Applications

A number of applications are (or have been) important contributors to the utility and popularity of the Internet.

• E-mail was one of the earliest applications on the ancestral ARPANET and remains the single most popular Internet application. Standard e-mail using SmTP (Simple mail Transfer Protocol) has been implemented for virtually every platform and operating system. In most cases once a user has entered a person’s e-mail address into the “address book, ” e-mail can be sent with a few clicks of the mouse. While failure of the outgoing or destination mail server can still block transmission of a message, e-mail today has a high degree of reliability.

• Netnews (also called Usenet, for UNIX User Net- work) is in effect the world’s largest computer bulletin board. It began in 1979, when Duke University and the University of North Carolina set up a simple mechanism for “posting” text files that could be read by other users. Today there are tens of thousands of topical “newsgroups” and millions of messages (called articles). Although still impressive in its quantity of content, many Web users now rely more on discussion forums based on Web pages.

• Ftp (File Transport Protocol) enables the transfer of one or more files between any two machines connected to the Internet. This method of file transfer has been largely supplanted by the use of download links on Web pages, except for high-volume applications (where an ftp server is often operated “behind the scenes” of a Web link). FTP is also used by Web developers to upload files to a Web site.

• Telnet is another fundamental service that brought the Internet much of its early utility. Telnet allows a user at one computer to log into another machine and run a program there. This provided an early means for users at PCs or workstations to, for example, access the Library of Congress catalog online. However, if program and file permissions are not set properly on the “host” system, “telnet” can cause security vulnerabilities. The telnet user is also vulnerable to having IDs and passwords stolen, since these are transmitted as clear (unencrypted) text. As a result, some online sites that once supported telnet access now limit access to Web-based forms.

• Gopher was developed at the University of Minnesota and named for its mascot. Gopher is a system of servers that organize documents or other files through a hierarchy of menus that can be browsed by the remote user. Gopher became very popular in the late 1980s, only to be almost completely supplanted by the more versatile World Wide Web.

• WAIS (Wide Area Information Service) is a gateway that allows databases to be searched over the Internet. WAIS provided a relatively easy way to bring large data resources online. It, too, has largely been replaced by Web-based database services.

• The World Wide Web as mentioned above is now the main means for displaying and transferring information of all kinds over the Internet. Its flexibility, relative ease of use, and ubiquity (with Web browsers available for virtually all platforms) has caused it to subsume earlier services. The utility of the Web has been further enhanced by the development of many search engines that vary in thoroughness and sophistication.

• Streaming media protocols allow for a flow of video and/or audio content to users. Player applications for Windows and other operating systems, and growing use of high-speed consumer Internet connections have made it possible to present “live” TV and radio shows over the Internet.

• E-commerce, having boomed in the late 1990s and in the early 2000s, continued to grow and proliferate later in the decade, finding new markets and applications and spreading into the developing world

• Blogs and other forms of online writing have become prevalent among people ranging from elementary school students to corporate CEOs.

• Social networking sites such as mySpace and Facebook are also very popular, particularly among young people.

• Wikis have become an important way to share and build on knowledge bases.

Notes:

USA Defense Department – Министерство обороны США

Interceptor system – система наведения перехватчиков

Usenet –американский кабельный телеканал, запущенный в 1971г.

Fido Net – международная мобильная компьютерная сеть, построенная по технологии «из точки в точку».

Bulletin board – электронная доска объявлений

IDs – система обнаруживания вторжений

A mainstream medium (MSM) - крупнейшие средства мас­совой информации

Congress catalog online – онлайн доступ к каталогу Библио­теки Конгресса США.

CEO (Chief Executive Officer) – исполнительный директор.