About the Internet

When I was growing up we had always had radio, then we got a BW TV and we watched the building of Disney Land in southern California. When I got out of the Navy in 1983 a lot of folks had pagers where they could leave a call back number. I had sold computers on week ends, with new ones popping up while we waited for Osborne 1 to get a larger floppy drive. It used CP/M 2.2 operating system.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osborne_1

I went to work at NASA Ames Research Center and was exposed to MS-DOS 1.0. If you wanted to do graphics you could write code that put your bits in the portion of memory that would be scanned for use on the monitor. Not the most fun. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS-DOS

As time went on I got a chance to write code for a MAC Quadra 950 to display some Pioneer 10 spacecraft telemetry data containing information about the health of the spacecraft. One day the IT folks plugged an adapter into the serial port and connected me to the ARCLAN our local area network and suddenly I had a portal into the networking world.
http://qos.internet2.edu/qbone/meetings/rtpQIG/vishyrtp.pdf

Today you can have a cup of coffee and connect to the Internet with WiFi on your laptop or use your smart cellphone to connect to the web through your mobile service provider.
http://www.starbucks.com/coffeehouse/wireless-internet
Even better if your phone also has WiFi.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/29/technology/personaltech/29smart.html

The Internet now is a place to find information and to connect with friends using social network sites. Where will all of this lead to?
Maybe a bit of information on the history of the Internet would be useful to see where we have come from.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websites
- LRK -

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http://www.isoc.org/internet/
About the Internet

Histories of the Internet
ISOC has gathered links and resources on a range of important Internet topics. Please explore this collection of background material.

All about the History of the Internet. Articles from various organisations and personalities. Read more ...
http://www.isoc.org/internet/history

Guide to Internet Law
The Internet Society provides this guide as a public service for all interested parties. The guide offers links to many useful legal research sites on the Internet, along with brief descriptions. Read more ...
http://www.isoc.org/internet/law

Market Research/Statistics
Statistics, surveys, and Market research regarding the Internet. Read more ...
http://www.isoc.org/internet/stats

Infrastructure
Descriptions of the Internet's infrastructure. How is the Internet organised? What are the bodies involved at different levels? Read more ...
http://www.isoc.org/internet/infrastructure

Internet Code of Conduct
Guidelines on conduct and use of the Internet. Read more ...
http://www.isoc.org/internet/conduct

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A long list of links, some noted here.
- LRK -

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Histories of the Internet
http://www.isoc.org/internet/history/

The following links offer a broad range of perspectives on the history of the Internet. The Internet Society cannot guarantee the historical or technical accuracy of all of the material presented, but we hope these resources will give you plenty of starting points for further research.

IUKNOF Internet History Project
http://www.uknof.org.uk/history.html
The early days of the Internet in the United Kingdom. As a modest first step, individuals who played key roles in the creation and growth of the Internet in the UK are being invited to give presentations at UKNOF meetings.

Imagining the Internet: A History and Forecast
http://www.imaginingtheinternet.org/
A diverse collection of resources by Elon University and Pew Internet Project including concise historical information, current Internet governance discussions, and predictions about the future of the Internet.

A Concise Guide to the Major Internet Bodies
http://www.acm.org/ubiquity/views/v6i5_simoneli.html
By Alex Simonelis

Who is Who in the Internet World (WiWiW.org)
http://wiwiw.org/
A perpetual archive devoted to Internet pioneers worldwide.

Internet History and Growth (PPT: 1MB)
http://www.isoc.org/internet/history/2002_0918_Internet_History_and_Growth.ppt
Presentation by William Slater III - Chicago Chapter of the Internet Society

A Brief History of the Internet
http://www.isoc.org/internet/history/brief.shtml
by those who made the history, including Barry M. Leiner, Vinton
G. Cerf, David D. Clark, Robert E. Kahn, Leonard Kleinrock, Daniel C.
Lynch, Jon Postel, Lawrence G. Roberts, Stephen Wolff.

[Note: Many more links. - LRK -]
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A lot of information here even if it does say "A Brief History of the Internet."
- LRK -

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A Brief History of the Internet
http://www.isoc.org/internet/history/brief.shtml

Barry M. Leiner, Vinton G. Cerf, David D. Clark,
Robert E. Kahn, Leonard Kleinrock, Daniel C. Lynch,
Jon Postel, Larry G. Roberts, Stephen Wolff

* Introduction
* Origins of the Internet
* The Initial Internetting
* ConceptsProving the Ideas
* Transition to Widespread Infrastructure
* The Role of Documentation
* Formation of the Broad Community
* Commercialization of the Technology
* History of the Future
* Footnotes
* Timeline
* References
* Authors

Introduction

The Internet has revolutionized the computer and communications world like nothing before. The invention of the telegraph, telephone, radio, and computer set the stage for this unprecedented integration of capabilities. The Internet is at once a world-wide broadcasting capability, a mechanism for information dissemination, and a medium for collaboration and interaction between individuals and their computers without regard for geographic location.

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If the above is too much to digest, maybe a look at Wikipedia would suffice.
- LRK -

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History of the Internet - From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Internet

Before the wide spread of internetworking (802.1) that led to the Internet, most communication networks were limited by their nature to only allow communications within the stations on the local network and the prevalent computer networking method was based on the central mainframe computer model. Several  research programs began to explore and articulate principles of networking between physically separate networks, leading to the development of the packet switching model of digital networking. These research efforts included those of the laboratories of Donald Davies (NPL), Paul Baran (RAND Corporation), and Leonard Kleinrock at MIT and at UCLA. The research led to the development of several packet-switched networking solutions in the late 1960s and 1970s, including ARPANET and the X.25 protocols. Additionally, public access and hobbyist networking systems grew in popularity, including unix-to-unix copy (UUCP) and FidoNet. They were however still disjointed separate networks, served only by limited gateways between networks. This led to the application of packet switching to develop a protocol for internetworking, where multiple different networks could be joined together into a super-framework of networks. By defining a simple common network system, the Internet Protocol Suite, the concept of the network could be separated from its physical implementation. This spread of internetworking began to form into the idea of a global network that would be called the Internet, based on standardized protocols officially implemented in 1982. Adoption and interconnection occurred quickly across the advancedtelecommunication networks of the western world, and then began to penetrate into the rest of the world as it became the de-facto international standard for the global network. However, the disparity of growth between advanced nations and the third-world countries led to a digital divide that is still a concern today.

Following commercialization and introduction of privately run Internet service providers in the 1980s, and the Internet's expansion for popular use in the 1990s, the Internet has had a drastic impact on culture and commerce. This includes the rise of near instant communication by electronic mail (e-mail), text based discussion forums, and the World Wide Web. Investor speculation in new markets provided by these innovations would also lead to the inflation and subsequent collapse of the Dot-com bubble. But despite this, the Internet continues to grow, driven by commerce, greater amounts of online information and knowledge and social networking known as Web 2.0.

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In communicating about this subject with John, he mentioned that Robert Sawyer has written some science fiction about what the Internet might develop into.
WWW:wake, WWW:watch, WWW:wonder

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The World Wide Web wakes up
http://www.sfwriter.com/index.htm

"Lately, I've been inspired by ideas from Robert J. Sawyer."
—Artificial-intelligence pioneer Marvin Minsky

* WWW: Wake: Hugo finalist! • Aurora winner! • Starred Publishers
Weekly review!
http://www.sfwriter.com/exw1.htm

* WWW: Watch: Canadian bestseller! • "This is science fiction at
its best." —Analog
http://www.sfwriter.com/exw2.htm

* WWW: Wonder: The concluding volume — coming soon!
http://sfwriter.com/blog/?p=2367

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Thanks for looking up with me.
- LRK -

Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
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Bulletin Board System - BBS
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulletin_board_system

A Bulletin Board System, or BBS, is a computer system running software that allows users to connect and log in to the system using a terminal program. Once logged in, a user can perform functions such as uploading and downloading software and data, reading news and bulletins, and exchanging messages with other users, either through electronic mail or in public message boards. Many BBSes also offer on-line games, in which users can compete with each other, and BBSes with multiple phone lines often provide chat rooms, allowing users to interact with each other.

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Mosaic (web browser)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosaic_%28web_browser%29

Mosaic is the web browser credited with popularizing the World Wide Web. It was also a client for earlier protocols such as FTP, NNTP, and gopher. Its clean, easily understood user interface, reliability, Windows port and simple installation all contributed to making it the application that opened up the Web to the general  public.[2] Mosaic was also the first browser to display images inline with text instead of displaying images in a separate window.[3] While often described as the first graphical web browser, Mosaic was preceded by the lesser-known Erwise[4] and ViolaWWW.

Mosaic was developed at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA)[3] at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign beginning in late 1992. NCSA released the browser in 1993, and officially discontinued development and support on January 7, 1997.[5] However, it can still be downloaded from NCSA.[6]

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Nescape
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netscape

Netscape Communications (formerly known as Netscape Communications Corporation and commonly known as Netscape) is a US computer services company, best known for its web browser. When it was an independent company, its headquarters were in Mountain View, California.[1] The name Netscape was a trademark of Cisco Systems, that was granted to the company.[2]

Netscape's web browser was once dominant in terms of usage share, but lost most of that share to Internet Explorer during the first browser war. By the end of 2006, the usage share of Netscape browsers had fallen, from over 90% in the mid 1990s, to less than 1%. Netscape developed the Secure Sockets Layer Protocol (SSL) for securing online communication, which is still widely used,[3] as well as JavaScript, the most widely-used language for client-side scripting of web pages.

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Internet Explorer
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Explorer

Windows Internet Explorer (formerly Microsoft Internet Explorer; abbreviated to MSIE or more commonly, IE), is a series of graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft and included as part of the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems starting in 1995. It has been the most widely used web browser since 1999, attaining a peak of about 95% usage share during 2002 and 2003 with IE5 and IE6.
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Mozilla Firefox
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozilla_Firefox

Mozilla Firefox is a free and open source web browser descended from the Mozilla Application Suite and managed by Mozilla Corporation. As of July 2010[update], Firefox was the second most widely used  browser, with 22.91% of worldwide usage share of web browsers, according to Net Applications.[8] Other sources put Firefox's usage share between 20% and 32%.[9][10][11]

To display web pages, Firefox uses the Gecko layout engine, which implements most current web standards in addition to several features which are intended to anticipate likely additions to the standards.[12]

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Google Chrome
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Chrome

Google Chrome is a web browser developed by Google that uses the WebKit layout engine and application framework. It was first released as a beta version for Microsoft Windows on 2 September 2008, and the public stable release was on 11 December 2008. The name is derived from the graphical user interface frame, or "chrome", of web browsers. As of July 2010[update], Chrome was the third most widely used browser, with 7.16% of worldwide usage share of web browsers, according to Net Applications.[3]

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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK

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