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ExplainerYahoo closes GeoCities: how the web lost millions of home pagesYahoo bought GeoCities for billions in 1999 and switched it off a decade later. The closure became a turning point for web preservation.ExplainerThe Storm worm: the botnet that started with a weather headlineIn January 2007 an email about deadly storms in Europe spread a Trojan that built one of the largest peer-to-peer botnets of its time.ExplainerGPLv3: how the free software licence was rewrittenAfter 18 months of public drafting, the Free Software Foundation published version 3 of the GNU General Public License in June 2007.ExplainerThe UK identity card scheme: from Act of Parliament to shredded registerBritain legislated for national ID cards backed by a central biometric register, then abolished the whole scheme within five years.ExplainerThe netbook era: small, cheap laptops that briefly drove PC growthThe Asus Eee PC started a boom in low-cost mini laptops that propped up PC sales, until tablets and thinner laptops took their place.

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About

About vnunet

vnunet explains technology with its history: what happened, why it mattered and what came next. We write original explainers on the events that shaped computing and the web, keep topic hubs with timelines, and build small tools that run privately in your browser.

This domain’s history

From 1998 to around 2010, vnunet.com was the online home of VNU Business Publications’ UK technology titles, later owned by Incisive Media. That publication closed and its articles are not reproduced here.

Today’s vnunet is a new, independent site run by a new owner. It is not affiliated with VNU, Nielsen, Incisive Media or their successors, and it does not use their content, logos or bylines.

If you followed an old link here, you were sent to the closest matching page we have. Where an old article covered a notable event, we have written a new explainer on that event.

How we work

Every explainer is written for vnunet and checked against published sources. Read our editorial policy for how we research, cite and correct.