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INTRODUCTION:
Before explaining Internet environment in greater detail, I would like that the readers should know my point for writing on the basics of Internet. It started when I wanted to prepare for a seminar that I was supposed to conduct on behalf of my company, which is an Internet Service Provider by itself. The first thought that came to my mind before I could have switched on the deep sea of the web was to refer to some of the Internet magazines. But I was a bit astonished to find that the Internet magazines had all the other Internet related stuff but nothing on the basics and related history of the Internet. So I planned that once I find some very basic and comprehensive information on Internet I would compile it for those who want to have the basic yet comprehensive over view of the Internet.

WHY SHOULD YOU KNOW ABOUT THE INTERNET:
Internet is the buzzword of today. Never before has a technology spread so rapidly. For the last few years or so, every time you turn around, you hear something about the Internet or the World Wide Web. You can hear your friends and relatives and you class mates talking about something like NET.  Everybody is gossiping around on the latest issues about the net. If you know about the so-called net, you can participate actively and if you are not aware you just sit like any dumbo. So its better that you should have an idea of what basically Internet is, so that you can also keep pace with the modern era. In the coming few years, information, including access to the Internet, will be the basis for personal, economic, and political advancement. The popular name for the Internet is the information superhighway. Whether you want to find the latest financial news, exchange information with colleagues, or join in a lively political debate, the Internet is the tool that will take you beyond telephones, faxes, and everything to a burgeoning networked information frontier.

WHAT IS THE TERMINOLOGY:
Let us talk on something regarding the terminology; the Internet. The terminology has basically evolved from something called as network. The network is basically an environment in which resources can be shared.  In pure computer terms it refers to the interlinking of computers so in such a way that they ca share resources like documents, files, folders or anything. Even that the users can communicate through voice or they can chat with each other through certain software or even they can see each other on the monitor and have a conversation just like a videophone. Internet is a broader concept of the networks. It is an example of a WAN that stands for wide area network. That means that the Internet is basically a network in which the resources can be shared and since It can be used in a wider area, it’s an example of WAN.
The Internet, sometimes called simply “the Net,” is a worldwide system of computer networks-a network of networks in which users at any one computer can, if they have permission, get information form any other computer. And what makes them communicate with one another is a simple protocol called as TCP/IP that stands for Transmission Control Protocol and Internet protocol. A protocol is a set of rules defined to standardize a pattern of communication.  These protocols are actually used by telecommunication connection defining their extent to send and receive data or signals.

HISTORY & EVOLUTION OF INTERNET:

     The History of the Internet:
     The Internet all started when more and more computers wee available in the late sixties. Gradually people wanted to link all of the computers in a building together, and then they wanted to link with computers in other buildings. Then US military wanted to come up with a way o linking all of these computers. Their researchers developed the ARPANet, which was the beginning of the Internet. As more and more universities and military and research sites joined, more networks were mad, accessing many more computers all of these smaller networks linked together in one big network of networks, an internet work, the Internet.
     Early Networks:
     The Internet all started over 30 years ago, when the US Department of Defense funded an experiment to find a reliable way of networking their computers. It was also down to link the number of universities doing military funded research. A branch of the US department of defense, the ARPA(Advanced Research Projects Agency), got together as group of top computer engineers, to devise for them a network that would withstand attack, so that if one computer was down the others could still communicate with each other. These engineers came up with the ARPANet, they created software and hardware that would run on this new ‘experimental’ network. It first started as just four computers in separate universities in the western USA. This network was the origins of the internet.

     THE INTERNET:
     Other networks began to form all over the world and these too were linked to all of the networks in America. Computer engineers developed a language, so that all of the computers all around the world could ‘talk’ to each other, this language was called TCP/IP. As more and more computers connected to the internet, the ARPANet and other early networks was starting to become outdated. So in 1987 the National Science Foundation (NSF) set up supercomputer centers that contained many very fast computers. By that time American federal agencies such as NASA, began creating their own high speed, backbone networks. Then by the introduction of other networks the ARPANet, after 20 years of service, had outlived its usefulness and was shut down. This was the start of the Internet.

     COMMERCIALIZATION:
     The NSFNet backbone, only allowed traffic to pass over it that was related to education or research, so people wanting to use it for other purposes, couldn’t send anything across the NSFNet. But The NSFNet had a growing corporate membership and as a result, it created increasing desire to use the internet for business activities. This raised the question about the usage of government-funded parts of the internet. To cater for the new commercial side of the Internet a number of commercial networks began operating which would let anyone who paid, join and use the Internet. At this same time, the regional networks started by the NSF also began to allow commercial users. But users on these networks found that they couldn’t send certain traffic over the NSFNet back bone. Then in 1994, the US government started to let the commercial providers take over.
     THE INTERNET TODAY:
     The Internet today covers nearly the entire globe. It is a collection of several thousand interconnected networks, all connected in real time via TCP/IP. It has changed a lot since it first began over 30years ago, but it will change even more over the next 30 years.

WHO RUNS THE INTERNET:
The Internet is a public collaboration. No one person, organization, or group of organizations owns it. It grew from a relatively small network of four computers used in research for the United States defense establishment into a public system comprised of hundreds of commercial telecommunication networks of all sizes, thousands of institutions, hundreds of thousands of businesses, and at least 30 million individual users.

APPLICATIONS OF INTERNET FOR EVERYONE:
In your journey to the Cyber Space you can find so many application for people of all ages. The applications can be categorized into so many dimensions. But taking into consideration the space limitations only a few are just listed below:

EDUCATIONAL ASPECTS:
School and Colleges Info, Online Libraries, Admission Foreign Colleges, Access to Research Papers, Computer Based Trainings, Online Exams

INFORMATIONAL ASPECTS:
E-Mail Facilities, Interactive Informative Chats, Travel Information, Sports Updates, News and Bulletin Boards, Weather Updates

RECREATIONAL / GENERAL ASPECTS:
Voice mails, Chats, Video conferencing, Online Games, Interactive Seminars/Lessons, E-commerce Facilities, Advanced Research Engines, Access to World Maps, Dressing, Cooking, Fashion Designing etc

By Aziz Naveed Sheikh

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