Internet Basics

The following is an adaptation of an overview of the internet I wrote for a class, may be somewhat helpful

WHAT IS THE INTERNET?

The Internet is an ever-growing network of "computers of all stripes--mainframes, minicomputers, powerful servers, the desktop PC, and any number of mobile devices" (Battelle, 6-7)--connected via physical and wireless infrastructures. The Internet supports the World Wide Web, a vast browser-accessible system of inter-linked websites.

A BRIEF HISTORY

The earliest forms of wide-area networks and the Internet emerged in the late 1960's; this early network connected the research facilities at MIT and UCLA. The first email application was developed in 1972 and quickly became the most popular Internet application. Throughout the 1970's and 80's, the Internet quickly grew as an "open architecture network environment" (ISOC REF) where computers and networks of computers could be arbitrarily added by virtually anyone at any time.

In 1989, Tim Berners-Lee invented a program called WorldWideWeb which created documents in hypertext to be stored on a server and accessed on the Internet through a web browser (which renders hypertext into electronic "pages"). Here, each web page could be linked to any other web page by means of a hyperlink (typically rendered as blue underlined text). The phrase "World Wide Web" quickly became synonymous with the growing system of linked hypertext pages that began to emerge in the early 1990's.

In 1994, Netscape released its 1.0 version of the first highly popular web browser, Netscape Navigator. In 1995, Microsoft launched its first version of Internet Explorer. The ensuing "browser war" between Microsoft and Netscape effectively brought the Internet into real public consciousness for the first time. Before long, millions of people were signing up with an internet service provider (or ISP) to gain access to this "new" phenomenon of the Internet's World Wide Web.

The massive and ongoing expansion of the Web quickly created a need for online applications that could "search" its contents for specific kinds of pages. The first search engine designed for the Web was the WWW Wanderer, created by Matthew Gray (at MIT) in 1993. By 1995, as the public began pouring onto the Web, several search engines became popular; these included AltaVista, Lycos and Excite. Currently, Google clearly dominates the world of search, controlling 51% of the global search market (Yahoo and MSN are the closest competitors, at 24% and 13% respectively).

During the past ten years, the World Wide Web has been bolstered by the development of many new web applications which allow individuals to upload, share and store information through and on the web. These applications include:

• Blogging applications such as Blogger and WordPress

• Instant Messaging (or IM) applications such as AIM and Google Talk

• Social networking applications such as MySpace

• Music-downloading applications such as iTunes and Napster

• Video-sharing applications such as YouTube

Finally, what might the future of the Internet look like? A few things seem reasonably certain. First, the technology that makes up the Internet will continue to drive toward universality: free-wireless access will become standard for metropolitan areas around the globe, every electronic device will be tied into the Web, and new innovations will give us devices and device systems which will weave ever more deeply into the fabric of our daily lives. Second, the Web will continue to become the global marketplace. The search engine business is already pointed in that direction. For example, Google "would like to provide a platform that mediates supply and demand for pretty much the entire world economy" (Battelle, 247). Finally, it appears that the need for the "personal computer" will diminish as connectivity and remote storage capabilities rapidly increase in scope. PC's will be replaced by extremely cheap (if not free) connection consoles. In sum, the World Wide Web will increasingly be everywhere, virtually connecting eveyone to everyone and everything.