2000 33c Celebrate the Century,1980s: Personal Computers

# 3190n FDC - 2000 33c Celebrate the Century - 1980s: Personal Computers

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U.S. #3190n
33¢ Personal Computers

Celebrate the Century – 1980s

Issue Date: January 12, 2000
City: Kennedy Space Center, FL
Quantity: 6,000,000
Printed By: Ashton-Potter (USA) Ltd
Printing Method:
Lithographed
Perforations:
11.5
Color: Multicolored
 
The first personal computer (PC) was called the Altair. Only hobbyists bought this model when it was introduced in 1975. In 1975, college students Bill Gates and Paul Allen formed Microsoft Corporation to develop programs for the Altair. This venture later made Gates and Allen two of the world’s wealthiest men.
 
In 1977, two young Americans began to lay the foundation for the mass-marketed PC. Steven jobs and Stephen Wozniak, the founders of Apple Computer, developed the Apple II. It was less expensive and easier for the average user to understand. Small businesses, families, and schools bought the Apple II for these reasons. Apple scored another success in 1984 with the Macintosh, a powerful, easy-to-use computer.
 
One of the industry’s most important developments occurred in 1981, when International Business Machines (IBM) entered the personal computer market. The model IBM manufactured was more successful than the Apple II, and quickly became the industry standard.
 
Today, personal computers are one of the most popular electronic devices. The machines make quick, efficient data retrieval, manipulation, and storage possible for the everyday user. Computers are also becoming powerful tools for communication and entertainment.

The World Wide Web

2000 World Wide Web stamp
US #3191n – from the Celebrate the Century – 1990s sheet

On August 6, 1991, Tim Berners-Lee published the first-ever website, heralding the start of the world wide web.  The web has grown to over 1.8 billion websites today, and continues to grow every day.

The creator of that first website was British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee.  In the 1980s, he worked at CERN (Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire or European Organization for Nuclear Research).  Berners-Lee grew concerned about the state of CERN’s files.  They had thousands of researchers around the world working on different projects, but there was no easy way to access them all.  As he later recalled, “In those days, there was different information on different computers, but you had to log on to different computers to get at it.  Also, sometimes you had to learn a different program on each computer.”

1995 Computer Technology stamp
US #3106 was issued in 1996 for the 50th anniversary of ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer), which ushered in the computer age.

Berners-Lee began brainstorming a way to connect all these researchers and in March 1989, submitted a proposal to his bosses at CERN.  He had conceived of a system that would use hypertext to connect to documents on different computers connected to the internet.  The internet had been developed from military computer time-sharing in the 1960s.  Hypertext, which was also developed in the 1960s, is a system that links clickable text and graphics.

2000 Personal Computers stamp
US #3190n – The development of the web motivated an enormous number of consumers to buy personal computers.

Berners-Lee’s boss said his idea was “vague but exciting,” but didn’t accept the proposal.  So Berners-Lee joined forces with engineer Robert Cailliau to improve his proposal.  It was accepted in 1990 and Berners-Lee began working on it.  He initially called it Information Management, but tried out other names such as Mine of Information and Information Mesh, before choosing WorldWideWeb.

2020 Innovation: Computing stamp
US #5514 was issued in 2020 as part of a set of stamps “celebrating the American spirit of innovation.”

Berners-Lee made significant progress by the end of 1990.  He developed several technologies that facilitated the World Wide Web.  These included Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), used to create web pages; Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), the rules that dictate how data is transferred across the web; and Uniform Resource Locators (URLs), the web addresses used to locate web pages.  Berners-Lee also created his own browser and web server.

2000 Cellular Phones stamp
US #3191o – The first cell phone with internet capabilities was the Nokia 9000 Communicator, released in 1996.

Berners-Lee released his web to researchers in January 1991.  Then on August 6, 1991, he posted the world’s first website available to the public, http://info.cern.ch.  The link still works today and leads to Berners-Lee’s original page as well as the history behind the web and CERN.

CERN suggested Berners-Lee patent his web technology, but he wanted it to be free and open to the world, so it could grow and improve quickly.  He later said, “Had the technology been proprietary, and in my total control, it would probably not have taken off.  You can’t propose that something be a universal space and at the same time keep control of it.”

Marshall Islands stamps honoring milestones of the 20th century
Marshall Islands #627//730 – Berners-Lee is pictured on a stamp in this set honoring milestones of the 20th century.

In 1993, the University of Illinois’s National Center for Supercomputing Applications unveiled Mosaic, the first widely popular public web browser.  Popular websites still running today soon followed, including Yahoo (1994), Amazon (1995), eBay (1995), and Google (1998).

2000 World Wide Web Fleetwood First Day Cover
US #3191n – Fleetwood First Day Cover

Berners-Lee left CERN in 1994 to work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  There he founded the World Wide Web Consortium, an international organization that sets the standards for the web.  He was later knighted by Queen Elizabeth II and was named one of Time magazine’s 100 most important people of the 20th century.

1996 Computer Technology Classic First Day Cover
US #3106 – Classic First Day Cover

Today, there are over 1.8 billion websites and over 5 billion internet users around the world. 

Read More - Click Here

 

 

U.S. #3190n
33¢ Personal Computers

Celebrate the Century – 1980s

Issue Date: January 12, 2000
City: Kennedy Space Center, FL
Quantity: 6,000,000
Printed By: Ashton-Potter (USA) Ltd
Printing Method:
Lithographed
Perforations:
11.5
Color: Multicolored
 
The first personal computer (PC) was called the Altair. Only hobbyists bought this model when it was introduced in 1975. In 1975, college students Bill Gates and Paul Allen formed Microsoft Corporation to develop programs for the Altair. This venture later made Gates and Allen two of the world’s wealthiest men.
 
In 1977, two young Americans began to lay the foundation for the mass-marketed PC. Steven jobs and Stephen Wozniak, the founders of Apple Computer, developed the Apple II. It was less expensive and easier for the average user to understand. Small businesses, families, and schools bought the Apple II for these reasons. Apple scored another success in 1984 with the Macintosh, a powerful, easy-to-use computer.
 
One of the industry’s most important developments occurred in 1981, when International Business Machines (IBM) entered the personal computer market. The model IBM manufactured was more successful than the Apple II, and quickly became the industry standard.
 
Today, personal computers are one of the most popular electronic devices. The machines make quick, efficient data retrieval, manipulation, and storage possible for the everyday user. Computers are also becoming powerful tools for communication and entertainment.

The World Wide Web

2000 World Wide Web stamp
US #3191n – from the Celebrate the Century – 1990s sheet

On August 6, 1991, Tim Berners-Lee published the first-ever website, heralding the start of the world wide web.  The web has grown to over 1.8 billion websites today, and continues to grow every day.

The creator of that first website was British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee.  In the 1980s, he worked at CERN (Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire or European Organization for Nuclear Research).  Berners-Lee grew concerned about the state of CERN’s files.  They had thousands of researchers around the world working on different projects, but there was no easy way to access them all.  As he later recalled, “In those days, there was different information on different computers, but you had to log on to different computers to get at it.  Also, sometimes you had to learn a different program on each computer.”

1995 Computer Technology stamp
US #3106 was issued in 1996 for the 50th anniversary of ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer), which ushered in the computer age.

Berners-Lee began brainstorming a way to connect all these researchers and in March 1989, submitted a proposal to his bosses at CERN.  He had conceived of a system that would use hypertext to connect to documents on different computers connected to the internet.  The internet had been developed from military computer time-sharing in the 1960s.  Hypertext, which was also developed in the 1960s, is a system that links clickable text and graphics.

2000 Personal Computers stamp
US #3190n – The development of the web motivated an enormous number of consumers to buy personal computers.

Berners-Lee’s boss said his idea was “vague but exciting,” but didn’t accept the proposal.  So Berners-Lee joined forces with engineer Robert Cailliau to improve his proposal.  It was accepted in 1990 and Berners-Lee began working on it.  He initially called it Information Management, but tried out other names such as Mine of Information and Information Mesh, before choosing WorldWideWeb.

2020 Innovation: Computing stamp
US #5514 was issued in 2020 as part of a set of stamps “celebrating the American spirit of innovation.”

Berners-Lee made significant progress by the end of 1990.  He developed several technologies that facilitated the World Wide Web.  These included Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), used to create web pages; Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), the rules that dictate how data is transferred across the web; and Uniform Resource Locators (URLs), the web addresses used to locate web pages.  Berners-Lee also created his own browser and web server.

2000 Cellular Phones stamp
US #3191o – The first cell phone with internet capabilities was the Nokia 9000 Communicator, released in 1996.

Berners-Lee released his web to researchers in January 1991.  Then on August 6, 1991, he posted the world’s first website available to the public, http://info.cern.ch.  The link still works today and leads to Berners-Lee’s original page as well as the history behind the web and CERN.

CERN suggested Berners-Lee patent his web technology, but he wanted it to be free and open to the world, so it could grow and improve quickly.  He later said, “Had the technology been proprietary, and in my total control, it would probably not have taken off.  You can’t propose that something be a universal space and at the same time keep control of it.”

Marshall Islands stamps honoring milestones of the 20th century
Marshall Islands #627//730 – Berners-Lee is pictured on a stamp in this set honoring milestones of the 20th century.

In 1993, the University of Illinois’s National Center for Supercomputing Applications unveiled Mosaic, the first widely popular public web browser.  Popular websites still running today soon followed, including Yahoo (1994), Amazon (1995), eBay (1995), and Google (1998).

2000 World Wide Web Fleetwood First Day Cover
US #3191n – Fleetwood First Day Cover

Berners-Lee left CERN in 1994 to work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  There he founded the World Wide Web Consortium, an international organization that sets the standards for the web.  He was later knighted by Queen Elizabeth II and was named one of Time magazine’s 100 most important people of the 20th century.

1996 Computer Technology Classic First Day Cover
US #3106 – Classic First Day Cover

Today, there are over 1.8 billion websites and over 5 billion internet users around the world.