How did the internet become a worldwide communications system in 30 years? One answer is standardization. Another one is the collapse of the mainframe market. And another one is the web. Over the past 10 years the web has evolved from a slide projector to a cornucopia of popular services. Life without it would now be miserable. Still, the internet is also a deceitful place roamed by outlaws. The dream of the self-governed global village would need global laws and police to become a reality. Adjusting to the real world is the next challenge: governments, laws, languages, cultures. It is just beginning.