Chapter . Internet Applications

The Internet and Its Applications

What makes the Internet useful and interesting to the average person is not the network, but rather the applications that operate on the network. The two most common Internet applications in use today are e-mail and web browsers.

E-Mail

E-mail is one of the most common network applications in use today. Although it might seem relatively new, e-mail was invented in the early 1970s. Back then, of course, there was no Internet as we know it today, so having e-mail was a bit like owning a car before there was a highway system.

Today, e-mail is so widespread that ISPs just assume that you want an e-mail address and automatically assign you one (or even several) when you begin your service ...

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