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Tech History

From ARPANET to the Web: How the Internet Actually Happened

A chronological walk from ARPANET's first (crashed) message through DNS, Usenet, and the Xerox PARC GUI, to the Web's public-domain release, its first browser war, and the bubble that followed.

9 posts, in order

  1. 1Deep DiveARPANET's First Message: Why 'LO' Reached SRI Before the System CrashedReconstruct the October 29, 1969 UCLA-to-SRI login from the IMP log, and separate ARPANET's first host message from later Internet myths.
  2. 2Deep DiveFrom ARPANET to the Internet: How One Protocol Ate Every NetworkTrace ARPANET from NCP through TCP/IP, gateways and the 1983 transition—and correct the myth that one protocol simply swallowed every rival network.
  3. 3Deep DiveWhy DNS Replaced a Centrally Distributed HOSTS.TXT FileTrace the NIC host table's scaling failure, Mockapetris's delegated DNS design, the staged 1983–85 migration, caching tradeoffs and later DNSSEC.
  4. 4Deep DiveUsenet Before the Web: Distributed Discussions Over UUCP and NNTPHow Usenet propagated discussions without one owner or database—and created enduring norms for threads, moderation, spam, and archives.
  5. 5Deep DiveXerox PARC and the GUI: Alto, Smalltalk, Ethernet, and the Myth of One Stolen DemoWhat PARC actually built, what preceded it, what Apple saw in 1979, and how research ideas became distinct Lisa and Macintosh products.
  6. 6NewsCERN Releases World Wide Web Software into the Public DomainThe April 30, 1993 statement signed by CERN's directors that put the core Web software in the public domain — and what it changed at a decisive moment.
  7. 7NewsThe World Wide Web Is Announced to the PublicWhat Tim Berners-Lee's August 6, 1991 Usenet summary actually announced—and why it was neither the internet's birth nor the first site's launch date.
  8. 8Deep DiveThe Browser Wars: How Netscape and Internet Explorer Fought for the DesktopReconstruct Netscape's rise and Internet Explorer's distribution campaign using the Microsoft antitrust record, product history and Mozilla evidence.
  9. 9Deep DiveThe Dot-Com Bubble: How Growth-at-Any-Cost Met RealityA forensic account of the dot-com boom, its long collapse, and why real innovation coexisted with prices that outran plausible profits.