iOutput

It’s a fact… the Internet has just turned 40. And it may be on the way for a mid-life crisis… or is it?

One thing’s certain: the Internet as we know it today has little to do with what it was 40 years ago. In fact, it all started when a group of people managed to transfer data from one computer to the other. Uau! Something my 3 year old niece probably knows how to do better than me! :-)

I guess every major technological breakthrough starts off this way. People hardly notice the impact it may or may not have on the future of humanity. And the impact it had!

One thing’s for sure… We wouldn’t be writing this blog if it weren’t for the Internet… reaching billions of people throughout the world (that’s me being modest).

Let’s actually compare the Internet with a forty year old person. As a child, it was mainly used to send information from one place to another, much like sending pre-historic e-mail. At adolescence it became global. It was the time for the World Wide Web. Curiously enough, as the WWW grew, the world started to become smaller. When it reached the thirties, Internet users started shopping for things they needed (or did they?) without leaving their homes or offices.

And finally after turning 38, the Internet took the shape we can identify today. A huge platform for social networking. Today people use web based applications to speak, play, share their lives with virtually anyone in the world.

Where will it take us from here? Will it take us a step further? Who knows? All I can say is that the world expects a great deal of the Internet. Some might say, too much.

At the end of the day it all comes down to common sense. We can’t expect the Internet to run our lives. It can’t replace the pleasure of having a quiet face-to-face conversation with a friend or reading a “real” book by the fireplace. There are other downsides of course. People are taking advantage of this great tool and using it with twisted purposes.

Will it need future government regulation? Probably, that day will come. As long as it’s done wisely and not camouflaged with censorship.

The upsides? There are so many: the power to spread useful information, the power to unite people behind good causes like world poverty, hunger, climate changes, etc. It’s a tool to exercise our civil liberties even in countries ruled by dictators… a tool to spread a message of freedom and hope to those who need it!

Today there are over 200 million web sites registered. My advice is: use them, create your own, but above all, have fun and help it grow to another 40 years of success!!!