The internet is a computer-based global information system, composed of many interconnected computer-networks. Each network may link tens, hundreds, or even thousands of computers, enabling them to share information with one another and to share computational resources such as powerful supercomputers and databases or information. Thee internet has made it possible for people all over the world to communicate with one another effectively and inexpensively. An individual who has internet access can communicate directly with anyone else on the internet, make information available to others, find information provided by others, or sell products with a minimum overhead cost.
The internet has brought new opportunities to government, business, and education. Governments use the internet for internal communication, distribution of information, and automated tax processing. In addition to offering goods and services online to customers, businesses use the internet to interact with other businesses. Many individuals use the internet for communicating through electronic mail (e-mail), for news and research information, shopping, paying bills, and online banking. Educational institutions use the internet for research and to deliver courses and course material to students. Before the internet was created, the U.S. military had developed and deployed communications networks, including a network known as ARPANET. Uses of the networks were restricted to military personnel and the researchers who developed the technology. From the 1970’s until the late 1980’s the internet was a U.S. government-funded commutation and research tool restricted almost exclusively to academic and military uses. It was administered by the National Science Foundation (NSF). In the 1980s the NSF developed an “acceptable use policy” that relaxed restrictions and allowed faculty at universities to use the Internet for research and scholarly activities.
By 1995, however, the NSF ceased its administration of the Internet. The Internet was privatized, and commercial use was permitted. This move coincided with the growth in popularity of the World Wide Web (WWW), which replaced file transfer as the application used for most Internet traffic. The difference between the Internet and the Web is similar to the distinction between a highway system and a package delivery service that uses the highways to move cargo from one city to another: The Internet is the highway system over which Web traffic and traffic from other applications move. The Web consists of programs running on many computers that allow a user to find and display multimedia documents (documents that contain a combination of text, photographs, graphics, audio, and video). Many analysts attribute the explosion in use and popularity of the Internet to the visual nature of Web documents. By the end of 2000, Web traffic dominated the Internet—more than 80 percent of all traffic on the Internet came from the Web.

Internet service providers (ISP’s) provide internet access to customers, usually for a monthly fee. A customer who subscribes to an ISP’s service uses the ISP’s network to access the internet. In the United States, as in many countries, ISPs are private companies; in countries where telephone service is a government-regulated monopoly, the government often controls ISPs. An organization that has many computers usually owns and operates a private network, called an intranet, which connects all the computers within the organization. To provide Internet service, the organization connects its intranet to the Internet. Unlike public access networks, intranets are restricted to provide security. Only authorized computers at the organization can connect to the intranet, and the organization restricts communication between the intranet and the global Internet. The restrictions allow computers inside the organization to exchange information but keep the information confidential and protected from outsiders. All information is transmitted across the Internet in small units of data called packets. Software on the sending computer divides a large document into many packets for transmission; software on the receiving computer regroups incoming packets into the original document. Similar to a postcard, each packet has two parts: a packet header specifying the computer to which the packet should be delivered, and a packet payload containing the data being sent. The header also specifies how the data in the packet should be combined with the data in other packets by recording which piece of a document is contained in the packet.
The Internet has doubled in size every 9 to 14 months since it began in the late 1970s. In 1981 only 213 computers were connected to the Internet. By 2000 the number had grown to more than 100 million. The current number of people who use the Internet can only be estimated. One survey found that there were 61 million Internet users worldwide at the end of 1996, 148 million at the end of 1998, and 407 million by the end of 2000. Some analysts said that the number of users was expected to double again by the end of 2002. Electronic mail, or e-mail, is a widely used Internet application that enables individuals or groups of individuals to quickly exchange messages, even if they are separated by long distances. The internet cans also be used to transfer telephone calls using an application known as IP-telephone.
The Future of the internet is unpredictable, with new technology developing everyday. All we as users of the internet can do is sit back and enjoy the ride, and wait for what’s to come.

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