Where does this come from, and can I check it?

CERN put Berners-Lee's software in the public domain in 1993. The figure is taken from CERN, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.

Is this really a history fact?

Yes. It sits on the History shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.

What else can I read about it?

The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.

Mondo Knows Facts

The World Wide Web was given away for free

CERN put Berners-Lee's software in the public domain in 1993 Tim Berners-Lee proposed a hypertext system at CERN in 1989 and built the first browser and server with Robert Cailliau. In April 1993 CERN announced that the software would be available royalty free, which removed a barrier to adoption. The first website went online in 1991 and is still archived at CERN. It sits in Mondo's history collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.

Where this comes from

CERN

Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.

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More facts like this

The first website went live in 1991Tim Berners-Lee published the world's first web page at CERN to explain the World Wide Web project The Large Hadron Collider is the largest acceleratorIts 27 kilometre ring sits about 100 metres below the French and Swiss border The first ARPANET message was intended to say LOGINIn 1969 the first message sent over ARPANET crashed after transmitting only the letters L and O The Domain Name System DNS was created in 1983Paul Mockapetris designed DNS to replace a central text file containing every host address on the internet Fibre optic cables transmit data using pulses of laser lightTotal internal reflection inside glass strands carries gigabits of internet data per second Every internet message travels as numbered packetsData is chopped into packets of up to about 1,500 bytes that routes independently and is rebuilt at the far end

Tags: world-wide-web, internet, cern

The World Wide Web was given away for free: the short answers

Where does this come from, and can I check it?: CERN put Berners-Lee's software in the public domain in 1993. The figure is taken from CERN, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
Is this really a history fact?: Yes. It sits on the History shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
What else can I read about it?: The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.