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How the Web Won: The Inside Story of How a Motley Crew of Outsiders Hijacked the Information Superhighway and Struck a Blow for Human Freedom
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February 14, 2025
Back in 1994 Ken McCarthy had a surprisingly prescient view of where the World Wide Web was headed. I mean, I knew he was a pioneer (I attended The System Seminar in 2003 when Gary Halbert spoke), but I didn't realize just how far ahead of everyone else he really was.
This book (part history, part memoir) takes you back to the time of AOL and 56K dial-up Internet. It's a wild trip down memory lane. Of course, there are many stories I didn't know about, so I enjoyed filling the gaps in my knowledge.
It's fascinating how many prominent people didn't understand the true potential of the Internet. Bill Gates, for example. He was obsessed with CD-ROMs as the path to the future. Yes, CD-ROMs had their place for a brief moment in history... until rapidly growing Internet bandwidth made them obsolete.
Also interesting to learn how advertising fueled the growth of the Web. It was the one way to pay for all the content, domains, hosting, etc. Today, advertising still fuels the Web.
In between the stories of the early days of the Web McCarthy drops some nuggets about marketing and advertising, a couple of which I marked and shared. For example, on page 68:
“The fact of the matter is that many, many, many highly lucrative businesses and professions are deadly boring. Making money is not about you being entertained. It's about making money, which at the end of the day is profitably providing a standardized product or service to the largest number of people possible at the highest profit margins possible. It's creating a machine and then showing up every day to turn the wheel.”
If you're an Internet marketer or use the Internet for business, then I suspect you'll greatly enjoy this book. Grab a copy and read it.
This book (part history, part memoir) takes you back to the time of AOL and 56K dial-up Internet. It's a wild trip down memory lane. Of course, there are many stories I didn't know about, so I enjoyed filling the gaps in my knowledge.
It's fascinating how many prominent people didn't understand the true potential of the Internet. Bill Gates, for example. He was obsessed with CD-ROMs as the path to the future. Yes, CD-ROMs had their place for a brief moment in history... until rapidly growing Internet bandwidth made them obsolete.
Also interesting to learn how advertising fueled the growth of the Web. It was the one way to pay for all the content, domains, hosting, etc. Today, advertising still fuels the Web.
In between the stories of the early days of the Web McCarthy drops some nuggets about marketing and advertising, a couple of which I marked and shared. For example, on page 68:
“The fact of the matter is that many, many, many highly lucrative businesses and professions are deadly boring. Making money is not about you being entertained. It's about making money, which at the end of the day is profitably providing a standardized product or service to the largest number of people possible at the highest profit margins possible. It's creating a machine and then showing up every day to turn the wheel.”
If you're an Internet marketer or use the Internet for business, then I suspect you'll greatly enjoy this book. Grab a copy and read it.
Displaying 1 of 1 review