The Internet turns 35

CNN is reporting on the 35th birthday of the Internet. Happy Birthday!

I can't imagine what life today would be like without it, especially in my line of work. I suppose without it I'd still be moving crates of magtapes and punchcards around.

Boy has it changed, though. My first involvement with it was with a defense contractor I worked for back in 1990. We were moving e-mail around via UUCP between a couple of sites. Then in '92 when I started with another contractor I actually got my very first Unix shell account. The Web was unheard of, at least to me. This was when FTP, Gopher and Archie were in their heyday. Of course, there has always been Usenet - to this day it is a staple of my Internet existence.

Before that, I spent most of my time as a Fidonet Sysop - my node number at the time was 1:128/168. (Geeze, that dates me a bit, doesn't it?) Moving up to the Internet for me at the time was like moving to the "big leagues". At that time Internet access was customarily reserved for universities certain research-related businesses and the federal government. It was only beginning to open up to public access. This was even before AOL was "on the Internet" (hard to believe, huh?)

Today, it's so different. Internet for everyone. "Unix" for the masses via Linux and BSD. E-mail everywhere (even on cellphones!)

I can't even imagine what things will be like in another 35 years.