The internet is still very young. It was only November 1977 when a group of computer scientists successfully connected three networks around the world, including one at University College London. It took until 1989 for the internet to become commercially available and about another decade after that for it to achieve widespread household use in Europe and the United States. Only then did we emerge from what I think of as the ‘internet comma’ days, when its mention in the media was always followed by a comma and a short description.From there, we’ve got to the point where I, because of my long history with the technology, now run afoul of The Observer style guide. I remain convinced that as a unique entity the word requires capitalisation. You’ll see that the newspaper is so comfortable with the term that it doesn’t.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/aug/17/internet.google
If you thought the internet was cool, wait until it goes space age by Vint Cerf
Vint Cerf, a founding father of the web, says it’s come a long way, but its potential for worldwide change can and will be greater still