Editing 2000s (section)

==== Computing and Internet ====
In the 2000s, the Internet became a mainstay, strengthening its grip on Western society while becoming increasingly available in the developing world. The share of the world population using the internet grew from 6.7% to 25.7%.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Share of the population using the Internet |url=https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-of-individuals-using-the-internet |access-date=2023-01-09 |website=Our World in Data |archive-date=January 9, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230109203722/https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-of-individuals-using-the-internet |url-status=live}}</ref>
{{Main|Timeline of computing 2000–2009}}
[[File:Google 2011 logo.png|thumb|[[Google Search|Google]] becomes the Internet's most visited website.]]
* A huge jump in [[Broadband internet access|broadband internet usage]] globally – for example, from 6% of U.S. internet users in June 2000<ref>{{cite web |author=Bethea, Neil |first2=Jacob |last2=Williams |first3=Yiwen |last3=Yu |name-list-style=amp |title=Broadband services in the United States |quote=Growth of Broadband Users:June 2000:total:4,367,434 |publisher=Ohio State University |date=June 2003 |page=9 |url=http://www.nrri.ohio-state.edu/dspace/bitstream/2068/814/3/Article+1-Bethea+_Broadband_.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060904211822/http://www.nrri.ohio-state.edu/dspace/bitstream/2068/814/3/Article%2B1-Bethea%2B_Broadband_.pdf |archive-date=September 4, 2006 |access-date=November 30, 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref> to what one mid-decade study predicted would be 62% by 2010.<ref>{{cite web |last=Sharma |first=Dinesh |title=Study: Broadband penetration to surge by 2010 |date=August 2, 2005 |publisher=CNET News.com |url=http://news.cnet.com/Study+Broadband+penetration+to+surge+by+2010/2100-1034_3-5815756.html |access-date=November 30, 2011 |archive-date=July 14, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714125210/http://news.cnet.com/Study%2BBroadband%2Bpenetration%2Bto%2Bsurge%2Bby%2B2010/2100-1034_3-5815756.html |url-status=live}}</ref> By February 2007, over 80% of U.S. Internet users were connected via broadband and broadband internet has been almost a required standard for quality internet browsing.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.websiteoptimization.com/bw/0703/ |title=US Broadband Penetration Breaks 80% Among Active Internet Users |publisher=WebSiteOptimization.com |date=May 2007 |access-date=November 30, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131030184150/http://www.websiteoptimization.com/bw/0703/ |archive-date=October 30, 2013}}</ref>
* [[Wireless internet]] became prominent by the end of the decade, as well as internet access in devices besides computers, such as mobile phones and gaming consoles.
* Email became a standard form of interpersonal written communication, with popular addresses available to the public on [[Outlook.com|Hotmail (now Outlook.com)]], [[Gmail]] and [[Yahoo! Mail]].
* [[Text normalization|Normalisation]] became increasingly important as massive standardized [[corpus linguistics|corpora]] and [[lexicon]]s of spoken and written language became widely available to [[Layman|laypeople]], just as documents from the paperless office were archived and retrieved with increasing efficiency using [[XML]]-based markup.
* [[Peer-to-peer]] technology gained massive popularity with [[file sharing]] systems enabling users to share any audio, video and data files or anything in digital format, as well as with applications which share real-time data, such as [[Voice over IP|telephony]] traffic.
* [[Virtual private network|VPNs]] (virtual private networks) became likewise accessible to the general public, and data encryption remained a major issue for the stability of web commerce.
* Boom in music downloading and the use of [[data compression]] to quickly transfer music over the Internet, with a corresponding rise of portable digital audio players. As a result, the [[entertainment industry]] struggled through the decade to find digital delivery systems for music, movies, and other media that reduce [[copyright infringement]] and preserve profit.
* The [[USB flash drive]] replaces the [[floppy disk]] as the preferred form of low-capacity mobile data storage.
* In February 2003, [[Dell]] announced floppy drives would no longer be pre-installed on [[Dell Dimension]] home computers, although they were still available as a selectable option and purchasable as an aftermarket [[Original Equipment Manufacturer|OEM]] add-on.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2905953.stm |title=R.I.P. Floppy Disk |work=BBC News |date=April 1, 2003 |access-date=July 19, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090216235741/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2905953.stm |archive-date=February 16, 2009}}</ref> On January 29, 2007, [[PC World (retailer)|PC World]] stated that only 2% of the computers they sold contained built-in [[floppy disk]] drives; once present stocks were exhausted, no more standard floppies would be sold.<ref name="PCW">{{cite news |last=Derbyshire |first=David |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/01/30/nfloppy30.xml |title=Floppy disks ejected as demand slumps |newspaper=Daily Telegraph |date=January 30, 2007 |access-date=July 19, 2011 |location=London |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080420083540/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fnews%2F2007%2F01%2F30%2Fnfloppy30.xml |archive-date=April 20, 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
* During the decade, [[Windows 2000]], [[Windows XP|XP]], [[Microsoft Office 2003]], [[Windows Vista|Vista]]{{dubious|reason=Vista was never widely adopted with the majority of Windows users choosing to stick with XP.|date=February 2015}} and [[Microsoft Office 2007|Office 2007]] (and later [[Windows 7]]{{dubious|reason=Windows 7 only became available in the last 3 months of the decade as a result, it did not become widely adopted until the 2010s.|date=February 2015}}) become the ubiquitous industry standards{{dubious|reason=These proprietary products were widely adopted (except Vista) but no "industry standard" was ever formalised or published.|date=February 2015}} in personal computer software until the end of the decade, when Apple began to slowly gain market share. [[Windows ME]] and [[Microsoft Office XP]] were also released during the decade.
* With the advent of the [[Web 2.0]], dynamic technology became widely accessible, and by the mid-2000s, [[PHP]] and [[MySQL]] became (with [[Apache HTTP Server|Apache]] and [[nginx]]) the backbone of many sites, making programming knowledge unnecessary to publish to the web. Blogs, [[web portal|portals]], and [[wiki]]s become common electronic dissemination methods for professionals, amateurs, and businesses to conduct [[knowledge management]] typified by success of the online encyclopedia Wikipedia which launched on January 15, 2001, grew rapidly and became the largest and most popular general reference work on the Internet<ref name="Woodson">{{cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSN0819429120070708 |title=Wikipedia remains go-to site for online news |date=July 8, 2007 |first=Alex |last=Woodson |work=Reuters |access-date=December 16, 2007 |quote=Online encyclopedia Wikipedia has added about 20 million unique monthly visitors in the past year, making it the top online news and information destination, according to Nielsen&#x2F;/NetRatings. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071121104746/https://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSN0819429120070708 |archive-date=November 21, 2007}}</ref><ref name="AlexaTop500">{{cite web |url=http://www.alexa.com/site/ds/top_sites?ts_mode=global&lang=none |title=Top 500 |publisher=[[Alexa Internet|Alexa]] |access-date=October 13, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090302215553/http://www.alexa.com//site//ds//top_sites?ts_mode=global&lang=none |archive-date=March 2, 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref> as well as the best known [[wiki]] in the world and the largest encyclopedia in the world.
* [[Open-source software]], such as the [[Linux]] operating system, the [[Firefox|Mozilla Firefox]] web browser and [[VLC media player]], gain ground.
* [[e-commerce|Internet commerce]] became standard for reservations; stock trading; promotion of music, arts, literature, and film; shopping; and other activities.
* During this decade certain websites and search engines became prominent worldwide as transmitters of goods, services and information. Some of the most popular and successful online sites or search engines of the 2000s included [[Google]], [[Yahoo!]], Wikipedia, [[Amazon.com|Amazon]], [[eBay]], MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
* More and more businesses began providing [[paperless office|paperless]] services, clients accessing bills and bank statements directly through a [[web interface]].
* In 2007, the fast food chain [[McDonald's]] announced the introduction of free high speed wireless internet access at most of its 1,200 restaurants by the end of the year in a move which will make it the UK's biggest provider of such a service.<ref>{{cite news |last=Smithers |first=Rebecca |title=McDonald's to offer free Wi-Fi in restaurants |url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2007/oct/06/internet |access-date=February 26, 2013 |location=London |date=October 5, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130122210426/http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/oct/06/internet |archive-date=January 22, 2013}}</ref>