Johann Gutenberg and the Printing Press essays

Johann Gutenberg and the Printing Press essays Nearly five hundred and fifty years ago, Johann Gutenberg revolutionized the world when he developed the first printing press with movable metal type in Europe in 1450. History repeated itself thirty years ago, when the world was revolutionized again when the Internet was developed. The Internet provided, like the printing press, new ways for people to communicate ideas and is probably the most important way of communication and medium of the new "Millennium-Generation." In the past, in the present and especially in the future the Internet will certainly have a really great value for the society, economy and politics. This medium changed how information was spread throughout the world. and lowered the cost of spreading information. Five hundred years after the invention of the movable metal type printing press, the Internet was invented. A government project, the first type of computer networking began in 1969 to connect university computers across the United States. Unlike the printing press, the project was initiated to compete with Russia in the Space Race. The project was not the invention of just one person. This project was led by the Advanced Research Projects Agency and was further developed by BBN in Cambridge. By January 1971, over a dozen different universities across the United States were "online" with one another. For its first twenty years, the Internet was solely used and regulated by the government for research and education uses. In 1991, the University of Minnesota created the first friendly "Internet system" where a simple menu system was used to access files from a University based network. Similar systems named "gophers" were available over the world within a few years. In July 1992, the Internet became available for commercial uses. Widespread ownership of personal computers in the 1990's led to a commercial market for the Internet. Since the early 1990's, the Internet has become a place where informatio...