Why did the internet start and what does the internet have to offer today?

[therandomperson]

and when did the internet start?

[Kresimir]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Internet
^ Tells you everything.

But what you are probably looking for is this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_computer
The commericalisation of personal computers, so the general public (rich people at the beginning) could use the internet at home.

[Staszek G]

The Internet started out as an american military project its original purpose was to enable different military bases and later academic centers to communicate with each other, and share information without the need to travel. It was started in the 1960's and at first used very complex protocols , which were later standarized by the introduction of the WWW we use today, and the Http protocols along with the e-mail services, at later points Internet introduced data sharing and the ability of video streaming, which along side the high speed internet that is used in more countries each day starts to provide a form of entertainment,another ground breaking invention for the internet was the ability to instantly communicate with anyone around the world, which was developed by first creating forums and later on instant chat messangers ,culminating in the now popular social networks that are a hybrid between a chat,mail and forum services , providing also streamed videos. The internet is sharing information and its INFORMATION its a storage of all kinda information. Internet is also communication its a line for sharing information and creating new information that can be shared with everybody around the globe its the bibble of the new era. Internet has information to offer and everything that was either banned, removed remains un-used. Everything produced outside the so called entertainment industry ( like anime or Internet animation) and its also a new form of society that is connected to sharing different kinda of data ...its a second spiritual,introverted and matriarchal society that takes it upon itself to archivize the human civilisation and its own existence storing it for future generations.