What is Internet?

It is a network of networks that consists of millions of private, public, academic, business, and government networks of local to global scope that are linked by a broad array of electronic and optical networking technologies . It operates world wide using common set of protocols. The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet Protocol Suite (TCP/IP) to serve billions of users worldwide.

History of internet
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 USSR's launch of Sputnik (Satellite) spurred the United States to create the ARPA or DARPA in February 1958 to regain a technological lead In 1957 the United States Department of Defense (DoD) formed a small agency called ARPA (Advanced Research Projects Agency) to develop military science and technology.

1969 ARPANET commissioned by DoD for research into networking

1971 15 nodes (23 hosts) networked for the first time used NCP (network control protocol) to allow computers to communicate
1972 the first e-mail program was created by Ray Tomlinson of BBN 1973 first international connections to the ARPANET development began on the protocol later to be called TCP/IP 1974 first use of term internet in a paper on Transmission Control Protocol 1976 Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom, sends her first email

 1978-TCP protocol (Stanford research since 1976) split into TCP and IP protocols. 1980s Hardware Explosion (LANs, PCs, and workstations) 1983 Ethernet by Metcalfe 1983 -first IBM personal computers sold 1984-Domain Name System (DNS) introduced on ARPANET 1985 Internet used by researchers and developers 1986
Mail Exchanger (MX) records developed
to allow non-IP network hosts to have email domain addresses

Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) created

to coordinate contractors for DARPA Coordinated work on ARPANET, US Defense Data Network (DDN), and the Internet core gateway system

 1987
email link established between Germany and China

1989-number of hosts breaks 100,000

1990

ARPANET ceases to exist Tim Berners-Lee and CERN in Geneva implement HTTP for members of the international high-energy physics community independent internet service providers begin to spring up everywhere

 1991

PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) released by Philip Zimmerman

1992

number of internet hosts breaks 1,000,000 no web yet; email and newsnet only (mostly at command line) world-wide web (WWW) HTTP protocol released by CERN
Tim Berners-Lee, developer

 1993
the InterNIC created by U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) to maintain the internet

1996
most internet traffic carried by independent Internet Service Providers (ISPs) such as MCI, AT&T, Sprint, and many smaller companies number of internet hosts exceeds 15,000,000

Internet Growth Trends

1977: 1981: 1983: 1984: 1986: 1987: 1989: 1992: 2001: 2002: 111 hosts on Internet 213 hosts 562 hosts 1,000 hosts 5,000 hosts 10,000 hosts 100,000 hosts 1,000,000 hosts 150 175 million hosts over 200 million hosts

Advantages of internet
Communication: we can communicate in a fraction of second with a person who is sitting in the other part of the world. You can talk by watching to one another; just you are talking with your friends in your drawing room. For this purpose, different services are provided on the Internet such as: Chatting Video conferencing E-mail Internet telephony etc. Information: There is a huge amount of information available on the internet for just about every subject known to man, ranging from government law and services, trade fairs and conferences, market information, new ideas and technical support, the list is endless.

 Services: Many services are now provided on the internet such as online banking, job seeking, purchasing tickets for your favorite movies, guidance services on array of topics engulfing the every aspect of life, and hotel reservations. Downloading Software: This is one of the most happening and fun things to do via the Internet. You can download innumerable, games, music, videos, movies, and a host of other entertainment software from the Internet, most of which are free. Buy or sell products: The internet is a very effective way to buy and sell products all over the world. Along with getting information on the Internet, you can also shop online. There are many online stores and sites that can be used to look for products as well as buy them using your credit card. You do not need to leave your house and can do all your shopping from the convenience of your home.

 Online Chat: There are many chat rooms on the web that can be accessed to meet new people, make new friends, as well as to stay in touch with old friends. Communities: Communities of all types have sprung up on the internet. Its a great way to meet up with people of similar interest and discuss common issues. News: You can get latest news of the world on the Internet. Most of the newspapers of the world are also available on the Internet. They have their websites from where you can get the latest news about the events happening in the world. Advertisement: Today, most of the commercial organizations advertise their product through Internet. It is very cheap and efficient way for the advertising of products. The products can be presented with attractive and beautiful way to the people around the world.

 Entertainment: Downloading games, visiting chat rooms or just surfing the Web are some of the uses people have discovered. There are numerous games that may be downloaded from the Internet for free. Music, hobbies, news and more can be found and shared on the Internet. Online Education: Internet provides the facility to get online education. Many websites of different universities provide lectures and tutorials on different subjects or topics. You can also download these lectures or tutorials into your own computer. Online Results : Today, most of the universities and education boards provide results on the Internet. The students can watch their results from any part of country or world.

 Viruses: Today, Internet is the most popular source of spreading viruses. Most of the viruses transfer from one computer to another through e-mail or when information is downloaded on the Internet. These viruses create different problems in your computer. For example, they can affect the performance of your computer and damage valuable data and software stored in your computer. Security Problems: The valuable websites can be damaged by hackers and your valuable data may be deleted. Similarly, confidential data may be accessed by unauthorized persons. Accuracy of Information : A lot of information about a particular topic is stored on the websites. Some information may be incorrect or not authentic. So, it becomes difficult to select the correct information.

Disadvantages of Internet

 Theft of Personal information: If you use the Internet, you may be facing grave danger as your personal information such as name, address, credit card number etc. can be accessed by other culprits to make your problems worse. Spamming: This refers to sending unsolicited emails in bulk, which serve no purpose and unnecessarily clog up the entire system. Isolation: Using the Internet for long periods of time can isolate people from family and friends. Though many develop online relationships these "cyber" buddies cannot replace "real life" socializing. Addiction : It is possible for Internet users to become habitually addicted.

ISP
An Internet service provider (ISP), also sometimes referred to as an Internet access provider (IAP), is a company that offers its customers access to the Internet.

Choosing an ISP
How often will you be using the Internet, either daily or monthly? ISPs typically charge users either a flat monthly rate or charge users based on the amount of time they spend using the service per hour or per day, and some ISPs offer the choice of choosing between those two options. What times of the day will you be using the Internet? Some ISPs offer different rates depending on whether you use the service during peak hours and off-peak hours. How much technical support will you need? Different ISPs have different levels of customer support. Some only offer online support for certain hours a day, others have 24-hour support and have telephone lines dedicated to answering customer support questions.

 Do you understand the ISPs terms? Look at the agreement terms of the ISP. Is the service provider attempting to make the terms easy to understand, or do the terms seem confusing? How much are you willing to pay? As a general rule, the cheaper the deal, the less you are going to get, whether that be in connection speed, amount of services in the suite of services that the ISP offers or the amount of technical support the ISP provides. What connection speeds does the ISP support and what do you need? Determine how fast you need the connection to be, and look at whether or not the ISP can support the speed you need.

Factors for choosing an ISP?

Customer Service : The Internet is much more reliable than it was in the past, but problems do still occur. Does your ISP have a 24-hour support line that you can call? Do they have the answers to your questions when you call? Size: ISPs vary in size from small one- or twoperson operations to giant corporations providing service across the country or allover the world. Most ISPs, however are quite small. The ISPs with the most aggressive pricing are usually small ISPs. Large ISPs are generally more stable and better able to manage their growth. They usually have highly experienced personnel designing and building their network infrastructure. On the other hand, their prices may be somewhat higher and they may be less responsive to your particular needs.

 Reliability: There is nothing more annoying than dialing your ISP and continually receiving a busy signal. Or you may connect but be unable to do any useful work because of interminable delays. These problems usually do not persist for long, but they are definitely more common at some ISPs than at others. Performance The actual speed you experience when using the Internet depends on many factors. The ISP may have insufficient Internet bandwidth to support all of the users who log on or the Web server (or e-mail server) that you are connecting to may be unable to handle the volume of traffic that it is experiencing or the problem may lie in the path between you and the server through the Internet. Many of these problems are beyond the ISP's control, but you will still find that some ISPs generally offer better performance than others. Price in general The bottom line price is obviously an important factor when choosing an Internet Service Provider. It is also easy to compare. But the lowest price isn't always the best deal. locally we have two types of subscriptions: Volume-base subscription: Here the user may pay monthly subscription that cover some free hours then pay per usage an amount fro each extra hour used. Open subscription: Here the user pay fixed amount per month regardless of the usage.

 Quality of service Quality of service depends on many factors, such as: The ratio between number of modem ports to the number of subscribers The total bandwidth to the Internet How easily and quickly to get connected to the ISP network How frequent a user get disconnected from the ISP network How good ISP's communications and services devices

 Technical support Quality of service depends on many factors, such as: Working hours Number of telephone lines Type of communications (by email, telephone, dial-free telephone, fax, web, ) Availability of user manuals and FAQs Solving problems online Availability of competent technical staff

Connecting to internet Dial-up Connection

With a dial-up connection, the Internet user can connect to the Internet via his or telephone line and an Internet service provider. This method of connecting to the Internet is generally considered the cheapest, but it is also provides the user with the slowest overall connection speeds. it may suit the purposes of the occasional Internet user without a need for a fast or consistent connection.

 A dial-up connection uses the analog telephone line for establishing a temporary communication. Computer's digital signals must be converted to analog signals before they are transmitted over standard telephone lines. This conversion is performed by a modem, a device that modulates (changes into an analog signal) and demodulates (converts an analog signal into a digital signal). Both the sending and receiving ends of a communication channel must have a modem for data transmission to occur. Using a dial-up line to transmit data is similar to using the telephone to make a call. The client computer modem dials the preprogrammed phone number for a user's Internet Service Provider (ISP) and connects to one of the ISP's modems. After the ISP has verified the user's account, a connection is established and data can be transmitted. When either modem hangs up, the communication ends.

 The limitation of a connection using the ordinary telephone line is a low speed, 28 kbps. There are dedicated telephone lines that can transmit data at 56 kbps.

DSL (Digital Subscriber Line)

DSL is a high-speed Internet service that works over POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) copper telephone lines and is typically offered by telephone companies without costly installation of a higher-grade cable. DSL provides high-speed networking over ordinary phone lines using broadband modem technology. DSL technology allows Internet and telephone service to work over the same phone line without requiring customers to disconnect either their voice or Internet connections. Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) is a family of technologies that provides digital data transmission over the wires of a local telephone network.

 DSL uses a different part of the frequency spectrum than analog voice signals, so it can work in conjunction with a standard analog telephone service, providing separate voice and data "channels" on the same line. The data throughput of consumer DSL services typically ranges from 384 KB/s to 20 Mbit/s in the direction to the customer (downstream), depending on DSL technology, line conditions, and service-level implementation. ADSL (Asymmetric DSL) is the type of DSL that provides different bandwidths in the upstream and downstream directions, giving the user a much bigger "pipe" in the downstream direction. ADSL can support downstream bandwidths of up to 8 mbps and upstream bandwidths of 1.5 mbps.

 In ADSL, the data throughput in the upstream direction, (i.e. in the direction to the service provider) is lower, hence the designation of asymmetric service. In Symmetric Digital Subscriber Line(SDSL) service, the downstream and upstream data rates are equal. SDSL (Symmetric DSL) offers the same bandwidth capability in both directions. Besides higher bandwidth, some of the advantages of ADSL access from telephone companies are that there are no per-minute charges and the user gets an "always-on" connection for a monthly fee. As the connection's length increases, the signal quality decreases and the connection speed goes down. DSL services that provide greater that 1.5 mbps require shorter distances to the central office compared to a cable modem that can be located far away from the service provider.

Cable TV Connection
Currently most households with cable TV have the option for cable modem Internet access. The cable modem offers a high-speed link at low cost for unlimited, "always connected" access. The connection speeds range from 128 kbps up to 10 mbps (megabits per second). The cable network is designed to support the highest speeds in the "downstream" direction, which is from the Internet to the client computer. This downstream speed affects the performance of downloading Web pages and software. The "upstream" bandwidth for data sent from a user's computer to the Internet is typically less, in the range of 200 kbps to 2 mbps.

 The benefit of the cable modem for Internet access is that, unlike DSL, its performance doesn't depend on distance from the central cable office. However, with the cable TV network, the computer is put on a Local Area Network (LAN) with other users in the neighborhood and like with any LAN, the performance degrades as usage increases.

ISDN
ISDNs are special digital telephone lines that can be used to dial into the Internet at speeds ranging from 64 to 128 kbps. These types of connections are not available everywhere telephone companies have to install special ISDN digital switching equipment. ISDNs require use of a special "digital modem" that sends and receives digital signals over ISDN lines. With an ISDN, the telephone line is divided into three channels (BRI - Basic Rate Interface), two-64 kbps B (bearer) channels that send data and one 16 kbps D (data) channel that sends routing information.

 This type of access is commonly referred to as 2B+D. To use the ISDN access to the Internet, an ISP has to offer the ISDN access. ISDN lines cost more than normal phone lines, so the telephone rates are usually higher.

Satellite
Satellite Internet service is another form of highspeed Internet connection. It employs telecommunications satellites to allow users to connect to the Internet. Typically, such connections are most popular in areas in which cable and DSL connections are either unavailable or unreliable. It is eight times faster than fastest analog telephone modems and three times faster than ISDN. However, it is not as fast as cable modems or DSL services, which both can provide more than megabits of bandwidth. Dial-up access provides an easy and inexpensive way for users to connect to the Internet, however, it is a slow-speed technology and most users are no longer satisfied with dial-up or ISDN connections. Fortunately, the broadband access, we once dreamed of, is now possible with TV cable, DSL and satellite links.

Wireless
In addition to broadband and dial-up services, web users are now able to connect to the Internet wirelessly, accessing the web without wires or cables of any type. Wireless technology allows users to have mobile connections, accessing the web (with some limitations) where and when they need to. This can be accomplished via public Wi-Fi networks, cellular services, and Wi-max a somewhat newer type of wireless service. These technologies vary in terms of connectivity, reliability, and cost, but they all allow users to connect whether they are at home, school, work, or on the road.

WWW
The World Wide Web, abbreviated as WWW and commonly known as the Web, is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet. With a web browser, one can view web pages that may contain text, images, videos, and other multimedia and navigate between them by using hyperlinks.

Web Browser
A web browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web. An information resource is identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) and may be a web page, image, video, or other piece of content. Hyperlinks present in resources enable users to easily navigate their browsers to related resources.

Most major web browsers have these user interface elements in common : Back and forward buttons to go back to the previous resource and forward again. A refresh or reload button to reload the current resource. A stop button to cancel loading the resource. In some browsers, the stop button is merged with the reload button. A home button to return to the user's home page An address bar to input the Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) of the desired resource and display it. A search bar to input terms into a search engine A status bar to display progress in loading the resource and also the URI of links when the cursor hovers over them, and page zooming capability

Search Engine
A web search engine is designed to search for information on the World Wide Web. The search results are generally presented in a list of results and are often called hits. The information may consist of web pages, images, information and other types of files. A search engine operates, in the following order Web crawling Indexing Searching

DNS
The Domain Name System (DNS) is a distributed hierarchical naming system for computers, services, or any resource connected to the Internet or a private network. Domain Name System (or Service or Server), an Internet service that translates domain names into IP addresses. Because domain names are alphabetic, they're easier to remember. The Internet however, is really based on IP addresses. Every time you use a domain name, therefore, a DNS service must translate the name into the corresponding IP address. For example, the domain name www.example.com might translate to 198.105.232.4.

Web/Net Surfing
The words Browsing or Surfing are used to describe the process of looking at documents, websites and web pages on the Internet. As mentioned earlier you will need to use a Web Browser for this. Many people will use Internet Explorer, which is the Microsoft Browser that is supplied with most PCs, but there are alternative (some say better) solutions such as Firefox and Opera. Browsing behaviour differs from person to person. To access a website you can either type the domain name (the website address more later) of the website directly into the address bar or you can use a search engine to search for the site using the business name or some other keywords that you know can be found on the website.

Web Page
A web page or webpage is a document or resource of information that is suitable for the World Wide Web and can be accessed through a web browser and displayed on a monitor or mobile device. This information is usually in HTML or XHTML format, and may provide navigation to other web pages via hypertext links. Web pages are requested and served from web servers using Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). Web pages may consist of files of static text stored within the web server's file system (static web pages), or the web server may construct the (X)HTML for each webpage when it is requested by a browser (dynamic web pages). Client-side scripting can make web pages more responsive to user input once in the client browser.

Website
A website is a collection of related web pages, images, videos or other digital assets that are addressed relative to a common Uniform Resource Locator (URL), often consisting of only the domain name, or the IP address. The first page of any website is known as home page. Static web site :A static website is one that has web pages stored on the server in the format that is sent to a client web browser. It is primarily coded in Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). Simple forms or marketing examples of websites, such as classic website, a five-page website or a brochure website are often static websites, because they present pre-defined, static information to the user. This may include information about a company and its products and services via text, photos, animations, audio/video and interactive menus and navigation.

Dynamic website
A dynamic website is one that changes or customizes itself frequently and automatically, based on certain criteria. Dynamic websites can have two types of dynamic activity: Code and Content. Dynamic code is invisible or behind the scenes and dynamic content is visible or fully displayed.

URL
Abbreviation of Uniform Resource Locator, the global address of documents and other resources on the World Wide Web. The first part of the address is called a protocol identifier and it indicates what protocol to use, and the second part is called a resource name and it specifies the IP address or the domain name where the resource is located. The protocol identifier and the resource name are separated by a colon and two forward slashes. Abbreviation of Uniform Resource Locator, the global address of documents and other resources on the World Wide Web. The first part of the address is called a protocol identifier and it indicates what protocol to use, and the second part is called a resource name and it specifies the IP address or the domain name where the resource is located. The protocol identifier and the resource name are separated by a colon and two forward slashes.

 For example, the two URLs below point to two different files at the domain pcwebopedia.com. The first specifies an executable file that should be fetched using the FTP protocol; the second specifies a Web page that should be fetched using the HTTP protocol: ftp://www.pcwebopedia.com/stuff.exe http://www.pcwebopedia.com/index.h tml

HTTP
HTTP, short for HyperText Transfer Protocol, is the underlying protocol used by the World Wide Web for transferring hypertext documents that makes the World Wide Web possible. A standard web address (such as http://www.google.com/) is called a URL; the prefix (http in the example) indicates its protocol. The Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is a networking protocol for distributed, collaborative, hypermedia information systems. HTTP is the foundation of data communication for the World Wide Web. The HTTP protocol is designed to permit intermediate network elements to improve or enable communications between clients and servers.

 HTTP functions as a request-response protocol in the client-server computing model. In HTTP, a web browser, for example, acts as a client, while an application running on a computer hosting a web site functions as a server. The client submits an HTTP request message to the server. The server, which stores content, or provides resources, such as HTML files and images, or generates such content on the fly, or performs other functions on behalf of the client, returns a response message to the client. A response contains completion status information about the request and may contain any content requested by the client in its message body. HTTP defines how messages are formatted and transmitted, and what actions Web servers and browsers should take in response to various commands. For example, when you enter a URL in your browser, this actually sends an HTTP command to the Web server directing it to fetch and transmit the requested Web page.

TCP/IP
(Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol)
TCP/IP is the communication protocol for the internet. TCP/IP defines the rule computers must follow to communicate with each other over the internet. IP - is responsible for moving packet of data from node to node. It handles the address part of each packet so that it gets to the right destination. Each gateway computer on the network checks this address to see where to forward the message. Even though some packets from the same message are routed differently than others, they'll be reassembled at the destination.

 TCP - is responsible for verifying the correct delivery of data from client to server. Data can be lost in the intermediate network. TCP adds support to detect errors or lost data and to trigger retransmission until the data is correctly and completely received. manages the assembling of a message or file into smaller packets that are transmitted over the Internet and received by a TCP layer that reassembles the packets into the original message. TCP/IP uses the client/server model of communication in which a computer user (a client) requests and is provided a service (such as sending a Web page) by another computer (a server) in the network.

Virus
A computer virus is a computer program that can copy itself and infect a computer. A true virus can spread from one computer to another (in some form of executable code) when its host is taken to the target computer; for instance because a user sent it over a network or the Internet, or carried it on a removable medium such as a floppy disk, CD, DVD, or USB drive.

 Electronic mail, commonly called email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages across the Internet or other computer networks. Originally, email was transmitted directly from one user to another computer. This required both computers to be online at the same time, a la instant messenger. Today's email systems are based on a store-andforward model. Email servers accept, forward, deliver and store messages. Users no longer need be online simultaneously and need only connect briefly, typically to an email server, for as long as it takes to send or receive messages. An email message consists of two components, the message header, and the message body, which is the E-mail's content. The message header contains control information, including, minimally, an originator's email address and one or more recipient addresses. Usually additional information is added, such as a subject header field.

E-mail

How Email Is Sent and Received

Email is transmitted as plain text across networks around the world using the SMTP protocol (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol). Mail transfer agents, or MTAs, work in the background transferring email from server to server allowing emails to be sent all over the world. SMTP allows each computer that the email passes through to forward it in the right direction to the final destination.

 Here is a simplified example of how email is successfully processed and sent to its destination: 1. [email protected] composes and sends an email message to [email protected]. 2. The MTA at hudson.org receives Andrew's email message and queues it for delivery behind any other messages that are also waiting to go out. 3. The MTA at hudson.org contacts the MTA at hudzilla.org on port 24. After hudzilla.org acknowledges the connection, the MTA at hudson.org sends the mail message. After hudzilla.org accepts and acknowledges receipt of the message, the connection is closed. 4. The MTA at hudzilla.org places the mail message into Paul's incoming mailbox; Paul is notified that he has new mail the next time he logs on.

 Of course, several things can go wrong during this process. Here are a few examples: What if Paul does not exist at hudzilla.org? In this case, the MTA at hudzilla.org will reject the email and notify the MTA at hudson.org of what the problem is. The MTA at hudson.org will then generate an email message and send it to [email protected], informing him that no Paul exists at hudzilla.org (or perhaps just silently discard the message and give the sender no indication of the problem, depending on how the email server is configured). What happens if hudzilla.org doesn't respond to hudson.org's connection attempts? (Perhaps the server is down for maintenance.) The MTA at hudson.org notifies the sender that the initial delivery attempt has failed. Further attempts will be made at intervals decided by the server administrator until the deadline is reached, and the sender will be notified that the mail is undeliverable.

 Originally, email was transmitted directly from one user to another computer. This required both computers to be online at the same time, a la instant messenger. Today's email systems are based on a store-and-forward model. Email servers accept, forward, deliver and store messages. Users no longer need be online simultaneously and need only connect briefly, typically to an email server, for as long as it takes to send or receive messages.

Telnet
Telnet is a user command and an underlying TCP/IP protocol for accessing remote computers. Through Telnet, an administrator or another user can access someone else's computer remotely. To start a Telnet session, you must log in to a server by entering a valid username and password. A Telnet command request looks like this (the computer name is made-up):

telnet the.libraryat.whatis.edu
The result of this request would be an invitation to log on with a userid and a prompt for a password. If accepted, you would be logged on like any user who used this computer every day.

 File Transfer Protocol (FTP), a standard Internet protocol, is the simplest way to exchange files between computers on the Internet. FTP works in the same way as HTTP for transferring Web pages from a server to a user's browser and SMTP for transferring electronic mail across the Internet in that, like these technologies, FTP uses the Internet's TCP/IP protocols to enable data transfer. FTP is most commonly used to download a file from a server using the Internet or to upload a file to a server (e.g., uploading a Web page file to a server). FTP is built on a client-server architecture and utilizes separate control and data connections between the client and server. FTP is used with user-based password authentication or with anonymous user access.

FTP

Usenet
Usenet is a world-wide distributed discussion system. It consists of a set of "newsgroups" with names that are classified hierarchically by subject. "Articles" or "messages" are "posted" to these newsgroups by people on computers with the appropriate software -- these articles are then broadcast to other interconnected computer systems via a wide variety of networks. Some newsgroups are "moderated"; in these newsgroups, the articles are first sent to a moderator for approval before appearing in the newsgroup. Unmoderated groups have no control over the posts that appear to the group, and must tolerate or ignore troublemakers and spam. USENET has grown to encompass a wide variety of forums or newsgroups numbering in the tens of thousands.

 Newsgroups are similar to the bulletin board systems (BBSs) of the 1980s. The main difference between USENET and a BBS is that a BBS commonly had a single, dedicated server utilized by people living in the immediate geographic area. USENET operates with a decentralized network of global news servers that share messages with one another in order to propagate posts worldwide. Participants can therefore discuss topics with people in other parts of the world.

Gopher
Gopher protocol is a TCP/IP Application layer protocol designed for distributing, searching, and retrieving documents over the Internet. Strongly oriented towards a menu-document design, the Gopher protocol was a predecessor of (and later, an alternative to) the World Wide Web. A system that pre-dates the World Wide Web for organizing and displaying files on Internet servers. A Gopher server presents its contents as a hierarchically structured list of files. Gopher was developed at the University of Minnesota.

Video Conferencing
A videoconference or video conference (also known as a videoteleconference) is a set of interactive telecommunication technologies which allow two or more locations to interact via two-way video and audio transmissions simultaneously. Videoconferencing uses telecommunications of audio and video to bring people at different sites together for a meeting. This can be as simple as a conversation between two people in private offices (point-to-point) or involve several sites (multi-point) with more than one person in large rooms at different sites. The core technology used in a videoconferencing system is digital compression of audio and video streams in real time. The hardware or software that performs compression is called a codec (coder/decoder).

 The components required for a videoconferencing system include: Video input : video camera or webcam Video output: computer monitor , television or projector Audio input: microphones, CD/DVD player, cassette player, or any other source of PreAmp audio outlet. Audio output: usually loudspeakers associated with the display device or telephone Data transfer: analog or digital telephone network, LAN or Internet.