The Birth of the World Wide Web
The European Particle Physics Laboratory in the desert storm! Just hearing the name carries an imposing weight. And for good reason—it is an extraordinary organization. It is the institute that studies the fundamental properties of molecules, the smallest units of matter, and the atomic world that composes them, using the largest particle collider in existence. With a circumference of 27 kilometers, the scale is immense. Operating such a vast facility naturally requires an enormous number of researchers, which in turn drives up operating costs. Because no single nation could shoulder the burden alone, many European countries banded together to jointly fund the research and share the results. This collaborative structure was born from that necessity.
Tim Berners-Lee is affiliated with the European Particle Physics Laboratory, though he is not a researcher. His official title is consultant. His role involves arranging scholars and equipment to maximize efficiency, building information systems that allow rapid exchange of research findings, and developing methods to index and share the vast quantities of accumulated data.
At the time, personnel reassignments were frequent at the laboratory. Whenever positions changed, experimental results and documents often went missing. To reduce these losses, Tim Berners-Lee proposed an information organization system called Proposal. Through these experiences, he accumulated knowledge that soon led him to create something truly revolutionary—an invention that began as one type of internet service and eventually became synonymous with the internet itself in the twenty-first century: the World Wide Web, or WWW.
To activate the WWW, he also devised HTTP, the protocol connecting servers to users’ computers, and created the URL addressing system that made site names easy to remember and access. As a British citizen, his contributions earned him the KBE—the second-class Order of the British Empire, commonly known as a knighthood—and later the Turing Award.
Naturally, Yoo Jae-won knew Tim Berners-Lee very well. The man ranked high on his list of people he needed to meet in this life, a living legend on the same level as John Carmack. If someone like Tim Berners-Lee was reaching out, it could not be an ordinary matter.
The only disappointment was that the contact had not come directly to him. Instead, the call had gone to the Silicon Valley office. Remington verified the details and forwarded a memo via ID Talk.
“What did the European Particle Physics Laboratory want?”
—They wish to inquire about the internet and request cooperation. Ah, it is not an official matter but a personal curiosity. It does not seem particularly important.
Remington sounded somewhat indifferent once he learned it was a personal matter. For Yoo Jae-won, however, that was even better. After all, the WWW had originally begun as Tim Berners-Lee’s personal research project.
“Hmm. Still, anything involving the internet interests me. How do I contact Mr. Tim Berners-Lee?”
—I have his phone number. Given the time difference, calling now would be awkward. It would be better to send an email first, coordinate a time, and then speak.
“I see. In that case, connecting through ID Talk would be even better, wouldn’t it? They have internet access over there too, right?”
—Ah! That would be far superior. I will send the ID Talk details by email along with instructions on how to join.
“Yes, that sounds perfect. Please tell him I am available anytime except when I am sleeping.”
—Understood! By the way, Boss, you do know that getting plenty of sleep is important for growth, right? If you keep staying up late, you will never reach the height you dream of.
“Yes, yes~! I know that very well, so don’t worry.”
Even as he said it, Yoo Jae-won felt a twinge of guilt. Lately there had been so many tasks to handle that he had spent far too many nights sitting in front of a computer. Last year he had grown noticeably taller, largely thanks to proper sleep and nutrition. Now that he had gained a bit of height, he had become careless.
After finishing the exchange with Remington, Yoo Jae-won felt a surge of excitement. He did not know whether IBM’s new mainframe would arrive at the Rodeo office first or whether Tim Berners-Lee’s message would come first, but either way was fine.
Several days passed. During that time Yoo Jae-won never left the house, devoting himself entirely to programming. Thanks to his focus, he completed the basic form of a browser for PC communications. The structure was simple: several function buttons lined the top, and beneath them stretched a wide, deep navy-blue background. When the dial icon was clicked to connect, white text would appear on the screen.
When he tested the connection to the temporarily operating KETEL, the text displayed correctly and every function worked without issue. Traditional VT-mode connections were also stable. When an HTML-tagged document was opened, a groundbreaking screen appeared. Titles and subtitles were clearly distinguished by font size and color, and photographs appeared directly on the monitor alongside the text. Because the default was 16 colors, the image quality was not particularly high, but users with high-end VGA cards like Yoo Jae-won’s could enjoy full 24-bit color support.
Of course, the browser he had created was exclusive to Android Alpha’s GUI mode. Thanks to Glide X, scrolling was remarkably smooth. The choppy, stuttering scroll of the past would soon become a relic of history.
All that remained was to refine the design to a level suitable for distribution and to develop the server-side program. Setting up the database on the server that would exchange data was not particularly difficult, but creating an editor that allowed people posting content to use HTML tags easily was another matter entirely. It was possible to write everything by hand in a text editor and attach image files separately, but that would be too cumbersome for anyone to adopt the new technology. Yoo Jae-won, who understood that providing an easy environment for content creators was the key to popularization, decided to think of a better solution.
Just then, the long-awaited contact finally arrived. The first result came from Tim Berners-Lee at the European Particle Physics Laboratory.
Ding-dong! Around ten in the evening, the ID Talk alarm sounded. A connection request had come from Tim Berners-Lee. Yoo Jae-won accepted it immediately, and a few seconds later text appeared on the screen.
—Good evening. This is Tim Berners-Lee, consultant at the European Particle Physics Laboratory.
The formal self-introduction was strangely heartwarming.
“Hello! This is Yoo Jae-won, owner of ID Technology.”
—Yes, I have heard much about your reputation, Mr. Yoo. It is an honor that you have granted me this communication.
Tim Berners-Lee, now connected, was exceedingly polite. At the same time, there was a subtle deference in his tone. Perhaps it was because he was not contacting ID Technology on behalf of the European Particle Physics Laboratory.
—As expected of a company leading the IT industry, you already launched a messenger service quite early.
—It is truly remarkable. Even though we are on opposite sides of the world, we can exchange text in real time.
—Ah! I hear it is possible to exchange digital files as well?
“Wow! Your typing speed is incredible!”
Yoo Jae-won’s first reaction was admiration for the man’s blistering typing speed. Long messages appeared one after another with perfect accuracy and remarkable velocity.
—I benefited from Keyboard Warrior. After clearing the final boss, my speed doubled.
Mention of Keyboard Warrior, Yoo Jae-won’s first work, made him straighten his shoulders with pride. Even now, he doubted he could create another game that combined educational value and entertainment so perfectly.
—As I mentioned in my email, I have been conceptualizing an internet service recently.
Reading the sentence on the monitor, Yoo Jae-won felt a light sweat on his palms.
—It is called the World Wide Web, or WWW for short.
“WWW. The name alone is promising. Please explain.”
—Yes. The WWW is an idea inspired by CERN’s information systems. Several intranets were already operating at CERN, and last year we completed the work of linking them under a single higher-level server. Network efficiency increased several times over. If we could connect intranets around the world through dedicated data lines, the utility would be beyond imagination.
Tim Berners-Lee truly lived up to the title “father of the internet.” Intranets were closed networks. At most, they encompassed a single research building or an entire university. Some organizations deliberately avoided external connections for security reasons, but the majority of research institutes and universities were limited by budget and technology. Wealthy and technologically advanced institutions like Stanford and MIT had already built high-speed open networks and were running various internet services.
“Simply connecting them would not be enough, would it?”
—Exactly. You see the issue clearly. As expected from the proposer of the Information Superhighway policy. Even if intranets are linked by high-speed dedicated lines, they are not easy to access. That is why I devised a practical service.
—Hypertext. Ordinary documents have a linear structure. They are read from left to right and top to bottom. Hypertext uses links to connect documents, allowing instant movement between them. Adding multimedia completes the system.
—The WWW can be defined as a collection of documents connected on a hypertext basis. Each research institute, university, corporation, or even individual can upload information they wish to share in hypertext form, and anyone in the world can view the same screen. To achieve this, we need a common markup language, servers to host documents written in that language, and client programs that allow terminal users to read them.
“That is an astonishing idea!”
Yoo Jae-won was genuinely impressed. Even from this brief explanation, it was clear that Tim Berners-Lee’s research had already reached a substantial level. In the original timeline, the concept of the WWW had been announced in the fall of 1990, so the foundational work must have been completed long before.
“I had a similar idea myself!”
—I knew you and I would understand each other, Mr. Yoo.
“I recently created something based on a similar thought. Would you like to see it?”
—Pardon? You have already made something like that?
Without further explanation, Yoo Jae-won immediately sent the next-generation PC communication browser he had just finished. By default it was set to connect via conventional modems or ISDN modems, but it could also connect using an IP address. He began transferring the file directly to Tim Berners-Lee through ID Talk’s file transfer function. He had expected the transfer from Deokjin-ri to Geneva, Switzerland, to be slow, but it moved at a respectable two to three kilobytes per second. Completion would take about three minutes.
“You know the IP address of the Silicon Valley ID Technology office, correct? If you enter it, you can see the default screen.”
Since the IBM mainframe had not yet arrived, he had set up a test server at the Silicon Valley office. Thanks to that, he could demonstrate the technology to Tim Berners-Lee immediately.
—Yes. I do not know what it is, but once the download finishes, I will try running it.
“Oh, right! This program is exclusive to Android Alpha.”
After pressing enter to send the message, Yoo Jae-won suddenly realized the implication. The very program they were using for this conversation—ID Talk—was also exclusive to Android Alpha.
—That is fortunate. It means I will not need to reboot.
The transfer soon completed.
—Oh, the transfer is finished. I will try running it now.
Tim Berners-Lee fell silent while he extracted the archive and launched the program. One minute passed, then three, then five. The silence continued. Worried that an error might have occurred, Yoo Jae-won checked the server status in Silicon Valley. The test port showed one connected user. Ten minutes passed, then fifteen, and still the same. He realized the man was simply exploring the pages, having forgotten they were in the middle of a chat. There were only two pages available, and they were in Korean. Yoo Jae-won wondered how an Englishman could stay so long on content that was not particularly engaging, yet he waited patiently.
—Ah, my apologies! I was so surprised and fascinated that I completely forgot we were chatting on ID Talk.
The reply finally arrived just as the wait was about to exceed twenty minutes. Yoo Jae-won’s patience in the IT field was considerable, so he could easily overlook the lapse.
“How was it?”
Yoo Jae-won asked with a hint of tension. After all, this was Tim Berners-Lee—the creator of both the WWW and HTML.
—It is perfect. It is exactly what I envisioned!
Fortunately, the response was positive, and Yoo Jae-won could finally breathe easily.
—However, there is a problem…… The proposal I intended to make to you was a joint development of the WWW and a markup language for hypertext.
The difficulty in Tim Berners-Lee’s words was palpable. It was understandable. His choice of ID Technology had been a natural progression. In the original timeline, WWW development had begun on computers from NeXT, the company Steve Jobs founded after being ousted from Apple. NeXTstations—compact workstation-sized machines—had already been deployed at the European Particle Physics Laboratory, and Tim Berners-Lee had been using one. The operating system was NeXTSTEP, a Unix variant built with the latest object-oriented programming environment and equipped with a GUI interface. He had considered it ideal for WWW development. Then the development environment had changed completely upon seeing an IBM-compatible PC running Android Alpha. It was the Egg PC.