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The WWW is not the internet!

Posted on November 18, 2010 by | 5 Comments

Having worked for an ISP in sales I was amazed that our customers don’t know what the internet really is. They think that the internet is just the World Wide Web, probably because they only browse the ‘web’ and send/receive emails. Sometimes I feel like I am getting dumbed down. So this is a general public service announcement.

There is a great episode of The IT Crowd (season 3 episode 4) where Jen wins Employee of the month. In the episode Jen borrows the internet for her speech. Hilarity ensures. I imagine that there are some people that would really believe that.

The internet isn’t the WWW. The WWW is a service that runs over the internet like File Transfer Protocol (FTP), multi player games, BBS’s (back in the day), BitTorent, Internet Relay Chat (IRC), or e-mail.

The Internet is a global system of interconnected private and public computer networks, a network of networks. These networks are interconnected using the TCP/IP protocol. The networks are made up of millions of bits of equipment like PCs, hubs, switches, routers, servers, and physical cables and a wide range of topologies. The internet is a physical and tangible thing.

I think that because the internet isn’t something that isn’t easily or commonly seen it makes it harder for people to understand what the internet is. So what does the internet look like? The internet can be visualised in any number of ways from a map of the submarine cables that make up the back bone of the internet like the Submarine Cable Map produced by TeleGeography. To a map of linked IP addresses that make up a map of networks.

If you are really interested in the history of the internet I’d recommend watching the History of the Internet.

For a more indepth look at the history of the internet then I’d recommend reading Where Wizards Stay Up Late.

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Category: Computers
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5 Responses to “The WWW is not the internet!”

  1. Diosync1
    December 3rd, 2010 @ 12:29 am

    Take a step into the pre-internet, command line driven past. Discover what BBSs are like and maybe be part of an underground scene that exists only within the Telnet world?

    Enable and use windows telnet to log onto a bbs from the following list links.

    You can use other Terminal Software.

    http://www.synchro.net/sbbslist.html http://www.telnetbbsguide.com/brieflist.asp

    Vintage online text based adventure games?

    Newsgroups, Message Boards, File Areas, DOORS (bbs programs) Sysop and Multinode chat are some of the things you will see on a BBS.

    more leet?

    http://bbs-scene.org/bbs_list.php

    Host your own telnet bbs?

    Modern Board, PCBoard emulation?

    http://www.synchro.net/

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  2. diosync1
    December 3rd, 2010 @ 4:26 am

    With a static ip and the syncronet software you can set up a webserver on your computer and host pages and files right from your own machine. If you don't have a static ip there are free DNS services like http://www.dnsexit.com/ to get around it.

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  3. Jingles
    December 3rd, 2010 @ 5:00 am

    You are awesome Diosync1! I only vaguely remember BBSes.

    I do find it amusing that millions and billions of people don't know what the internet really is and can't fathom the concept of the internet without the www.

    There probably aren't many peoplegeek enough to enjoy http://www.bbsdocumentary.com/ a docco about BBSes, I found it really interesting.

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  4. radman
    August 3rd, 2011 @ 6:10 pm

    I think it's great that so many BBSes are still available today via telnet.

    It's even easier now with the advent of Flash-based telnet clients. :)

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  5. Jingles
    August 3rd, 2011 @ 11:28 pm

    I totally agree, it's preserving a little bit of computer history. Flash-based telnet is pretty cool but it feels weird just doesn't feel the same as the rel thing.

    I liked computers when they were harder to use, when you actually had to know something about how to use a computer.

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