 WHAT
IS THE INTERNET? |
The Internet started in the late 1960's as a project of the Department of Defense (DOD). It was an experiment to link together the DOD and military contractors. The basic idea was that if several computers (very large computers, of course) had the ability to pass the same information back and forth, the system would be more secure should it ever come under attack. That is, even if one computer were disabled, the others would still have ALL of the information. Soon researchers and others saw the value of such a "network." Particularly interested were researchers at colleges and universities who saw the value of being able to share research data among fellow colleagues. Soon this network was broken into two parts; one for military sites and one for non-military sites. These two networks remained connected, however, by a method referred to as IP (Internet Protocol). This was the actual beginning of what is now known as the Internet. Personal Computers led the Charge In the 1980's, with the advent of the desktop computer, smaller networks (groups of desktop computers) were added to the Internet. The common language of these computers was, and remains, UNIX. Think of UNIX as a text program, which runs easily on simple computers. More networks were added to the Internet as more and more people saw the value of "interconnectivity" that the Internet provided. The Internet had now grown, fueled more and more by commercial and private companies. Between 1990 and 1993 the Internet reached critical mass and exponential growth occurred., the Internet went from approximately 50,000 users to over 2,000,000! Today, just six years later the best guess places the number at 150 to 200 MILLION! A very important fact: In 1995, all government ownership of the Internet was sold. The Internet today is a "commercial" network consisting of literally thousands upon thousands of smaller networks -based all over the world. Now, anyone with a computer, a phone line, and a modem can be connected to this incredible network of millions of computers (and people), known simply as the Internet. One definition is that "the Internet is simply a network of networks, linked by phone lines, high speed cable, fiber optics and satellites that all speak a common language." The one thing that we believe has given the Internet its' tremendous growth, was the advent of graphics. Graphics transformed computers from screens full of text to a screen full of little pictures. Another addition to the growth the Internet has sustained over the past 10 years is the advent of TCP/IP in 1992. TCP/IP allows Personal Computers to talk to the Internet. Again, defining the Internet in simple terms, especially with the commercial changes in recent years, is difficult. But, probably the reason you and I are here today (and not 20 years ago) is summed up in one word - graphics. The simple truth is that text is boring and graphics are fun. The Internet has been around for many years but it wasn't until graphics became available that it became a household name. It was the advent of computer graphics that greatly influenced this tremendous growth. |
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