Dot-com
Internet history during the dot-com era, from the 1990s through to the first few years of the 2000s.
Note: some of these articles were migrated from my previous website, Web Development History (WDH), which was active during 2021. Check the timeline for a chronological list of WDH posts.
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The Blogosphere Blossoms in 2003 As RSS Readers Catch On
In 2003, the read/write web becomes a reality when blog software enables anyone to write to the web. Meanwhile, RSS Readers like NetNewsWire and Bloglines bring distribution to the blogosphere.
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2003: BowieNet 3 Launch and the Peak of Flash Web Design
Flash websites reach their peak in 2003, becoming almost the default for creative design on the web. David Bowie is on top of this internet trend and commissions a full Flash redesign of BowieNet.
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2003: MySpace vs. Friendster in a Battle for Digital Natives
Social networking becomes a trend in 2003, thanks largely to Friendster and a copycat called MySpace. But only one of these sites attracts the newly influential 'digital native' users of the internet.
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What the Internet Was Like in 2002
With Flash websites and CSS designs, the broadband-fueled 2002 internet is full of creativity. Meanwhile, online music is the wild west and the blogosphere points the way to a more social web.
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How the Blogosphere Takes Shape in 2002, Along With RSS 2.0
The blogosphere becomes a trend in 2002 — a growing ecosystem of weblogs interconnecting via feeds, comments and a new feature called trackback. We also see the debut of RSS 2.0 and Technorati.
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2002: The Second iPod and Steve Jobs on Music Streaming
With its revolutionary 'touch wheel' and double the storage, Apple's 2nd gen iPod is the state of the art in digital music in 2002. But the future is online streaming, which Steve Jobs struggles to accept.
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2002: Last.fm and Audioscrobbler Herald the Social Web
Following in Amazon's footsteps, two student projects independently use 'collaborative filtering' to bring recommendations and social networking to online music; soon they will join forces.
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What the Internet Was Like in 2001
Even in the middle of the dot-com bust in 2001, there are rays of hope: Wikipedia and the Wayback Machine launch, digital music turns legit with iTunes and the iPod, and blogging goes mainstream.
