Many years ago, students at universities found it difficult to share information with their peers. It was cumbersome to work on a project and you had no way for the other person seeing what you have just done. So too did the military see the need to protect their computer mainframes with the knowledge that their networks will be safe in case of an attack. The history of the internet is one of intrigue and genius, bringing the world together on a small screen.

This made way for researches working round the clock to come up with solutions whereby network protocols could easily solve their problems. So too did universities develop ways to exchange data between computers on a peer to peer basis.

The normal consumer was never factored into the equation as these new developments were solely used by universities and the military entities. File sharing subsequently became a necessity and research and development increased at the speed of light.

Today of course it is entirely a different internet than in the past. You can easily upload data onto a server by using a File Transfer Protocol program (FTP as commonly referred to), and within seconds some else is able to read your website from the convenience of a home PC or Laptop.

It was not the case years ago and many thousands of hours were spent during the eighties and nineties trying to come up with a solution for menu systems. The reason behind this was that it would allow anyone access to this menu and obtain their required stored files, by only selecting it.

What gave the internet a giant leap into space, so to speak, was at CERN in Switzerland when researchers were looking for a hypertext protocol, and was subsequently formulated there. This is what actually launched the world wide web into the four corners of the earth around nineteen ninety one.

How this happened was through the formulation of tools which enabled us to dial into a server and reading information via a web browser. Many innovative companies saw this as a massive opportunity and launched one browser after another. Names like Mosaic, Netscape and Microsoft spring to mind.

Back in the 90's the internet created a boom for any type of business you can think of and it still lends massive opportunities provided you can find a niche market. But way back then, email and web browsing were still in their infancy and of course the history of the internet will carry on developing day by day for as long as information is needed.