by Bill Morgan
bmorgan@ionet.net
Internet
The basics: Internet started life as ARPAnet, a communications system designed to work even if part of it was damaged. It was made up mainly of the Department of Defense and other agencies. It grew, and began to include academic systems which were then "internetworked," and the system was renamed Internet. The big change came in 1982 when the TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) was developed. After four years, there were 5,000 computers on the net. Three years after that, there were 100,000 and now there are close to five million, according to a keynote speech by Tony Rutkowski, of the Internet Society.
really big
Hard to say because of the growth rate. 3.8 million host computers as of November 1994, with a new one coming online about every 20 minutes. These are service providers, not users... nobody really knows how many users there are.. most estimates are around twenty five million or so.
World Wide Web
Ah, the web. It's big jump came with the development of a visual "browser" which made it's use much easier. It is made up of virtual places... called "sites" and "pages" and several other things, because no one is really sure what they are... but they kind of act like a page on a computer screen. The Web is the future of communication and commerce.
getting online
This means getting a computer and a modem, plugging them in, and dialing up an online service. It's really quite easy, and a relatively cheap computer can do it. Anything that can run Windows, or any Macintosh, basically. Do it. The sooner the better. Learn what you have to and jump.
growing
The figures are just incomprehensible. Try 341,634% for the web. Think of something else that grows that fast.
Electronic mail is the name given to the process sending messages through computer links. The link might be within a single company network of computers, or between distant computers using modems and phone lines. In either case, it is fast, cheap, as easy as writing anything else, and it provides a written record of your message. It is also quite easy to learn, although it may not sound easy. You'll have to trust me on that.
hypertext
Hypertext is a linking system that allows a kind of electronic footnote system. The main article is a loose replica of the way it works. If you use a computer with the Windows environment, you can see an example of hypertext in the Help files. On the World Wide Web, the hypertext is formatted in a language called Hypertext Markup Language, abbreviated html. Most files created this way have the extension .html.
Hot Lists
A Hot List is a collection of URLs used frequently. Instead of typing in the whole thing, you save it on a hotlist and just click on it when you want to use it. So what's a URL? Glad you asked. See next entry.
URL
URL stands for Universal Resource Locator, and is the basis for web addressing. For example, the URL for Ultimate Solutions is http://www.shore.net:/~adfx/us.html. http stands for hypertext transport protocol, www.shore.net:/ is the domain name, referring to the computer the information is on, /~adfx/us.html is the directory, or the "place" on the computer where the Ultimate Solutions information is located. This is information the Internet needs, but for us it's just a mouse click most of the time.
demographics
Unique. Some examples:
Average Age: 29.1
Percent Female: 10.9%
Education: 34% Bachelor's Degree, 23% Masters or higher
One year or less on Internet: 24.6%
Self employed: 17%
market through email
Even though the name "email" implies regular old mail that happens to be electronic, in practice it works more like a face to face conversation than correspondence. It takes an investment of time in building a relationship and waiting for the proper time to bring up your product or service. They may ask you about it, and then again the proper time may never happen. On the plus side, the relationships you build can grow into lasting friendships, and more than a few "online romances" have developed, and some have even led to marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Rush Limbaugh met online for one example. For another example, Ultimate Solutions was born completely through email, and much of it still operates exclusively online. Once you get your feet wet, email is not only easy to learn and use, it can quickly become indispensable.
major commercial online services
This is the collective name given to Compuserve, Prodigy, America On Line, Delphi, and generally any online service other than direct access to the Internet.
growing
If you can picture fast expansion as the ripple that goes out when you toss a pebble into still water, then you can picture the growth of the web as the ripple that goes out when you toss a hand grenade into that still water. The faster it grows, the bigger it gets, and the bigger it gets, the faster it grows. It's growing so fast I had to put this entry in here twice!
starting from zero
You stand as good a chance of success on the web as IBM. They really have no advantage... with more money they can offer more different things, have fancier pictures maybe... but nobody knows if that is an advantage or not. Nobody knows what the web will be like next year... or next month. This is the mark of a true paradigm shift: Resistance will come from those with a vested interest in the old paradigm and, everyone starts from zero. Time to hang on tight!