| Internet history timeline | 
| Early research and development: Merging the networks and creating the Internet: Commercialization, privatization, broader access leads to the modern Internet: Examples of Internet services: 1989 (1989): AOL dial-up service provider, email, instant messaging, and web browser1990 (1990): IMDb Internet movie database1994 (1994): Yahoo! web directory1995 (1995): Amazon online retailer1995 (1995): eBay online auction and shopping1995 (1995): Craigslist classified advertisements1995 (1995): AltaVista search engine1996 (1996): Outlook (formerly Hotmail) free web-based e-mail1996 (1996): RankDex search engine1997 (1997): Google Search1997 (1997): Babel Fish automatic translation1998 (1998): Yahoo Groups (formerly Yahoo! Clubs)1998 (1998): PayPal Internet payment system1998 (1998): Rotten Tomatoes review aggregator1999 (1999): 2ch Anonymous textboard1999 (1999): i-mode mobile internet service1999 (1999): Napster peer-to-peer file sharing2000 (2000): Baidu search engine2001 (2001): 2chan Anonymous imageboard2001 (2001): BitTorrent peer-to-peer file sharing2001 (2001): Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia2003 (2003): LinkedIn business networking2003 (2003): Myspace social networking site2003 (2003): Skype Internet voice calls2003 (2003): iTunes Store2003 (2003): 4chan Anonymous imageboard2003 (2003): The Pirate Bay, torrent file host2004 (2004): Facebook social networking site2004 (2004): Podcast media file series2004 (2004): Flickr image hosting2005 (2005): YouTube video sharing2005 (2005): Reddit link voting2005 (2005): Google Earth virtual globe2006 (2006): Twitter microblogging2007 (2007): WikiLeaks anonymous news and information leaks2007 (2007): Google Street View2007 (2007): Kindle, e-reader and virtual bookshop2008 (2008): Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2)2008 (2008): Dropbox cloud-based file hosting2008 (2008): Encyclopedia of Life, a collaborative encyclopedia intended to document all living species2008 (2008): Spotify, a DRM-based music streaming service2009 (2009): Bing search engine2009 (2009): Google Docs, Web-based word processor, spreadsheet, presentation, form, and data storage service2009 (2009): Kickstarter, a threshold pledge system2009 (2009): Bitcoin, a digital currency2010 (2010): Instagram, photo sharing and social networking2011 (2011): Google+, social networking2011 (2011): Snapchat, photo sharing2012 (2012): Coursera, massive open online courses2016 (2016): TikTok, video sharing and social networking
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The File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a standard communication protocol used for the transfer of computer files from a server to a client on a computer network. FTP is built on a client–server model architecture using separate control and data connections between the client and the server. FTP users may authenticate themselves with a plain-text sign-in protocol, normally in the form of a username and password, but can connect anonymously if the server is configured to allow it. For secure transmission that protects the username and password, and encrypts the content, FTP is often secured with SSL/TLS (FTPS) or replaced with SSH File Transfer Protocol (SFTP).
The first FTP client applications were command-line programs developed before operating systems had graphical user interfaces, and are still shipped with most Windows, Unix, and Linux operating systems. Many dedicated FTP clients and automation utilities have since been developed for desktops, servers, mobile devices, and hardware, and FTP has been incorporated into productivity applications such as HTML editors and file managers.
An FTP client used to be commonly integrated in web browsers, where file servers are browsed with the URI prefix "ftp:// ". In 2021, FTP support was dropped by Google Chrome and Firefox,  two major web browser vendors, due to it being superseded by the more secure SFTP and FTPS; although neither of them have implemented the newer protocols.