The Last Ten Years of Growth on the ‘Net

The Number Shall be Ten: The Last Ten Years of Growth on the ‘Net

What was that line from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, “…Three shall be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three…” well, right now, maybe for those in Techno World (and our own Blogcritics), the number could be Ten. Besides, those other numbers are a little busy; One is the Loneliest number; Seven is the Perfect number, not going to even touch Triple Six, so how about Ten? It works well in Techno World, a one and a zero, all binary code-ish and cute.

Well on August 3rd, 2005 Blogcritics.org celebrated TEN million site visits. In just three short years. Oh yes, you read right. That’s unique visitors. Actually the celebrating started on the 3rd, and I believe there is still some dancing in the streets, if not the Internet, going on. It’s amazing what can happen in three years. Or in Ten.

Oh, and speaking of that ‘ole Internet, here’s the latest thing, Ten years ago this week, Netscape made their IPO, and what a ride it’s been ever since. Suddenly, the Internet was more than a tool for scientists; it was a breeding ground for one of the biggest cash “eCows” in history. The Belfast Telegraph [link] has a nice timeline depicting what’s changed since then and now.

I know many out there still get kind of get confused with the Internet, the World Wide Web, and so forth. The Web, which made it’s first appearance in 1991, was conceived and developed by Tim Berners-Lee while he was working for CERN in Geneva. Sure, it feels like it’s been here forever, but remember the early days? There was no online shopping to speak of, and a search engine was almost as unwieldy as it sounded.

Now the Internet on the other hand, has been around for ages:

“A long time ago, somewhere between when dinosaurs roamed the earth, and the emergence of the cell phone, the Internet came into existence. As the 1950’s were coming to a close, the United States was becoming quite concerned about the technology possessed by the Soviet Union. The launch of Sputnik and the fear of atomic war sparked the need for the U.S. to be sure they were as technically advanced as the Soviets. Fallout shelters were built, but we needed to be more proactive. In case of some disaster, how would different parts of the country communicate? A Department of Defense organization; the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) set to work on this issue. In the next 10 years or so, with key research being done at MIT, UCLA, and Stanford, something called the ARPANET was developed. Communication technology was moving from circuit to packet switching. Networks sprang from the 1969 original four-host configuration (UCLA, Stanford Research Institute, UC-Santa Barbara, and University of Utah), to a group of 62 hosts in 1974. In another five years that number had jumped to 188, and by 1989 - 80,000 hosts were in place in what had become, the Internet.” *

Article Author: Mary K. Williams

Mary K. is a freelance entertainment writer living in the Greater Boston area. She pens CD reviews for Metronome Magazine and is a former Features Editor for Hot Psychology Magazine. Mary K. has also contributed to the anthology, Brewed Awakenings.

Visit Mary K. Williams's author page — Mary K. Williams's Blog