Among the First: International Internet Day

By Gregory Pings

It only seems like the internet has been around forever. In fact, the first “.com” top-level domain was registered early in 1985 – which is “forever” in internet years. Xerox joined the fray on January 9, 1986. That made Xerox.com the seventh to use the “.com” top-level domain in the entire world.

The. Entire. World.
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Someone is keeping track of all the domains in the world today, but I’ve stopped counting. The internet is a crowded world, and that’s not a bad thing. Aside from the considerable value that xerox.com provides to us, our customers and partners, the internet allows us to learn about market-changing news quicker, and it helps the world connect and communicate far more effectively. More important, the internet made it possible for the world to realize the full value of technologies like laser printing, print on demand, and a slew of apps that transform printers into workplace assistants – to name a few.

Here we are on the cusp of International Internet Day, celebrating the early adopters who saw the value of the internet and took a leap of faith. And a leap it was. In 1969, the first message over ARPANET (the internet’s predecessor) crashed the computer after only two letters were sent – an “L” and an “O.” They were trying to transmit the word “login. Did those researchers fully understand that this inauspicious beginning would forever change the way the world connects and communicates?

I prefer to believe so.

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