In computer news this week, 09/25/2002

Things to know about the internet today ...

The internet as most of us know it - meaning the World Wide Web - has only been around about 10 years - since 1992 when it was created. In 1992 there was 1 website, then by yearend maybe a dozen. 650 by the end of 1993 around, then ten thousand and then boom - over half a million websites just by 1997. Today there are literally millions of websites, with thousands more added daily, totalled by guesstimate around 17 million as of today..

The world wide web has truly exploded into our culture and become a part of it, allowing email - sending mail between computers, instant messaging - talking via the keyboard or thru a web cam to other computers online - downloading of files - everything from programs to music and movies - and research - virtually anything you can think of is on the internet today.

You use a software tool called a web browser to navigate on the internet. The most widely used one is Microsoft Internet Explorer; the 2nd is probably the America Online browser which is actually a modified version of internet explorer, and the 3rd most popular is Netscape, almost a golden oldie now. There is a small percentage of other browsers being used, maybe 5 %.

Aol users should be informed that you do not have to use the Aol browser - once you log on to the internet you can switch to IE or any browser you choose, and perhaps avoid some of the constant Aol popup advertising.

You connect to the internet through an internet service provider - currently the top ones are:

AOL 27 Million subscribers - fluctuates greatly with all their free offers

MSN 7.7 million

United online - used to be netzero and juno - 4.8 million

Earthlink 4.7 million'

SBC/prodigy 3.6

Compuserve 3.5 (the first online service)

Road runner 2.5

AT&T Broadband 1.8

Verizon 1.5

AT&T Worldnet 1.4

And there are literally thousands of smaller local isps who might provide as good or better service

Who owns the internet ? Nobody owns the internet - that's why there's total chaos. The closest body is the governing body - called ICANN - Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers - which assigns registrars and names and creates domain names . This is an international organization with more fighting related to it than the world wrestling federation ...

If you want to have your own internet website you have to go thru one of their assigned registrars to buy a website name, usually for 2 years, for around $ 100. There are now about half a dozen domain types, like dotcom, dotbiz, dotorg.

What to you need to access the internet? You need a computer, a modem, an isp account, and a web browser. Most isp's charge between $ 15 and $ 100 monthly for internet access.

What is probably the biggest active danger on the internet today? Computer viruses. It is estimated that the Klez virus, which is now officially the worst computer virus in the history of email, is now found in 1 of every 200 emails.

Next week on Raw Bytes, more on the internet today.

For Raw Bytes, This is Frank Delaney

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