How did people use the Internet in the past?

Answer 1

From Wikipedia's article on ARPANet, the predecessor to the modern internet. NCP [the Network Control Program] provided a standard set of network services that could be shared by several applications running on a single host computer. This led to the evolution of application protocols that operated more or less independently of the underlying network service. When the ARPANET migrated to the Internet protocols in 1983, the major application protocols migrated along with it. * E-mail: In 1971, Ray Tomlinson of BBN sent the first network email [3]. By 1973, 75% of the ARPANET traffic was email. * File transfer:By 1973, the File Transfer Protocol (FTP) specification had been defined and implemented, enabling file transfers over the ARPANET. * Voice traffic: A Network Voice Protocol (NVP) specifications was also defined (RFC 741) and then implemented, but conference calls over the ARPANET never worked well, for technical reasons; packet voice would not become a workable reality for a few decades. ARPANet was originally conceived as a fail-safe method of communications in the event of a nuclear attack, but the network's applications soon proved much larger than that and - moreover - the problem of adequately securing the transmission lines against an EMP was never completely resolved for large-scale applicaion.

Answer 2

20 years ago, the internet was used mostly for government purposes. It has actually been around since the late 50's or early 60's when it was used solely for military purposes.

Answer 3

Initially Internet type network was used by U.S. military for their communication in U. S..

Answer 4

The "internet" is only about 20 years old; it doesn't have that much of a "past".