8-1 About the Internet
8-1 About the Internet
The Internet is one of the most popular and useful applications of computers ever invented. The Internet has, in fact, been rated high in polls of mankind's best innovations. Using the Internet, you can look up information (using the World Wide Web), write a letter to your sister in Missouri (e-mail), place data on the Internet for others to get, or get it yourself (FTP), chat with friends (chat rooms and instant messaging), play games, and more. You can use the Internet for fun and for serious research.
CAUTION
There are quite a few unsavory types out there on the Internet. Don't ever meet somebody in person that you met on the Internet. Also, nearly all viruses are spread through the Internet in one form or another (usually by e-mail), and spyware can be installed just from the simple act of visiting a web page. Running the security checks that were outlined in Section 1.6 is your only defense against data loss due to sabotage from online crooks.
Businesses typically have multiple computers; usually, they have one for each employee. When companies need multiple people to work on the same file, they had to distribute the file with floppy disks. This system was inefficient because of the huge number of floppies needed and the time it took to distribute them. These days, most companies have their computers hooked up in a network.
In a network, all of the computers are connected to a special computer, called a server. The server acts as a central control point for all of the computers on the network. The server often acts a central data depository, hosting (storing) files in a central location that all computers in the network can use. It also regulates control of the connections between computers, and manages the Intenet connection for all the computers in the network.
The Internet is simply a network scaled up to global size. When you visit a website, a program on your computer called a Web browser
People have been disputing which browser is the best since the invention of the Internet. These arguments have caused more browsers to appear and more new versions of older browsers to be released. The mid 1990's was the time of the browser wars.
The first browser to handle pictures was the Mosaic web browser. Marc Anderssen (who added the picture-displaying capabilities) refined the Mosaic browser and released it, calling it Netscape. Netscape became very popular as the Internet became more and more a part of our everyday life.
Microsoft then wrote a new browser, Internet Explorer, and began including it with Windows 95. Many people preferred Internet Explorer over Netscape, mainly because of its increased speed. Internet Explorer won the "war."
However, Microsoft got into some trouble with Internet Explorer. Microsoft said that if a company was going to install Windows 95 on a computer, it must have IE installed as well. This got Microsoft into a huge battle with the U.S. Justice Department over whether Microsoft was trying to have a monopoly on browsers. You can find out more about the case with Google (see Section 8-2).
Another browser war is under way. Here are the major players in the new battles: