On the Way to the Web : The Secret History of the Internet and Its Founders / by Michael Banks.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Banks, Michael A.

Contributor:

Card, Orson Scott.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Internet programming.

Computers.

Web Development.

Computing Milieux.

Local Subjects:

Web Development.

Computing Milieux.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (236 p.)

Edition:

1st ed. 2008.

Place of Publication:

Berkeley, CA : Apress : Imprint: Apress, 2008.

Language Note:

English

System Details:

text file

Summary:

On the Way to the Web: The Secret History of the Internet and Its Founders is an absorbing chronicle of the inventive, individualistic, and often cantankerous individuals who set the Internet free. Michael A. Banks describes how the online population created a new culture and turned a new frontier into their vision of the future. This book will introduce you to the innovators who laid the foundation for the Internet and the World Wide Web, the man who invented online chat, and the people who invented the products all of us use online every day. Learn where, when, how and why the Internet came into being, and exactly what hundreds of thousands of people were doing online before the Web. See who was behind it all, and what inspired them.

Contents:

Making Contact.-Online in the 80s

Early entrepreneurs

Timesharing and PSNs

Compu-Serve and Comp-U-Card

Wasted resources and personal computers

The prefect business opportunity

Design and beta-testing the first online service

Hacker toys or consumer service?

The Source.-The uncertain entrepreneur

From liquor to consulting

Recycling hardware and ideas

Telephones and computers

A wireless Internet

Videotext, cable TV, and computers

The off-the-shelf computer network

Tariffs and information providers

Backers

Opening Day: 'This is the beginning of the Information Age!'

Content and Competition.-Revenue issues. Playing games at 300 bps

News

The problem with online shopping

Downloadable software

Advertising and online presence

Online gaming. Paying the bills

New social networks

Mainstreaming online

In search of cheap connections

Chatting: the killer app

What it looked like

Looking Backward

How’d we get here?

The Victorian Internet

Hyperlinks in the 1950s

ARPAnet

Packet-switching

The knowledge industry moves in (Dow Jones, Knowledge Index, et al)

Corporate computing

Modems and home computers

Bulletin boards (BBSs)

'What do we do next?' The noble idea

E-mail and one-liners

FTP, Gopher, and USENET

More Entrepreneurs

Modem millionaires

The new competition (PLink, QLink, DELPHI, and more)

Content is king. Publishing, percentages, and partnerships

Digressions: downloadable music, motives, and games

Variations on a theme: Cable TV and phone nets, videogame consoles online (battle of the mediums)

Downloadable software and shareware.-Heavy Hitters and Growing Pains

SIGs and Forums. FSBO and auctions

Online casualties

GEnie

AOL

Prodigy (How not to run an online service).-Advertising wars

Viruses

Pranked and turfed! The numbers increase

Scammers and hackers move in

Billing: Flat rate versus by-the-minute

What it really cost

Competition, Cooperation, and Coercion.-'My net’s better than yours!' E-mail interconnections

Frames and graphics

Front ends: value-added illusions

Multi-tasking online

Online intimidation, theft, and lawsuits

Hackers and 'Free AOL.-' Million-dollar games.-Simulacrums and lies

Doing Business Online.-Knowledge services

Luxury goods

Publishers and presence

Experiments in retailing

Advertising without advertising: sponsored Forums

Growth: The Second Generation and Specialty Services

Hosted services and private networks

USA Today Sports Center

The WELL

BIX and WIX. BRS/After Dark. EasyNet

Apple-Link. Promenade

ZiffNet

MCI Mail

AT&T Net

Legitimizing E-mail

PornNet

More casualties

Linking to the Net

E-mail links

USENET Newsgroups

Gopher

FTP

Modem taxes and other myths

The plague of the Internet: Spam

What spammers are really selling

Social Evolution in Cyberspace.-'When everyone’s online ...' Online romance

Intimate frauds

Masquerades and identity theft

Privacy fears and threats

Encryption

Compromising corporate secrets

Chats and clubs

Policing the online world

Turning a buck

Online crime

Web psychos and stalkers

Where the walls have ears (and memories).-The Hidden Network

Getting the real story

Bulletin boards behind the Iron Curtain

Scooping CNN

Earthquake! Data lines down: the story The Wall Street Journal missed. -Software pirates unbound. Pimps and predators. Pornography unlimited

And now, the Web ..

Before the Web

CompuServe buys The Source

AOL buys CompuServe

Mosaic-. Netscape. Bill Gates: The Web asa small phenomenon

Catching up with Microsoft Internet Explorer

GNN

Web myths and fears

Mainstreaming the Web

The Corporate World Goes Online

'If it’s online, it’s free!' Web expectations and realities

Dot com bust and boom

The future

Timeline.

Notes:

Includes index.

ISBN:

9786611773854

9781281773852

1281773859

9781430208709

1430208708

OCLC:

288467656