Guess who turns 25 years old today? The Internet

Happy Birth- day To You, Happy Birth- day To You . . .
Happy Birth- day I-N-T-E-R-N-E-T . . .
Happy Birth- day To YOU!

[dropcap style=”style1, style2, style3, or style4″]I[/dropcap]Recently, a reporter posed the following question to me: “What is the biggest challenge facing the legal profession?” After thinking about it, I said something along the lines that the profession needs to be able to adapt from a centuries-old business model to a rapidly changing environment where technology, difficult economic times, globalization, divergent client needs, increased competition, and changing demographics collide to create greater demands on lawyers.

Of course, the savvy reporter retorted: “Can you trace this challenge to its origin? When?”

That follow-up question caused me to pause and think my response through; and I responded that I would pin it to the late 1990s which is when I believe the Internet began coming of age.

Much like the impact that the Gutenberg printing press had on society in the 15th to 18th centuries, I view the Internet to represent a similar innovation that promises to permanently alter the structure of society as we know it.

Well folks, guess who turns 25 years old today?

The Internet.

As reported by Nick Bilton in The New York Times The Bits blog yesterday (for those unfamiliar, I recommend this blog to anyone interested in learning more about the technology industry, including start-ups, the Internet, enterprise and gadgets), the world-wide-web turns 25 today.

I recommend reading the blog post as the reporter recounts the web’s origins from 1989 when its creator Tim Berners-Lee, a software engineer at CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research which is recognized as one of the world’s largest and most respected centers for scientific research), began work on a project called the World Wide Web.

The article, As the Web Turns 25, Its Creator Talks About Its Future, explores the good and the controversial aspects of the web, including Mr. Berners-Lee’s concerns about how profit-driven businesses and telecom are changing the original Web model that promotes universal, free access and fosters improvement through communal improvement that allowed the web to develop into what it has become. Read the blog for yourself: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/03/11/as-the-world-wide-web-turns-25-fear-about-its-future/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_php=true&_type=blogs&hpw&rref=technology&_r=1

Tell us – What do you believe was the web’s “defining moment” regarding the internet over the past twenty-five years?