So who invented the Internet? We know the claim that Al Gore invented the Internet is an “urban legend,” which is a polite way of saying a hoax. But who invented the Internet?
Well, we don’t know the answer to that question. Or at least we know that the Internet was not invented by one person, but rather is the result of hundreds of people making seminal contributions to a shared idea.
We do know that as early as 1969, young children were playing with teletype machines communicating with a central computer at ten characters per second via an acoustic modulator-demodulator that coupled to a standard Bell System telephone handset. And we have watched ideas like this grow into modern day cloud computing.
Many of us worked in the computer industry well before hardware and software migrated into distinct, independent industries in their own right. Well before the Hollywood brought the Silicon Valley to public consciousness. We lived through amazing times, long ago creating works that are still becoming our future.
The Software Industry Special Interest Group at the Computer History Museum is dedicated to preserving the history of the software industry, one of the largest and most influential industries in the world today. The industry originated with the entrepreneurial computer software and services companies of the 1950s and 1960s, grew dramatically through the 1970s and 1980s to become a market force rivaling that of the computer hardware companies, and by the 1990s had become the supplier of technical know-how that transformed the way people worked, played and communicated every day of their lives. The SI SIG is working to preserve for future generations information about the companies, people, products, and events that shaped the evolution of this vital industry.
We are using this web site to preserve our history for generations to come. Please browse this site and enjoy it. If you find it appealing, please consider working with us further.
You can contact the Software Industry Special Interest Group at the Computer History Museum by writing to softwareindustrysig@gmail.com.