1990 was a momentous year for New Zealand. The Commonwealth Games was held in Auckland, we celebrated our sesquicentennial - 150 years since the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi - and a National Government was elected in a landslide victory.  Our population was around 3.4 million and our GDP ranked us at 34th in the OECD scales.  Our 1 cent and 2 cent coins were withdrawn from circulation and Telecom was sold to international buyers for $4.25Bn.

World events were no less momentous.  In 1990, Nelson Mandela was freed after 27 years in prison, the space shuttle Discovery carried the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit and Germany was reunified.

Then, at the end of 1990, a revolution took place that has fundamentally changed the way we live today.  The systems to create the World Wide Web were first defined by the web’s London born inventor and physicist Tim Berners-Lee. 

The Web debuted as a publicly available service on the 6th August 1991.

So the World Wide Web was 20 years old last week.  But what is it and how will it impact on our individual futures?

The seeds of the Internet (not to be confused with the Web) were planted in the 1950’s when the first computers needed to be connected in a local network.  Then, in the early 1970s, protocols were developed to permit inter-networking between those local networks.  

The early days of the inter-networks were about connecting places - principally research and education centres - for collaborating.  It was not until now Sir Tim Berners-Lee worked out a system for accessing web sites and web pages on those networks, that the World Wide Web was born.

Over those 20 years, the web has slowly evolved to give us emails, blogs for self-publishing, discussion forums, search engines, social networks, e-commerce and so much more.  The many innovations enabled instant access to information and easy to use  communication channels.  

Today, the Web is about connecting people and is a part of our daily lives - for most, it is a basic need just as electricity is.

The Web has a down side - expectations that we are always accessible, our personal privacy is something we have little control over, and we are subject to scams and spams.  The publishing industry is in decline, we are now under near constant surveillance and commerce is facing new uncertainties.

How we access our news is changing.  Many no longer purchase newspapers, preferring instead to use on-line news readers on their smart phones or tablets.

The surveillance society is not only inevitable but, some argue, also irresistible.  Businesses that know where people are, through location-aware smart phones, can accurately target their advertising and marketing messages.  This is not about 1984’s Big Brother being personified 27 years late - it is about enabling a more personalised approach.

Internationally, on-line payments are increasing in value by a whopping 25% year on year.  This comes from not only an increasing number of on-line buyers but also an increasing value in each purchase.  There are significant implications for high street retailers.

Mobile payments are at the precipice of massive change.  Credit card companies are investing in mobile and digital payment technologies that turn our smart phone in to our digital wallet, thus avoiding the need for cash or credit/debit cards.

Like it or not, these technologies are coming to a store near you.  And soon.  The power of the forces behind these technologies means that they will not be avoided.  

For the future, the Web will be about connecting things, enabling a much more automated but open society where individuals will have the ability to access what-ever they want, when-ever they want it from where-ever they are at the time.