The Internet Complete Reference [antikvár]

Introduction The Internet is, by far, the greatest and most significant achievement in the history of mankind. What? Am I saying that the Internet is more impressive than the pyramids? More beautiful than Michelangelo's David? More important to mankind than the wondrous inventions of the industrial revolution? Yes, yes and yes. Do I expect you to believe this? Of course not—not right now anyway. After all, the Internet is just a computer network and—let's face it—most of what we use computers for is pretty dull. However, for years now, people have been connecting computers into networks. At first, the networks were a lot of trouble but, by the early 1990s, the engineers and scientists finally figured out how to make it all work most of the time. And now we have the Internet: a worldwide network connecting millions of computers and millions of people. What is amazing is that, within a few short years, the Internet has changed our civilization permanently and has introduced us to two completely unexpected ideas. First, tens of thousands of people have been laboring to build the Internet. They have worked alone, in small groups, and within organizations, but always like so many ants in a global anthill. Most of these people are only doing their jobs but, just like the ants, they serve the common good while having no conception of the order and the compelling forces that drive their work.