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Throughout the history of mankind, the Internet is without a say one of the best inventions and revolutions. Thankfully we have been in the right generation to see the drastic changes Internet have brought to our life.
We have been accustomed to the Web so much so that we can't even think of a day without it. Nevertheless to say it's the best thing that ever happened to us. We are walking around with the world's largest library in our pockets (even though most of us don't see that point XD).
Information is just a click away!!
This Web that we are so much into has gone through an intriguing evolutionary phase. Let's discuss these phases in today's article. Web from its inception to what we know it as now is an amazing journey.
Inception - Where it all began
In 1962 J. C. R. Licklider proposed the idea of a network of computers that could talk to one another. He is one of the first to foresee modern-style interactive computing (such a visionary!!). He has been called "computing's Johnny Appleseed", for planting the seeds of computing in the digital age.
In 1969 the first-ever message was sent from one computer to another over the ARPANET. Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET), was the government's computer network at the time. Did you know that the first-ever message sent was "LOGIN"? And did you know that only the first two letters, "LO", of the message were successfully received by the other system? (yea, sadly it crashed in between) It sounds funny now, but you gotta start somewhere XD.
In 1971 Ray Tomlinson built the first-ever program to send mail back and forth between the users of ARPANET. This was eventually called Electronic mail or email for short. The @ symbol was used to tell a person's name and hostname apart. During the same year, Vint Cerf invented a way to let computers communicate with each other in a virtual environment. This invention was called Transmission Control Protocol or TCP for short. Shortly after that Internet Protocol (IP) was also introduced.
Web 1.0
It was back in the 1990s when it all began. In 1991 Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web (WWW). Yes!! It's the fucking Web. This changed everything. Internet was not just for scientists anymore. It was accessible for anyone. Anyone with an internet connection could access an abundance of information.
This is the first phase of the Web usually referred to as read-only web. Back then it was purely static content and the role of the user was limited to reading. There was no way for the user to communicate back to the content creators. No logins, no interaction with posts, no likes, no comments, nothing. Did you know at this period content creators could be counted on hand? The majority of the Internet users were consumers.
Web 1.0 truly lifted the geographic restrictions on information sharing
Web 1.0 can be characterized as a Content Delivery Network (CDN) that allowed information to be displayed on websites. Web 1.0 allowed people to search for information and consume it. There was no interaction with or between users, and there was no user-generated content (such peaceful times!).
This is what the first-ever website looked like.
Key features of the Web 1.0 period:
- Everything was static pages.
- Site content is served from the server file system.
- Pages were built using Server Side Includes or Common Gateway Interface (CGI).
- Frames and tables are used to position and align elements on a page (surprised right? )
Web 2.0
Web 2.0 is the second phase in the development of the Internet. It was called as read-write web and it was the stage when websites grew in terms of user interaction. Finally, the internet became a place where users could actually share their views, opinions, thoughts, and experiences. The users started to be the content creators and we no longer could count them with one hand.
Web 2.0 allows users to interact and collaborate with each other through social media dialogue as creators of user-generated content. During Web 2.0, terms like blogs, social media, and video streaming gained popularity. It opened the doors for podcasts, blogging, tagging, curating with RSS, image sharing, video sharing, social networking, and whatnot.
All the popular sites that you are familiar with, this is where they were born. Youtube, Google, Facebook, Wiki, Twitter, etc. The web technologies like HTML5, CSS3, and Javascript frameworks like ReactJs, AngularJs, VueJs, etc., enabled startups to innovate new ideas which enable users to contribute more to this Social Web. Web 2.0 brought a fundamental shift where people were allowed to share their perspectives, opinions, thoughts, and experiences via several online tools and platforms. It brought us the concept - ' Web as Platform ', where software applications are built upon the Web.
Every day, we create roughly 2.5 quintillion bytes of data.
Web 2.0 has revolutionized the perception of the Internet in a short time. A prime example of the evolution of Web 2.0 is YouTube, which has relied and still relies on user content. It was the age of targeted advertising and lack of privacy for its users. To be fair, we willingly gave up our privacy for using some cool apps like Facebook and Twitter. Remember that check box you are checking every time creating an account? That's the privacy policies, I bet you haven't read any of that till now XD.
Web 3.0
Web 3.0 is the third phase of the Internet also termed as executable web or read- write-execute web. It is an idea for a new iteration of the World Wide Web-based on the blockchain, which incorporates concepts including decentralization and token-based economics.
The term "Web3" was coined by Polkadot founder and Ethereum co-founder Gavin Wood in 2014, referring to a "decentralized online ecosystem based on blockchain." In 2021, the idea of Web3 gained popularity. Particular interest spiked toward the end of 2021, largely due to interest from cryptocurrency enthusiasts and investments from high-profile technologists and companies.
The rise of technologies such as distributed ledgers and blockchain storage will enable data decentralization and the creation of a transparent and secure environment, overthrowing Web 2.0's centralization, surveillance, and exploitative advertising. Decentralized infrastructure and application platforms will take the place of centralized tech giants, allowing individuals to rightfully own their data.
Yes, you heard that right, you will actually own your data!! Did you really think you owned your data till now? XD You were giving it away for free lol. One of the most significant implications of decentralization and blockchain technology is in the area of data ownership and compensation. As we move towards a mature and stable Web 3.0, the blockchain protocols will allow us to connect to an internet where we can own and be properly compensated for our time and data, outshining an exploitative and unjust web in which giant, centralized entities own and profit from it.
Web 3.0 is already on move, don't misunderstand it's still in its early stages. There are a lot of entities coming up that live in this new decentralized web. Let's take Odysee for example. It is a blockchain alternative to YouTube where videos can be posted and the creators can get library tokens, which is basically a reward for enticing users to watch their videos.
In Web 3.0, companies will be run by a decentralized group called DAO which stands for Decentralized Autonomous Organization. About DAO we can discuss that in a later article. However, in DAO's there is no central authority like CEOs or Presidents. Those with the most tokens get to vote on how the company changes. That means one controlling authority cannot shut it down.
Lastly, one interesting thing about Web 3.0 is that your digital identity is not 100% connected to your real-world identity. This means I can view pages, download things, make purchases, and any other activity on the internet without being traced back to the real me. Sounds like a second life right? XD. Metaverse is coming buddy!! It reminds me of Ready Player One (awesome movie btw XD)
Conclusion
So now we have come to the end of this article. To summarize:
- In the 1960s the seed to the era of the Internet was planted
- In the 1970s World Wide Web was born
- Web 1.0: The era of consumers and a teeny tiny bit of content creators
- Web 2.0: Users became the content creators, social media became the super cool kids thing, content sharing was easy, we lost our privacy willingly, unlimited amount of data got created.
- Web 3.0: It's the future!! A decentralized open web where users own their data, entities are run by decentralized groups, the token economy is the thing now, everyone's crazed over crypto and NFTs, developers are going on an amazing adventure discovering golds!!
There are a lot of things in Web 3.0 like Crypto(yea I know you are familiar with that XD), DAOs, NFTs, DeFi, Protocols, and whatnot. It's still an emerging space, a lot of things to explore, some of it might be bubbles but it will be the future.
#WAGMI 🚀
That's it for today folks!! Thanks for reading this long article. I hope it was a great read for you and you learned one or two from it. If you have any doubts ask them away in the comments. What will be Web3's future according to you? I would love to hear about your views on this.
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