How the Web Won
Quiz
1 – On what day was the idea behind the banner ad first articulated?
(Answer: June 11, 1994) See Chapter 15 for the full story.
2 – Who wrote the first known spec for a sequential email auto-responder system?
(Answer: Ken McCarthy) See pages 233-235 for the full story.
3 – Who created the first “push button” audio app for the Web (no player required)?
(Answer: Mike Stewart and Ken McCarthy) See page 238 for the full story.
Answers to the following questions can be found in the book:
4 – What year did the federal government lift the ban on commercial activity on the Internet?
(Answer on page 130)
5 – Who was Tim Berners-Lee’s partner in developing code for the World Wide Web, and what two things did he do that were so overarchingly important?
(Answers on pages 242 and 324)
6 – By the end of 1992, how many web servers were there worldwide?
(Answer on page 146)
7 – Who wrote the code for the first Mosaic browser? Hint: It wasn’t Marc Andreessen.
(Answers on pages 146-148)
8 – What was Marc Andreessen paid per hour while leading the team that developed the Mosaic browser?
(Answer on page 150)
9 – How many times was the Mosaic browser downloaded in its first year of existence?
(Answer on page 149)
10 – Who was the first person to become a full-time freelance web developer?
(Answers on pages 138-39)
11 – Where did the first banner ad run on the Internet?
(Answer on page 199)
12 – What was the first corporation to buy a banner ad?
(Answer on page 199)
13 – Who was the person Jeff Bezos went to for advice about how to sell books on the Internet?
(Answer on page 64)
14 – How long did it take for Yahoo! to run its first banner ad after Hotwired.com showed the way?
(Answer on page 203)
15 – Who was the first VC to put money into an Internet startup?
(Answer on page 161)
16 – How many businesses were attempting to sell things on the Internet as of 1994?
(Answer on page 130)
17 – Describe the price action of Netscape on the day of its IPO.
(Answer on page 210)
18 – What percentage of the US public was on the Web at the end of 1995 AFTER Netscape IPO?
(Answer on page 249)
19 – Who wrote the first practical guide for doing business on the Internet for the Japanese market?
(Answer on page 206)
20 – How much did Pets.com spend on their 2000 Super Bowl ad? And how many months after the ad aired did they go out of business?
(Answers on page 221)
21 – Who was the first person to propose the idea of pay-per-click advertising?
(Answer on page 198)
22 – What was the total value of all banner ads sold on the Internet in 2024?
(Answer on page 203)
23 – When was the first Computer Faire? How many people attended it? And who organized it? BONUS: Who purchased the Computer Faire from its founder?
(Answers on page 326)
24 – What is the Turing test? What did it promise, and what did it not promise?
(Answers on page 332)
25 – What was the System Seminar and what were the 8 principles of “The System”?
(Answers on page 232)