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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What the Internet Was Like in 1999
In 1999, Microsoft vanquishes Netscape in the browser war, Google starts to show up competing search engines, Blogger launches, and Napster loudly arrives to shake up our culture.
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1999: Blogs Burst Onto the Scene, but RSS Is Slow To Settle
The launch of Blogger in August 1999 signals the arrival of weblogs into mainstream web culture. At the same time, web syndication formats are being worked out — starting with Netscape's RSS 0.90.
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The Emergence of Napster and P2P File Sharing in 1999
Napster launches in May 1999 and soon there are millions of pirated songs online. Not even David Bowie, who releases an album via digital download that year, can foresee Napster's future influence.
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Second Life and the Beginnings of the Metaverse in 1999
After seeing the movie 'The Matrix', Philip Rosedale starts a dot-com company and attempts to build a full-body virtual reality rig. He soon pivots to creating a virtual world on the Web.
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David Bowie’s 1999 Gaming Adventure and Virtual Album
Continuing his exploration of virtual personas, in 1999 David Bowie plays two 3D characters in a game called 'Omikron: The Nomad Soul'. The songs he contributes are later added to his album, Hours.
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From BowieWorld to Facebook: How Online Identity Evolved
Exploring different personas on the web is a widespread trend by the late-1990s. Later, Facebook will neuter online identity, but in 1999 you can invent virtual characters on sites like BowieWorld.
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Google in 1999: Search Engines Escape the Portal Matrix
Like Morpheus in The Matrix, Google gives web users a stark choice in 1999: take the red pill and experience a new world of search quality, or choose the blue pill and stick with the bloated world of portal search.
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What the Internet Was Like in 1998
It's 1998, the middle of the dot-com boom. Portals are advertising on TV, web developers are fighting browser companies, Microsoft and Amazon are gaining power, and Netscape is going open source.
