has radically affected business, government practices, political policymaking throughout world; personal ethics of good people should regulate new economy, not increased government regulation, not more laws.

Jonathan Zittrain (2008). The Future of the Internet and How To Stop It. (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 342 p.). Professor of Internet Governance and Regulation (Oxford University), co-founder of Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society. Internet; Internet--Social aspects; Internet--Security measures. As 'tethered appliances', applications eclipse PC, very nature of Internet, "generativity," or innovative character, is at risk; sputtering because of its runaway success; generative Internet is on path to lockdown, ending its cycle of innovation, facilitating new kinds of control.

Matthew A. Zook (2005). The Geography of the Internet Industry: Venture Capital, Dot-Coms, and Local Knowledge. (Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub., 200 p.,). Internet industry--Location. 

________________________________________________

Business History Links

First U.S. Web Site: Documentation of the Early Web at SLAC (1991-1994) http://www.slac.stanford.edu/history/earlyweb/                          This collection documents the installation of the first United States Web server at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC). Features a chronology, images of the first SLAC Web pages, a list of some of the people involved in Web activities at SLAC (along with publications such as "The Virtual Library in Action"), and other related documents. From Archivist Jean Marie Deken of the SLAC Archives and History Office.

Geek's History of the Internet http://www.wbglinks.net/pages/history/

How The Web Was One: An Oral History of the Internet http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2008/07/ internet200807                                                                         Vanity Fair set out to compile an oral history of the Internet, speaking with scores of people involved in every stage of the Internet’s development, from the 1950s onward. From more than 100 hours of interviews we have distilled and edited their words into a concise narrative of the past half-century—a history of the Internet in the words of the people who made it.

Internet Evolution: Riding the Waves of "Web 2.0" http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/189/report_display.asp             This October 2006 report looks at "Web 2.0," a "catch-all buzzword that people use to describe a wide range of online activities and applications." It provides an overview of Web 2.0 and some of the concepts (such as blogs, wikis, and podcasts) that have been associated with the trend, and statistics showing the rise of services such as Photobucket, Wikipedia, and MySpace. From the Pew Internet & American Life project.

La Historia Económica en Internet                       http://www.historia-actual.com/index.php?pg=f051&tp=  12&id=                                                                                            Three parts; 1) evolution of computers and the development of the net; 2) economic history, trying to look for the topics of their own; 3) interesting sites in the net, for economic history. Economic History, Internet, computers, data base, resources of information.

Net History                         http://www.nethistory.info/index.html                                          Not-for-profit project, started by Internet expert and historian Ian Peter, as overview portal for Internet history materials.

TechCrunch                                                      www.techcrunch.com                                                                Founded on June 11, 2005 as weblog dedicated to obsessively profiling and reviewing new Internet products and companies. In addition to covering new companies, we profile existing companies that are making an impact (commercial and/or cultural) on the new web space.

What Are CERN's Greatest Achievements?: The World Wide Web             http://public.web.cern.ch/public/Content/Chapters/ AboutCERN/Achievements/WorldWideWeb/WWW-en.htm History of the invention of the World Wide Web (WWW) in 1989 by Tim Berners-Lee, a scientist at CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research). "The basic idea of WWW was to merge the technologies of personal computers, computer networking and hypertext into a powerful and easy to use global information system." Discusses early Web pages, Web servers, browsers, how the Web is not identical to the Internet, and how the Web works. From CERN.