The history of the Internet has been filled with fights for supremacy. Just like in any business, those who’ve established themselves in the world of the Internet have had to do anything and everything to stay afloat.
In the first film, I was shocked to see the way Bill Gates acted in the video footage they showed. I’ve seen shows such as Family Guy make poke fun at Gate’s demeanor, but I never paid attention to the way he really acted. The first word that comes to mind is, brat! Gates was so worried about being the “Big Dog” that he would do anything to stay on top. He dismissed the browser, and when Netscape’s browser became a real thing he wanted to be a part of it. It’s shocking that Gates would go as far as to threaten the removal of Windows license from PCs in order to grow his browser and take down Netscape. In the end, he got what he wanted, but today we have a variety of browsers to choose from (Chrome, Safari, Firefox, etc.). Things have come a long way since the battle of the browser. In 2015, Microsoft announced that it was getting rid of the Internet Explorer brand, how the might have fallen.
In search engine video, one question I’ve had for years was answered. I’ve always asked myself, why is Yahoo full of ads and Google so plain? The answer is that search engines gave into advertising and lost their touch at searching. Page and Brin the creators of Google, believed that money could be made from searching. Now whether they copied outgo.com or not, Google’s AdWords helped them bring in revenue. Google has changed from those early years, it’s no longer “just” a search engine, it’s moved into the smartphone industry, creating tech gear and even dipping into science. The Google we once knew is now so big that it needed to make a parent company called Alphabet.
The people that helped define Web 2.0 made the Internet a place where everyone can communicate. Before the Internet, we relied on traditional media for information, and today, we can be a part of spreading the information. The interesting part about this video was realizing that Napster was an important factor in developing this two-way communication. It allowed people to share music (illegally) and get to know one another. Websites like Friendster, MySpace and Facebook would evolve this communication. There was a time that Facebook was the new guy on the block; however, it’s grown to be bigger than it’s predecessor. Facebook has moved into paid advertising, charging for sponsored content and even charging you to pay a $1 for messaging a person you might not be friends with.
The Internet’s journey has been one filled with companies fighting for survival, and those events helped shape the Internet as we know it. With the introduction of mobile/tablet applications, we might see a future where we no longer use the World Wide Web to visit sites.