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The 100 Oldest Internet Domains

by Tim Stevens on August 20, 2007 at 12:17 PM

If you're younger than 20, you might be surprised to learn that many Web site addresses are older than you are (actually, at that age, you probably think the Web has been around forever). But for those of us who can remember the days before the World Wide Web existed, the revelation is a shocker. Many of us still think the World Wide Web, as a late-'90s phenomenon, but the Internet's domains (the part that comes after the "www." on, say, a Web address) actually date back much further.

We can thank this bit of information to Life & Times blog, which has compiled a list of the 100 oldest domains on the Internet. The oldest domain on the Internet is Symbolics, a computer manufacturer that registered Symbolics.com on March 15 of 1985. Defense contractor Northrop secured Northrop.com in November of the same year, with Xerox grabbing Xerox.com in January of 1986. Just six domains were registered in 85, but a comparatively huge 55 were registered in 86. The rest, of course, is history.

Reading through the list of aged domains is enough to make a grizzled old IT guy misty-eyed at names like DEC.com and Tandy.com, which are sites for companies that no longer exist. But the real shocker is how many of today's biggest tech names don't appear on the list. Microsoft, for example, didn't register its domain until 1991. Computer maker Dell -- originally known as PCs Unlimited -- didn't become "Dell" until 1988, so it's not on the list. And, of course, modern search power-houses like Yahoo! and Google didn't come into being until the mid- and late-'90s, respectively.

Meanwhile, Apple.com doesn't appear until the number 64 spot (February of 1987). Interestingly, 1987 is the same year that year Apple produced a video on what it thought computing in 2010 would be like. While the shape and design is obviously different, and you don't see too many talking bow-tied and schedule-minded avatars, the company's vision wasn't too far off on what we can do with our computers today.

One thing Apple didn't realize or predict in this video, however, is just how valuable Apple.com would eventually become.

From Life & Times

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Tags: Domains, Internet History, InternetHistory

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