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On Wed, 1 May 2002, Didier PH Martin wrote:
> Hi Mark,
>
> Mark said:
> > The Web exhibited its infamous growth curve long before any money was
> > behind it.
> >
> > http://www.mit.edu/people/mkgray/net/web-growth-summary.html
>
> Didie replies:
> Do not forget to taken into accounts the amounts of money the US government
> invested in the web.
You are mixing 'Web' and 'Internet'. The web 'took off' almost precisely
at the moment the US government (via the NSF) _withdrew_ from direct
support of the Internet infrastructure. The US government had only a
minimal investment in the Web per se (although a substantial investment in
the Internet infrastructure to that point which the Web, of course,
utilized for transport).
> Also, the fact that in the beginning years, a big chunk of the backbone
> was subsidized by the government. It is later that the private sector
> took the relay.
1993, to be precise. Also referred to as 'The Year September Never Ended'
because the 'newbieness' of the net quit what had been until then its
annual surge and ebb following University freshmen classes getting their
first Internet access accounts. From that point forward, an immense
percentage of people on the Net were _always_ 'newbies' as the growth of
the net continually flooded it with inexperienced users - completely
swamping the previously primarily educational system originating user
base.
It marked the point in time when commercial interests in the Internet
clearly passed the government interests.
--
Jerry
The lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne.
---Geoffrey Chaucer
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