Thursday, 19 January 2012

2.1 Describe the introduction of Internet


2.1.1 Define Internet

The Internet, sometimes called simply "the Net," is a worldwide system of computer networks - a network of networks in which users at any one computer can, if they have permission, get information from any other computer (and sometimes talk directly to users at other computers). It was conceived by the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) of the U.S. government in 1969 and was first known as the ARPANet. The original aim was to create a network that would allow users of a research computer at one university to be able to "talk to" research computers at other universities. A side benefit of ARPANet's design was that, because messages could be routed or rerouted in more than one direction, the network could continue to function even if parts of it were destroyed in the event of a military attack or other disaster.
Today, the Internet is a public, cooperative, and self-sustaining facility accessible to hundreds of millions of people worldwide. Physically, the Internet uses a portion of the total resources of the currently existing public telecommunication networks. Technically, what distinguishes the Internet is its use of a set of protocols called TCP/IP (for Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol). Two recent adaptations of Internet technology, the intranet and the extranet, also make use of the TCP/IP protocol.

2.1.2 Explain ethics in using Internet

Hide personal information
We should teach children not to give personal details like home address, phone numbers, interests, passwords. No photographs should be sent to strangers and they should be asked to hide their personal details from strangers because it might be misused and shared with others without their knowledge.


Avoid Bad language
We must not use rude or bad language while using e-Mail, chatting, blogging and social networking, We need to respect their views and should not criticize anyone on the internet and the same should be taught to children. 


Pretending to be someone else
We must not use internet to fool others by pretending to be someone else. Hiding our own identity to fool others in the Internet world is a crime and may also be a risk to others. It’s our responsibility to teach children the same. 


2.1.3 Identify Internet services

An Internet service provider (ISP) is a company that provides access to the InternetAccess ISPs directly connect customers to the Internet using copper wires, wireless or fiber-optic connections.[1] Hosting ISPs lease server space for smaller businesses and other people (colocation). Transit ISPs provide large amounts of bandwidth for connecting hosting ISPs to access ISPs

2.1.4 List Social Networking Sizes


* Blogster

* Friendster

* Twitter

* Facebook

* LinkedIn

* Italki.com

2.1.5 Explain the purpose of using Internet


1)Communication

-The foremost target of internet has always been the communication.


2)Information

-Information is probably the biggest advantage internet is offering



3)Services

-Many services are now provided on the internet such as online banking,job seeking and others.

4)E-Commere

E-Commere is the concept used for any type of commercial maneuvering,or business deals that involves the transfer of information across the globe via internet.

2.2 Discover Internet Components


2.2.1Discover various types of browser

Internet Explorer

This is the most widely-used web browser by people around the world. It was developed by Microsoft in 1994 and released in 1995 as a supportive package to Microsoft Windows line of operating systems. It is presently known as Windows Internet Explorer, was formerly called Microsoft Internet Explorer (MSIE), and more is commonly known as IE. People have a misconception that browsing the Internet is possible only through Internet Explorer. They are unaware of various web browsers that are available. This simply proves that Internet Explorer is used by the majority. According to statistics, its usage share from 1999 to 2003-04 was around 95%. Since then, there has been a lot of competition in the market, with many software companies coming up with web browsers that challenge IE in their features and usage. Microsoft occasionally releases updates to their previous versions of IE, which have some enhanced capabilities. The latest version is Internet Explorer 8 which is a free update. The 'favicon', which is the favorites icon was introduced first in IE, and was later adopted by many other web browsers. Initially, IE did not support tabbed browsing, but today, it can be used even in the older versions, by installing toolbars.



Mozilla Firefox

It is owned by Mozilla Corporation and was the result of an experimentation. This browser has gone through many name changes due to name clashes with other products. 'Mozilla Firefox' was officially announced in February 2004. It was earlier named Phoenix, Firebird, and eventually Firefox. It is the second-most famous browser after Internet Explorer, as there were around 100 million downloads within a year of its release. Until November 2008, 700 million downloads were recorded. Since the release of Firefox, the sale of Internet Explorer has gone down drastically. It has around 22% of the market share at present. It has undergone many updates and version changes that were made to improve usability to the universal users. It can be used on most operating systems, but was found to be more prone to vulnerabilities. However, the problems were fixed in the newer versions. As it is an open source software, its source code is available,thus allowing everyone to access the code. It supports tabbed browsing that allows the user to open multiple sites in a single window. Session storage is also an important feature of Firefox, which allows the user to regain access to the open tabs after he has closed the browser window. Apart from these, there are many user-friendly features that Firefox offers.



Google Chrome

This web browser was developed by Google. Its beta and commercial versions were released in September 2008 for Microsoft Windows. It has soon become the fourth-most widely used web browser with a market share of 1.23%. The browser versions for Mac OS X are under development. The browser options are very similar to that of Safari, the settings locations are similar to Internet Explorer 7, and the window design is based on Windows Vista.


2.2.2 Show Various Email Clients


  • IncrediMail is a an email client for people who like to personalize their email.
  • eM Client is a Windows based Communication Client for managing e-mails, multiple calendars, contacts and tasks.
  • PocoMail is a powerful email client developed with user security in mind.
  • Pegasus Mail has been around since 1991 which makes it one of the oldest surviving email clients today.

2.2.3 Explain various file transfer protocol (FTP) client(for example)


  • ftp://name.of.site/ will give you a listing of all the directories of the FTP server;
  • ftp://name.of.site/directory/ which will give you a listing of all the files available in that directory; and
  • ftp://name.of.site/directory/filename will download the actual file to your computer.