Lesson 1: The Big Picture or Why the World    Wide Web Waited until the 1990s

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While the Internet was expanding during the 1970s and 1980s, smaller computer networks were also forming and flourishing. The first computer network widely available to home computer users was CompuServe. This kind of service, also called a Bulletin Board System (BBS), has long been available to anyone with a computer, modem and telephone line. Many specialized BBSs were established to meet a variety of needs. Typically a user would purchase proprietary software, dial into a special telephone number, use a secret password, and access special interest data.

In the late 1980s, two developments made the online service more appealing to home computer users. First was the proliferation of the Graphical Users Interface, provided by Macintosh and Windows. Users could now see pictures as well as read text. The second development involved computer hardware. Modems became faster, increasing transmission from 1,400 bits per second to 28,800 bits per second in a matter of five years. In addition, technological advances in data compression helped to squeeze more data through phone lines.

America Online went online in the late 1980s, followed by Prodigy in the early 1990s, finally followed by the Microsoft Network in 1995. The online service originated as a closed network: outsiders could not enter the system and insiders could not go beyond their system. This situation began to change when America Online provided a gateway to the Internet in 1994. For the first time subscribers to an online service had access to the entire Internet. It is a fact that over half of home computer users access the World Wide Web through an online service, such as America Online. Without the participation of these non-Internet networks, the World Wide Web would only reach half the homes it does now.

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