Internet Applications.
The most popular Internet applications are E-mail, browsing the sites on the World Wide Web, and participating in special-interest newsgroups. Internet E-mail is faster than many public networks. Messages usually arrive in seconds or a few minutes anywhere in the world, and can take form of data, text, fax, and video files. Internet browser software like Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Explorer enables millions of users to surf the World Wide Web by clicking their way to the multimedia information resources stored on the hyperlinked pages of business, government, and other Web sites. Web sites offer information and entertainment, and are the launch sites for electronic commerce transactions between business and their suppliers and customers.
The Internet also provides electronic discussion forums and bulletin board systems formed and managed by thousands of special-interest newsgroups. Anyone can participate in discussions or post messages on thousands of topics for other users with the same interests to read and respond to. Other popular applications include downloading software and information files and accessing databases provided by thousands of business, government, and other organizations. Logging on to other computers on the Internet and holding real time conversations with other Internet users are also popular uses of the Internet. We will discuss business uses of the Internet, including electronic commerce.
One of the most important and popular uses of the Internet is gathering information. You can make online searches for information in a variety of ways, using your Web browser and search engines such as Alta Vista, Excite, and directories like Yahoo! Thousands of Web sites, business and government databases, and catalogs from university libraries to the Library of Congress are available, as are electronic versions of numerous consumer, business, and academic publications. You can point and click your way to thousands of Web sites and their databases, downloading everything from the latest satellite weather photos from NASA to world almanac excerpts from the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.
THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY.
The trends toward open, high-speed, digital networks with fiber optic and satellite links and the widespread use of the Internet and its technologies have made the concept of an information superhighway technically feasible and captured the interest of both business and government. In this concept, local, regional, nationwide, and global networks will be integrated into a vast network of networks, with more advanced interactive multimedia capabilities than the Internet. The information superhighway system would connect individuals, households, businesses, news and entertainment media, government agencies, libraries, universities, and all other institutions, and would support interactive voice, data, video, and multimedia communications.
The most popular Internet applications are E-mail, browsing the sites on the World Wide Web, and participating in special-interest newsgroups. Internet E-mail is faster than many public networks. Messages usually arrive in seconds or a few minutes anywhere in the world, and can take form of data, text, fax, and video files. Internet browser software like Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Explorer enables millions of users to surf the World Wide Web by clicking their way to the multimedia information resources stored on the hyperlinked pages of business, government, and other Web sites. Web sites offer information and entertainment, and are the launch sites for electronic commerce transactions between business and their suppliers and customers.
The Internet also provides electronic discussion forums and bulletin board systems formed and managed by thousands of special-interest newsgroups. Anyone can participate in discussions or post messages on thousands of topics for other users with the same interests to read and respond to. Other popular applications include downloading software and information files and accessing databases provided by thousands of business, government, and other organizations. Logging on to other computers on the Internet and holding real time conversations with other Internet users are also popular uses of the Internet. We will discuss business uses of the Internet, including electronic commerce.
One of the most important and popular uses of the Internet is gathering information. You can make online searches for information in a variety of ways, using your Web browser and search engines such as Alta Vista, Excite, and directories like Yahoo! Thousands of Web sites, business and government databases, and catalogs from university libraries to the Library of Congress are available, as are electronic versions of numerous consumer, business, and academic publications. You can point and click your way to thousands of Web sites and their databases, downloading everything from the latest satellite weather photos from NASA to world almanac excerpts from the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.
THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY.
The trends toward open, high-speed, digital networks with fiber optic and satellite links and the widespread use of the Internet and its technologies have made the concept of an information superhighway technically feasible and captured the interest of both business and government. In this concept, local, regional, nationwide, and global networks will be integrated into a vast network of networks, with more advanced interactive multimedia capabilities than the Internet. The information superhighway system would connect individuals, households, businesses, news and entertainment media, government agencies, libraries, universities, and all other institutions, and would support interactive voice, data, video, and multimedia communications.
