The History of Computer Science: The Internet and America Online

 

My first computer was a Macintosh IIsi. It featured a whopping 20 MHz 6803 processor, 5MB of RAM, and an 80 MB hard drive. I mostly used it for word processing and to play a few games. Back then the internet was on the rise but the cost of owning a modem was around $500 and connected through the telephone (called a dial-up connection) much like how a fax machine does. Here is a list of a few modems available then. In 1995 CompuServe, America Online (AOL), and Prodigy began providing dial-up access. This is the year Sun Microsystems developed the internet programming language called Java. In the late 90's use of the internet was gaining popularity as the price of modems became affordable and numerous dial-up providers marketed to gain customers.

At that time I had jumped on the bandwagon and subscribed monthly to AOL for around $30 or $40 a month. Soon installation CDs offering free hours or a free month of internet access to new subscribers began showing up everywhere. How can anyone forget those AOL CDs? If you were in the United States in the 90's the AOL cd image should be bring back some memories. They were literally everywhere. AOL's former CMO told TechCrunch that they had spent more than $300 million on those installation CDs and “at one point, 50% of the CD’s produced worldwide had an AOL logo on it.” AOL In a 2007 USA Today report of the 25 things that changed the Internet, AOL ranked 4th and had turned people on to Web portals, chat rooms, and instant messaging. In 1996 approximately 45 million people were using the internet. 44% of U.S. households owned a computer and 14 million of them were online.

As technology progressed, the emergence of broadband connections such as DSL and Cable connections took over offering faster speeds. Internet usage was becoming global and in 2002 it was reported that 544.2 million users were on the internet. Now a connection to the internet has become more readily available. Cell phones, Free Wi-Fi, mobile hotspots and fast DSL and Cable connections at home make connecting to the internet almost a necessity. The Internet World Stats reported that in 2012 almost 2.5 billion people worldwide are connected to the internet.