FREE ESSAY ON INTERNET

INTERNET

The Internet
Chances are, anyone who is reading this paper has at one time, at least, surfed the net
once. Don't worry if you haven't, I willexplain everything you need to know about the
Internet and the World Wide Web. Including how it started, it's growth, and thepurpose it
serves in today's society. The Internet was born about 20 years ago, as a U.S. Defense
Department network called the ARPnet. The ARPnetwork was an experimental network designed
to support military research. It was research about how to build networks that could
withstand partial outages (like bomb attacks) and still be able to function. From that
point on, Internet developers were responding to the market pressures, and began building
or developing software for every conceivable type of computer. Internet uses started out
with big companies, then to the government, to the universities and so on. The World Wide
Web or WWW, is an information service that is on the Internet. The WWW is based on
technology called hypertext, and was developed for physicist so they could send and
retrieve information more easily. The WWW basically is a tool for exploring or surfing
the Internet. The WWW is an attempt to organize the Internet so you can find information
easier moving threw document to document. Why do I need to know this? Well now that I got
threw all the techno-babble, let's get down to it. If you know how to utilize the Net, in
just five minutes you could trade information and comments with millions of people all
over the world, get a fast answer to any question imaginable on a scientific, computing,
technical, business, investment, or any other subject. You could join over 11,000
electronic conferences, anytime, on any subject, you would be
broadcasting your views , questions, and information to millions of other partic There
has never been anything like it in the history of the world, and in this English class
we've covered alot of history. At a growing rate of about 20% per month the Internet is
only getting bigger and if people don't start utilizing it's resources they could be road
kill on this Information Superhighway. Hey, I'll bet in the middle of that last sentence
another computer just got on-line to the Net. There are three major features of the
Internet, On-line discussion groups, Universal Electronic Mail, files and software.
There's about 11,000
on-line discussion groups called Newsgroups, on most any topic you can imagine. If you
are on the Net, you can participate in any of these discussions in any of these
newsgroups. The next thing is Universal Electronic Mail or E-mail. E-mail is the biggest
and cheapest system on the Net and is also one of it's biggest attractions. Since all
commercial on-line services have something called gateways for sending and receiving
electronic mail messages on the Internet, you're able to send and receive messages
or files to anyone else who is on-line, anywhere in the world and in seconds. The third
feature I mentioned was files and software. This in my opinion is the most impressive
one. All the thousands of individual computer facilities connected to the Internet are
also vast storage repositories for hundreds of thousands of software programs,
information text files, video and sound clips, and other computer based resources. And
their all accessible in minutes from any personal computer on-line to the
Internet. So I could do all this stuff on the Internet, why should I take notice? Because
of it's sheer size, volume of messages, and it's incredible monthly growth. From the
latest statistics I was able to get, their are currently 30 million people who use the
Internet worldwide. To try and put that number into perspective, that's over five times
the size of CompuServe, America On-line, Prodigy, and all other on-line commercial
information services combined. Or if you're not familiar with those services,
it's more than the combined populations of New York City, London, and Moscow. Eri Just a
few years ago, the Internet had a small exclusive domain of a small band of computer
science students, university researchers, government defense contractors, and computer
nerds. All of whom had free or cheap access through their universities or research labs.
Because of the widespread free use, many people who used the Internet as students have
demanded and received connections to the Internet from their employers as they got jobs
in the outside world. Because of that, use of the Internet has expl The Internet is
rapidly
achieving a state of critical mass, attracting interest from huge numbers of personal
computer users from non technical backgrounds. All these new Internet users are rapidly
transforming the nerd orientated culture of the network and opening up the Internet to
new and exciting possibilities. I'm not sure threat is exactly the right word, but if you
ignore the Internet, you do so at your own peril, the Internet is going to force a new
way of doing business on some people. says Norman DeCarteret, senior systems analyst at
Advantis. (A company that links other companies to the Internet. Internet becomes the
road more
traveled as E-mail users discover no usage fee. Steve Stecklow, Wall Street Journal
(9/2/93). Here are some good things about the Net and why you should be using it. People
in all kinds of businesses and industries are sharing a wide spectrum of educational,
business, and personal interest on the Net. Most, probably share a high enthusiasm for
the Internet and want to send and receive e-mail messages. But also, one to one
communications by newsgroups or electric mail is different and better than conventional
letter writing or voice phone conversations in that the people you communicate with seem
m You also have instant access to such a large, varied, and intelligent based individuals
on the Net, which gives you the power of being able to get good information. When you ask
a question on the Internet, you stand an excellent chance at getting at least one
intelligent answer from someone who has gone threw the same experience. Whether it's
advice on a paper you have to write, how to research a certain topic, or omething of a
personal interest, there's always someone on the Internet willing to share th Profit,
this is something I thought I would throw in for all those entrepreneurs out there. A
rapidly increasing number of companies and entrepreneurs are using the Internet to market
and sell their products and services. When it's done in an informative way, and in good
taste, and in the on-line areas designated for advertising orientated messages, most
Internet users like to see announcements of new products and services. A growing number
of companies are generating substantial sales of their products a But hey, the Internet
isn't just for academics, business, and professional use. It could also be really fun!
There are
over 11,000 special interest on-line confrenceing areas called newsgroups, on the
Internet. Many of these groups feature large, active, and sometimes raucous discussions
on the widest imaginable range of interests, hobbies, and activities. Anything from
antique cars, new business opportunities and personal investing to politics, gun control,
sex, and The Simpsons. Participating in these Of course, like most other things, the
Internet isn't all good and gloryice. You could say that the Internet is like the Wild
West of the late 1800's. It's lawless, individualistic, brutal, and chaotic. And like any
new frontier the Internet is not without it's problem's. If you decide you want to
connect to the Internet, there are a few things you should know. The Internet can be
pretty raw. That is, if you get a raw connection to the Internet, it lags behind modern
personal computer interface technology by about 15 years. Without a good Windows or
Macintosh based graphical software interface, also called a Web browser, to use
all the features of the Internet you would need to know UNIX, a terse computer operating
system command language that's a throwback to time sharing computer systems of the
1970's. For Internet access I would recommend you to go with an In The Internet has many
powerful capabilities and an almost infinite range of information and communication
power, all of which can never be adequately covered in any one paper or book. All the
information in this paper came from hard copy sources to show you don't have to get on
the Net to find out about the Net.
Work Cited : 
Cagnon, Eric. What's on the Internet : 
Berkeley : Peach Pit Press. 1995
Krol, Edward. The Whole Internet : User's Guide and Catalog.
Sebastopol : O'Reilly Ass, Inc. 1992
Internet World Magazine. On Internet 94.
Westport : Mecklermedia Ltd. 1994
Newby, Gregory B. Directory of Directories on the Internet :
Westport : Mecklemedia Ltd. 1994
Carmen, John. The New Wave of the Internet.
Wall Street Journal : 9/2/93