Swedish government forms the IT Commission and puts one billion SEK towards schools
In March 1994 the first IT Commission is formed. It's meant to act as an advisory committee to the government, but also to spread knowledge and information about IT, and promote development and strategy.
Aftonbladet.se is the first Swedish newspaper on the internet
It's the 25th of August, 1994, and Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet takes a big step when they add their culture section to the world wide web. This is the first newspaper in Sweden to publish online.
Spray pioneers a new type of corporate culture
Among the first to jump on the new internet hype in Sweden are Spray. The company starts as internet consultants in 1995 and build many of the first web pages for Swedish large corporations.
Lunarstorm (Stajl Plejs) is one of the first web communities in the world
In 1996 the web community StajlPlejs is founded, and a few years later changes its name to Lunarstorm. This is Sweden's first and largest online meetingplace - a colorful site where almost all of Sweden's youth hang out online for a few years.
Annica Tiger's HTML guide teach the Swedes to make their own web pages
In August 1996 Annica Tiger launches her HTML guide. It quickly becomes a hub for the growing Swedish internet world, and is the first place many budding web developers turn to learn coding HTML.
Curl founder Daniel Stenberg creates the internet's messenger
Do you use the internet? In that case, you are helped by Daniel Stenberg's tool cURL many times every day. Ten billion installations is what he has counted so far.
The Swedish Internet Foundation is formed
Until 1997 the administration of .se domain names is handled by a single person: Björn Eriksen at KTH (The Royal Academy of Science). But when the internet gets more and more popular, this is quickly becoming unteneble as Björn has to work around the clock to keep up. KTH decide that domain names are not within their area of responsibility. Therefore the Swedish Internet Foundation is formed.
Home PC reform gives one million Swedes their first computer
Everybody should be able to take part in the new technology. Because of the "Home PC" reform, one million Swedes get their first computer.
Faster internet with broadband
1999 is a landmark year for broadband in Sweden, much thanks to Jonas Birgersson's Bredbandsbolaget. Their deal with housing giant HSB gives 350.000 apartments broadband connections
Kazaa and Napster: File sharing strikes fear within the music industry
MP3 files are scaring the music industry during the early 2000s. And with a Swedish piece of software people all over the world can start sharing them.
The new economy turns out to be like the old economy: The stock market crashes
This is a new economy, with new rules. This promise makes tech companies rush upwards on stock markets all over the world. But when the end comes, it's brutal. The Stockholm stock market falls for 900 days.
Boo.com's spectactular bankruptcy
They want to create the world's largest e-commerce site for fashion and sportswear. But with no profit made Boo.com quickly goes bankrupt and turns into a symbolic name for the IT bubble bursting.
Flashback starts a forum and becomes one of Sweden's largest web sites
Flashback is Sweden's largest online forum with about one million users writing over 15.000 posts every day. It has over two million visitors each week.
The Pirate Bay
In a basement at his job in Mexico City, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg creates file sharing site The Pirate Bay in 2003. The servers are later moved to Gothenburg, Sweden, and soon Fredrik Neij and Peter Sunde are spokespeople for the file sharing site which will be hunted by both authorities and the entertainment industry.
Skype makes phone calls free
In 2003 Niklas Zennström starts Skype, a service that lets people call people over the internet instead of regular phones.