The Internet: its effects and its futurewritten by Eva KotsiInternet, its effects in our lives and the future of the Internet:The Internet is, quite literally, a network of networks. It is comprised often thousands of interconnected networks spanning the globe. The computers thatform the Internet range from huge mainframes in research establishments tomodest PCs in people’s homes and offices. Despite the recent hype, the Internetis not a new phenomenon.
Its roots lie in a collection of computers that werelinked together in the 1970s to form the US Department of Defense’scommunications systems. Fearing the consequences of nuclear attack, there was nocentral computer holding vast amounts of data, rather the information wasdispersed across thousands of machines. A set of rules, of protocols, known asTCP/IP was developed to allow disparate devices to work together. The originalnetwork has long since been upgraded and expanded and TCP/IP is now a “defacto” standard.
Millions of people worldwide are using the Internet to share information,make new associations and communicate. Individuals and businesses, from studentsand journalists, to consultants, programmers and corporate giants are allharnessing the power of the Internet. For many businesses the Internet isbecoming integral to their operations. Imagine the ability to send and receivedata: messages, notes, letters, documents, pictures, video, sound- just aboutany form of communication, as effortlessly as making a phone call. It is easy tounderstand why the Internet is rapidly becoming the corporate communicationsmedium. Using the mouse on your computer, the familiar point-and-clickfunctionality gives you access to electronic mail for sending and receivingdata, and file transfer for copying files from one computer to another.
Telnetservices allow you to establish connections with systems on the other side ofthe world as if they were just next door. This flood of information is a beautiful thing and it can only open the mindsof society. With the explosion of the World Wide Web, anyone could publish hisor her ideas to the world. Before, in order to be heard one would have to gothrough publishers who were willing to invest in his ideas to get something putinto print. With the advent of the Internet, anyone who has something to say canbe heard by the world.
By letting everyone speak their mind, this opens up allnew ways of thinking to anyone who is willing to listen. Moreover, the Internetis an information resource for you to search, gathering new data on key searchaspects of your market. Perhaps most importantly, the Internet offers a new wayof doing business. A virtual market-place where customers can, at the push of abutton, select goods, place an order and pay using a secure electronictransaction. Businesses are discovering the Internet as the most powerful and costeffective tool in history. The Net provides a faster, more efficient way to workcolleagues, customers, vendors and business partners- irrespective of locationor operating system harnessing this powerful resource gives companies strategicadvantages by leveraging information into essential business asset.
The”technology of the future” here today. This is a fact. Businessesmaking the transition will, and are prospering; however those that do not willmost certainly suffer the consequences. One of the most commonly asked questions is, “Will the Net help me sellmore product?” The answer is yes, but in ways you might not expect. TheInternet is a communication “tool” first, not and advertisementmedium. Unlike print or broadcasting media, the Internet is interactive; andunlike the telephone, it is both visual and content rich.
A Web site is anexcellent way to reduce costs, improve customer service, disseminate informationand even sell to your market. Perhaps, the most important facts about the internet are that it contains awealth of information, that can be send across the world almost instantly, andthat it can unite people in wildly different locations as if they were next toeach other. The soundest claims for the importance of the Internet in today’ssociety are based upon these very facts. People of like minds and interests canshare information with one another through electronic mail and chat rooms.
E-mail is enabling radically new forms of worldwide human collaboration. Approximately 225 millions of people can send and receive it and they allrepresent a network of potentially cooperating individuals dwarfing anythingthat even the mightiest corporation or government can muster. Mailing-listdiscussion groups and online conferencing allow us to gather together to work ona multitude of projects that are
