Internet

Now, I want to tell you something about the Internet. My report contains the requirements, a description of the World Wide Web and the eMail.

First of all I'll list the requirements. For an access to the Internet you need a multimedia computer with at least 66 megahertz and sixteen megabyte ram. Then you require a modem, an ISDN - hostadapter or a connection to Teleweb. Modem stands for modulator and demodulator, ISDN stands for Integrated Services Digital Network. ISDN is the newest and fastest form to surf in the Internet via phone. Teleweb sends the signals via fibre-optic cables, that's why it's much faster than ISDN. Then you need a browser software (e.g. Microsoft Internet Explorer or the Netscape Communicator). This software is usually free.

When you met the requirements you have to choose at provider. You normally get the form in shops which sell computers. After some days, you get an envelope from the provider which contains your personal login name and password.

The costs are low, because the Post & Telecom Austria demands just ten to thirty Schilling per minute online. The costs for the providers are between 200 and 350 Schilling per month. For Teleweb you have to pay 590 Schilling, but there are no more costs per minute online.

Now I want to tell you something about the history and the development. Internet is know by everybody since 1995, but the setting up was in 1969. The name of the net in the seventies was Arpanet and it was developed for the military and the science. It serves just for communication.

In the seventies there was a boom, because a lot of universities became connected to the Internet. The scientists detects the enormous advantage in fast communication one below the other. So a standardised language was fixed. This language is called TCP/IP which means, Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol and it's still the norm.

In the eighties more and more software was developed for terminal connections. A couple of years later the text-oriented Gopher was finalised. Gopher is predecessor of the World Wide Web. More an more software for amateurs was made, this allows everybody a connection to the Internet.

World Wide Web

The World Wide Web is a Hypertext system, which means that there are a lot of coloured words, called Hyperlinks. When you click on the link you surf to an other site. This makes the WWW (W3) so easy and user-friendly. The World Wide Web is the most popular service of the Internet. A lot of people don't know any other service, except for eMail.

The description language of the WWW is the Hyper Text Markup Language, called HTML.

For receiving a site on your computer you need a browser software. The most popular browsers are the Netscape Communicator and the Microsoft Internet Explorer. They are not very different. Both have got several icons, a field, where you can enter the address and some pull-down menus.

A useful tool is the bookmark function. Bookmarked sites were able to receive very fast, because you must mot enter the address, but also click on the menu and choose the bookmark. To produce one, you usually have to press a shortcut.

All received sites are saved in the history of the browser. This files could be deleted by hand or automatically after a defined time. When you want to visit a site again, you must click on the history and choose the address you want.

There are a lot of search engines in the World Wide Web, to get information about special things. The most famous search engines are Altavista, Yahoo, Infoseek and Lycos. All of these have got forms to enter the search word. For a more precision result you could combine some words.

End

The Internet is a brilliant invention for everybody. Everybody is able to surf in the World Wide Web, download programs or send messages to friends. It helps you to pass the time, for your education and so on.

Thank you for your attention. I hope it was a little bit interesting for you.