Below is a short history of the Internet, plenty more can be found on the
Web through search engines .. eg. Google or Yahoo to name a few.
yardtech.com.au New
Internet Page being developed here
We all have opinions as to which is the best. You can be the judge.
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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 from any other computer (and
sometimes talk directly to users at other computers). It was conceived by
the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) of the U.S. government in 1969
and was first known as the ARPANET. The original aim was to create a network
that would allow users of a research computer at one university to be able
to "talk to" research computers at other universities. A side benefit of
ARPANet's design was that, because messages could be routed or rerouted in
more than one direction, the network could continue to function even if
parts of it were destroyed in the event of a military attack or other
disaster.
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Today, the Internet is a public, cooperative, and self-sustaining
facility accessible to hundreds of millions of people worldwide. Physically,
the Internet uses a portion of the total resources of the currently existing
public telecommunication networks. Technically, what distinguishes the
Internet is its use of a set of protocols called TCP/IP (for Transmission
Control Protocol/Internet Protocol). Two recent adaptations of Internet
technology, the intranet and the extranet, also make use of the TCP/IP
protocol.
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For many Internet users, electronic mail (e-mail) has practically
replaced the Postal Service for short written transactions. Electronic mail
is the most widely used application on the Net. You can also carry on live
"conversations" with other computer users, using Internet Relay Chat (IRC).
More recently, Internet telephony hardware and software allows real-time
voice conversations.
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The most widely used part of the Internet is the World Wide Web (often
abbreviated "WWW" or called "the Web"). Its outstanding feature is
hypertext, a method of instant cross-referencing. In most Web sites, certain
words or phrases appear in text of a different color than the rest; often
this text is also underlined. When you select one of these words or phrases,
you will be transferred to the site or page that is relevant to this word or
phrase. Sometimes there are buttons, images, or portions of images that are
"clickable." If you move the pointer over a spot on a Web site and the
pointer changes into a hand, this indicates that you can click and be
transferred to another site.
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Using the Web, you have access to millions of pages of information. Web
browsing is done with a Web browser, the most popular of which are Microsoft
Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox (I use both to check content for the
websites). The appearance of a particular Web site may vary slightly
depending on the browser you use.
Also, later versions of a particular browser are able to render more
"bells and whistles" such as animation, virtual reality, sound, and music
files, than earlier versions.
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