Web 1.0 to Web4: A Brief History of The Evolution of Internet Technologies

The Internet is developing rapidly, new technologies and developments are constantly emerging that affect the development of mankind. This cannot be overlooked. The Internet has come a long way from Web 1.0 to Web 4.0, and a lot has changed in its more than 50 years of existence. Below is a brief history of the development of Internet technologies Web 1.0, Web 2.0, Web 3.0, and the benefits of Web 4.0.

Web 1.0

Web 1.0 was the first stage in the development of the Internet. This period was characterized by the fact that content creators could be counted on one hand, all other Internet users were consumers. At this stage in the development of the Internet, personal sites (business card sites) were popular, consisting of static pages and hosted on web servers managed by an ISP or on free hosting.

At this stage in the development of the Internet, advertising on websites was prohibited; it was practically nowhere to be found. Web 1.0 can be characterized as a content delivery network that allowed information to be displayed on websites. Web 1.0 allowed people to search for information and consume it. There was no interaction with or between users, and there was no user-generated content generated.

Key features of the Web 1.0 period:

1. Static pages.

2. Site content is served from the server file system.

3. Pages are built using Server Side Includes or Common Gateway Interface (CGI).

4. Frames and tables are used to position and align elements on a page.

Web 1.0 was the internet that met the needs of most of the site owners of the day. They needed a tool that provided people with access to their information at any time of the day. And they had this remedy. Web 1.0 also lifted geographic restrictions on information sharing.

Web 2.0

Web 2.0 is the second stage in the development of the Internet and a kind of social network. Web 2.0 is an internet that values ​​user-generated content, site usability, and interoperability. At this stage, it is not the technical specifications of the sites that change, but the way the web pages are designed and used.

The Internet is becoming a gathering place for online tools and platforms where people share their views, opinions, thoughts, and experiences. Web 2.0 applications, unlike Web 3.0 applications, primarily interact with the end-user. Thus, thanks to end users, the following are actively developing:

● Podcasts

● Blogs

● Curated with RSS

● Social networks

At this stage of the development of the Internet, web browser technologies are used in the development of sites, for example, AJAX and JavaScript frameworks. These frameworks were the most popular among developers, and interest in the Ruby on Rails programming language has also grown. Web 2.0 can be characterized as follows - AJAX, tag optimization, front-end innovations.

Key features of the Web 2.0 period:

1. Free access to a large amount of information, which allows users to obtain and classify information collectively.

2. The emergence of dynamic site content that responds to user input.

3. Changing the way information is transmitted between the site owner and site users.

4. The emergence of APIs that allow the use of site information using the software.

5. Negative impact on society and the emergence of new threats.

Web 2.0 is the ability to deliver content and interact with other Internet users. Web 2.0 has revolutionized the perception of the Internet in a short time. A prime example of the evolution of Web 2.0 is YouTube, which has relied and still relies on user content. YouTube is still popular today, despite the fact that the stage of Web 4.0 will soon arrive.

Web 3.0

Web 3.0 is the result of the evolution of Internet use and interactions. The Internet has become a database. This stage is characterized by the optimization of the internal part of the sites, a lot of attention was paid to this. It was at this stage of the development of the Internet that the most innovations were introduced into the work of sites and the Internet as a whole. What is characteristic of Web 3.0 is that data does not belong to specific organizations or people but is shared by users. This stage in the development of the Internet is also called the Semantic Web.

The Semantic Web has changed the process of analyzing information and ranking sites. The Internet of this period begins to use robots to control sites. Web 3.0 forces developers to use declarative ontological programming languages ​​(OWLs) to create specific ontologies that robots can use to draw inferences from site content rather than simply matching
keywords.

Key features of the Web 3.0 period:

1. The importance of site semantics appears. Semantics greatly affects the web technologies required to create and share content for sites. The emergence of "smart search and analysis", which allows robots to understand the semantic meaning of words, rather than perceiving them as keys and numbers, has a strong impact on the development of the Internet space.

2. Active use of artificial intelligence. Thanks to natural language processing capabilities, robots can distinguish information and provide fast and relevant results.

3. 3D graphics. Three-dimensional design is gaining great popularity not only among websites but also in computer games, e-commerce, advertising, etc.

4. Relationship between content. Thanks to semantic metadata, content on sites are linked to each other. As a result, the user experience is taken to another level.

5. Availability. At this stage, the Internet is available to every electronic device: phone, watch, microwave oven, tablet, etc.

Natural language processing capabilities bridge the communication gap between humans and computerized applications. The problem with Web 2.0 was the robots' lack of ability to understand the context of the
data posted on the Internet, therefore, they could not understand what content was relevant. Using the possibilities of language processing of texts (semantics) made it possible to make information understandable for robots and applications.

Web 4.0

Web 4.0 is the result of the rapid development of Internet technologies. Today, Web 4.0 is about mobility and voice interaction between the user and robots. Previously, to interact with the Internet, the user had to be at the desktop in front of the computer, but mobile devices allow the user to use and distribute information regardless of location.

Web 4.0 changes the relationship between humans and robots, they become symbiotic. Man has constant access to robots, everyday life is becoming more and more dependent on machines. Thanks to artificial intelligence, self-learning systems study people and more accurately understand what they need. For example, it is enough to ask Alice a question and she will give an answer to it.

Virtual and augmented reality is becoming more popular. There are more and more websites on the Internet offering various services using virtual and augmented reality. Specialized devices for virtual reality are becoming more functional and popular, sales volumes are gradually increasing.

Key features of the Web 4.0 period:

1. Web 4.0 is a symbiotic interaction between
man and machine. The line between man and machine is blurred.

2. The Internet is a Web OS. Information can be
transmitted from every part of the world.

3. The Internet actively uses artificial
intelligence in its work, which improves the quality of the provided
opportunities.

4. The Internet communicates with users in the
same way that people communicate with each other.

5. The Internet is transparent; all actions are
traceable.

6. The Internet at this stage of development
offers higher speed and reliability than ever before.

Web 4.0 changes everything around us: infrastructure, business, logistics, medicine, etc. At this stage of development, the Internet is controlled by the consumer and gives him full control over his actions and data. Web 4.0 is fundamentally changing the daily life of people. By providing a connection between man and machine, Web 4.0 enriches the possibilities of any field of activity related to the Internet.

Conclusions

The Internet has evolved from read-only sites to today's feature-rich Semantic Web. It will soon be replaced by Web 4.0, which provides a strong link between man and machine to create interactive data. Blockchain projects such as Free TON, ChainLink, Polkadot contribute to the faster development of the Internet. Cryptocurrencies and blockchain have brought a lot of innovations to the Internet, for example, decentralized finance (DeFi), decentralized applications (dApps), non-fungible tokens (NFT). The use of new technologies in everyday activities will lead to a symbiosis between man and machine. Big data will
increasingly be used in virtual reality. The introduction of RFID tags will
improve communication between machines. These devices and applications will sense the needs of their users thanks to artificial intelligence. Web 3.0 will soon be replaced by Web 4.0.