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Net Gains (Nov 22, 95)
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You can now be connected to the Internet - the world's largest computer network. And be a part of the big global family. You can visit places you'll probably never set foot on, read magazines you only dreamt of reading, talk to people you've never met before (without even opening your mouth) , and get information you didn't even know existed. All this and more is attainable without even getting your bag-of-bones out of your cozy chair. So, what exactly is the Internet - the thing that's so much in the news now-a-days? What exactly is the attraction that's creating waves at the CyberCafe?? Where did it have its origin???
In the 60's in the US, researchers started experimenting with linking computers to each other through telephone hook-ups. This system would allow computers to exchange data with each other. As APRANet (as it was named, after the Advanced Research Projects Agency of the US Defence Dept.) grew in popularity, a bunch of college students developed a way to use it to hold conferences on-line. This fever caught on as people realised the potential of being able to "talk" to hundreds of others.
In the 70's APRA supported the development of rules for transferring data between different computer networks. These rules were the basis of the worldwide Net we have today, linking computers across the globe irrespective of man-made boundaries.
It took the 80's to see this network of networks - the Internet - to show a phenomenal rate of growth. Colleges, companies & even research institutes made sure they were connected to the Internet. Anyone with money, and enterprise could tap into the world. Researchers began looking for ways to increase the speed of transfer of data. The fruit of their labour is visible in the possibility of sending the entire Encyclopedia Britannica across a country in a couple of seconds.
To get an idea of how the Net works, picture a network of highways connecting the major cities of the world. These super-speed highways branch off at different points, leading to smaller, slower roads, which link together smaller towns and villages.
The Net highway is the high-speed Internet, to which are connected very fast computers which handle the transfer of data at very high speeds. These are the "backbone" computers. Connected to this backbone are smaller, slower computers which service smaller areas. Feeding off these, are still smaller networks or personal computers.
Bombay, for instance, houses the main system which is connected to the high speed node at the US through cable links. Nodes at other cities will be connected to the Internet system at Bombay via high speed intercity links.
There is on single computer "running" the Internet - it is a co-operative inter-connection of many networks of computers. This is one of the greatest strengths of the Internet. Even if one computer crashes, the whole Net does not, but can continue functioning smoothly.
The Internet is like a family get-together. While moving about, you'll see things that will irritate you, or make you smile, laugh, or maybe even cry. You'll see things that interest you, and come across things that bore you. You'll love being there ( in Cyberspace), or at times feel lost, and very insignificant. You'll even meet people you just can't stand, or those who keep you spellbound. Only this family get-together is on a very large base, a base that transcends all boundaries of nature, or politics, of caste, and religion. This is the global family that grows as you explore the Net. You can ask questions and answer them, and have them answered. You can exchange ideas and opinions. In short, you get involved.
The fastest growing part of the Internet is the the World Wide Web (WWW). It is a vast network of documents that combine text, images, and even sound. The WWW gives you access to almost every service provided by the Internet, and is becoming widely used as a major means of access to Internet resources. The WWW is a hypertext based information system. Which means that any part of a document is linked to other related documents, present at different Internet sites. So if you want more information on a particular word or if you want to go deeper into the topic, all you have to do is to choose that particular word/topic, and hey presto, you're given, on a silver platter, more related information. From here you can go on and on, and may even lose yourself in the information that is available at the click of a button.
The Internet is a storehouse of an indescribable wealth of information. Information that ranges from subtle humour to explicit lyrics, cool ideas to hot recipies, and from sex to religion. Hindus, Buddhists, Protestants, Jews, and most recently, the Roman Catholic Church all have their own sites and home pages on the Internet. As do Sharon Stone & Sandra Bullock. The home page is the starting point or a link to everything you wanted to know about that particular subject. From this site ,like at a junction, you can navigate, and choose the direction you want to travel. News is also a click away. CNN, for instance has its news online. Besides the top stories of the day, you can also review the top stories of the recent past. Also present is an online service called IndiaWorld. As soon as you connect to their home page, you're greeted with the message "Namaste. Welcome to IndiaWorld, India's first daily electronic news and information service." From here you can take your pick - be it the headlines, BSE Quotes, Movies, India Today, or just a peek at R.K. Laxman's food-for-thot-for-the-day. Or just breeze through your fix of Busybee. Times FM has contributed to these pages in the avataar of their compilation of the top 25 tracks of the week. Sounds fascinating ? It is. This is one of the wonders of the man-made world. This is the Internet.
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