Editing Web server (section)

=== Initial WWW project (1989–1991) ===
In March 1989, [[Sir Tim Berners-Lee]] proposed a new project to his employer [[CERN]], with the goal of easing the exchange of information between scientists by using a [[hypertext]] system. The proposal titled ''"HyperText and CERN"'', asked for comments and it was read by several people.  In October 1990 the proposal was reformulated and enriched (having as co-author [[Robert Cailliau]]), and finally, it was approved.<ref name="TBL-fight-fake-news">{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2018/11/24/father-web-sir-tim-berners-lee-plan-fight-fake-news/ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2018/11/24/father-web-sir-tim-berners-lee-plan-fight-fake-news/ |archive-date=11 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title='Father of the web' Sir Tim Berners-Lee on his plan to fight fake news|last=Zolfagharifard|first=Ellie|date=2018-11-24|work=The Telegraph|location=London|access-date=2019-02-01|language=en-GB|issn=0307-1235}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref name="history-computers-internet-www">{{Cite web|url=http://history-computer.com/Internet/Maturing/Lee.html|title=History of Computers and Computing, Internet, Birth, The World Wide Web of Tim Berners-Lee|website=history-computer.com|access-date=2019-02-01|archive-date=4 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190104193211/http://history-computer.com/Internet/Maturing/Lee.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="www-project-history-original">{{Cite web|url=http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/History.html|title=WWW Project History (original)|author=Tim Berner-Lee|publisher=CERN (World Wide Web project)|year=1992|access-date=2021-12-20|archive-date=8 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211208000457/http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/History.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

Between late 1990 and early 1991 the project resulted in Berners-Lee and his developers writing and testing several software libraries along with three programs, which initially ran on [[NeXTSTEP|NeXTSTEP OS]] installed on [[NeXT]] workstations:<ref name="www-TBL-announcement-1991">{{Cite web|url=https://groups.google.com/g/comp.sys.next.announce/c/avWAjISncfw?pli=1|title=WorldWideWeb wide-area hypertext app available (announcement)|author=Tim Berner-Lee|publisher=CERN (World Wide Web project)|date=1991-08-20|access-date=2021-10-16|archive-date=2 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211202204104/https://groups.google.com/g/comp.sys.next.announce/c/avWAjISncfw?pli=1|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="web-history">{{Cite web|url=https://web30.web.cern.ch/web-history.html|title=Web History|author=Web Administrator|publisher=CERN (World Wide Web project)|access-date=2021-10-16|archive-date=2 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211202001216/https://web30.web.cern.ch/web-history.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="www-project-history-original" />

* a graphical [[web browser]], called [[WorldWideWeb]];
* a portable [[Line Mode Browser|line mode web browser]];
* a web server, later known as [[CERN httpd]].

Those early browsers retrieved web pages written in a [[HTML#History|simple early form of HTML]], from web server(s) using a new basic communication protocol that was named [[Hypertext Transfer Protocol#History|HTTP 0.9]].

In August 1991 Tim Berners-Lee announced the ''birth of WWW technology'' and encouraged scientists to adopt and develop it.<ref name="www-TBL-web-announcement">{{Cite web|url=https://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/1991/08/art-6484.txt|title=Qualifiers on hypertext links ...|author=Tim Berner-Lee|publisher=CERN (World Wide Web project)|date=1991-08-02|access-date=2021-10-16|archive-date=7 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211207032603/https://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/1991/08/art-6484.txt|url-status=live}}</ref> Soon after, those programs, along with their [[source code]], were made available to people interested in their usage.<ref name="www-TBL-announcement-1991" /> Although the source code was not formally licensed or placed in the public domain, CERN informally allowed users and developers to experiment and further develop on top of them. Berners-Lee started promoting the adoption and the usage of those programs along with their [[porting]] to other [[operating system]]s.<ref name="www-project-history-original" />