25 Years Ago Today, the First Dot.com URL Was Registered

Twenty-five years ago today, Symbolics Computers of Cambridge, Massachusetts, registered Symbolics.com as a URL. It was the first such claim in computing history:

That same year another five companies jumped on a very slow bandwagon.

It took until 1997, well into the internet boom, before the one millionth dotcom was registered.[...]

It is unlikely that the early dotcoms were thought of as businesses as the early internet was not seen as a place for commerce but rather as a platform for governmental and educational bodies to trade ideas.

Scholars generally agree that a turning point was the introduction of the Mosaic web browser by Netscape that brought mainstream consumers on to the web.


Link via Gizmodo | Image: FBI

Comments (5)

Newest 5
Newest 5 Comments

a URL is a uniform resource locator and was invented at Cern for web browsing and using a browser to act on other resources. In 1985 there was no such thing as a URL.

symbolics.com is a DOMAIN name which may point to one or infinite hosts within that domain. It's not a URL
Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)
The internet was a different place back then... It was kind of like the frontier. Untamed, a little scary in its wildness, but ripe with possibility.

1997 was the year that I settled on using Cola as an internet handle, and also my real nickname.
Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)
Let me be the first to say: What do you do about the sweet, loveable old lady who just doesn't like cats of any kind, at all? She got scratched when she was three, and for the last eighty years, she's advocated at every opportunity that ALL Cats should be rounded up, and ground up into dog food. And some neighbourhoods have actually listened to her, notably around the corner in Australia. And all the cat-lovers there were really surprised when one day, they were ordered (Ordered! in a democratic country!) to bring their cats down to the grinder. Of course, some tough guys hid their cats and never gave them up. And now, nobody who loves cats in that place can have one, and the only ones left are the bad face-scratchers. And it's a bigger problem than it ever was.
Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)
  2 replies
To start, there are places with cat bans. For an example from New Zealand, http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-36865776 . Second, who are the "wrong people" we want to not have guns? Does it include police whose rules-of-engagement allow them to shoot people more freely than the US military in Afghanistan? (I'm thinking of the death of Ronald D. Williams.) Does it include all the people who are so ill-trained that they shoot themselves and others when cleaning their weapon? Nor does this cat metaphor extend to the racism in gun violence and rights.
Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)
Login to comment.
Email This Post to a Friend
"25 Years Ago Today, the First Dot.com URL Was Registered"

Separate multiple emails with a comma. Limit 5.

 

Success! Your email has been sent!

close window
X

This website uses cookies.

This website uses cookies to improve user experience. By using this website you consent to all cookies in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

I agree
 
Learn More