Who invented e-commerce?, Who invented www?

 History of E-commerce

The history of e-commerce began more than 40 years ago, when early technologies such as Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and telemarketing were introduced in the early 1970s, paving the way for the new e-commerce business as we know it today. (Cowan, 2022)

The development of e-commerce is inextricably linked to that of the internet. When the internet first became available to the public in 1991, online purchasing became conceivable. Thousands of firms have subsequently followed in the footsteps of Amazon, which was one of the first e-commerce sites in the United States to start selling things online. (Cowan, 2022)

Who invented E-commerce?

 (Wilson, 2022)

The first-ever steps of online marketing we call today are taken by Michael J. Aldrich. (Cowan, 2022)

Aldrich was born in the United Kingdom in 1941, and after graduating from the University of Hull with a history degree, he entered the emerging computing business of the 1960s, eventually becoming a member of the Redifon board of directors in 1977. (Cowan, 2022)

Aldrich would later write that the company "produced minicomputers and designed systems for companies such as Inland Revenue, British Aerospace, and Harrods" during the time. So, it's all massive business and exclusive, which isn't how we think of eCommerce nowadays. (Cowan, 2022)

In the late 1970s, videotex technologies were starting to gain traction in the United Kingdom. This primitive method allowed telecommunications firms like British Telecom and others to broadcast text-based news updates to television sets via telephone lines. Aldrich and others at Redifon tinkered with the technology, reasoning that a residential television might be used to speak with a computer over the phone line, allowing customers to order various goods and services. (Cowan, 2022)

(RightVert, 2022)

In September 1979, they experimented and took their ideas to the Data Entry Management Association Conference in New Orleans. In the United States, the system was a hit, and Aldrich and his colleagues rushed back to get it up and operating in the wild. (Cowan, 2022)

While Aldrich originally envisioned his idea as a B2C tool because he despised going to the supermarket to conduct his weekly shopping, it was the B2B market that kicked off the online shopping revolution. (Cowan, 2022)

By 1981, the first of the systems had been installed and were being utilized by Thomson, allowing the company's salesmen around the country to display prospective customers which holiday packages were available in real-time by linking to the central Thomson computer system. (Cowan, 2022)

Who Invented WWW?

(WWWF,2022)

World Wide Web was invented by Sir Tim Berners Lee in 1989. (WWWF, 2022)

Sir Tim Berners-Lee is a computer scientist from the United Kingdom. His parents were early computer scientists who worked on one of the first computers when he was born in London. (WWWF, 2022) 

Berners-Lee worked as a software engineer at CERN, a huge particle physics laboratory near Geneva, Switzerland, after graduating from Oxford University. Scientists from all over the world visit the facility to use the accelerators, but Sir Tim noted that they were having trouble exchanging information. (WWWF, 2022)

Tim believed he had discovered a solution to the problem, one that he believed could have far-reaching implications. Millions of computers were already connected via the fast-growing internet, and Berners-Lee realised they could share knowledge by utilizing a new technology called hypertext. (WWWF, 2022)

Tim brought out his idea for the web in a document titled "Information Management: A Proposal" in March 1989. Tim's initial idea, believe it or not, was not immediately approved. Mike Sendall, his supervisor at the time, noted on the cover the words "Vague but exciting." Even though the web was never an official CERN project, Mike was able to grant Tim time to work on it in September 1990. He started working on a NeXT computer, which was one of Steve Jobs' first offerings. (WWWF, 2022)

Tim`s proposal,

(WWWF, 2022)

Other than World Wide Web Tim also written three fundamental technologies that remain in centre of today`s web called HTML, URL and HTTP, in October of 1990. (WWWF, 2022)

References:

Cowan, 2022. Meet Michael Aldrich, the godfather of online shopping | SmartOSC | Your Trusted Ecommerce Partner. [online] SmartOSC. Available at: <https://www.smartosc.com/en/insights/michael-aldrich-godfather-online-shopping> [Accessed 9 April 2022].

RightVert, 2022. [online] Twitter. Available at: <https://twitter.com/rightvert/status/1389927970177957891> [Accessed 9 April 2022].

Wilson, 2022. Michael Aldrich - obituaries. [online] The Telegraph. Available at: <https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/10941395/Michael-Aldrich-obituaries.html> [Accessed 9 April 2022]. 

 WWWF, 2022. History of the Web. [online] World Wide Web Foundation. Available at: <https://webfoundation.org/about/vision/history-of-the-web/> [Accessed 9 April 2022].