4  definitions  found 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  internet 
  n  :  worldwide  network  of  computer  computer  networks  that  use  the 
  TCP/IP  network  protocols  to  facilitate  data  transmission 
  and  exchange  [syn:  {cyberspace}] 
 
  From  Jargon  File  (4.2.3,  23  NOV  2000)  [jargon]: 
 
  Internet  n.  The  mother  of  all  networks.  First  incarnated 
  beginning  in  1969  as  the  ARPANET,  a  U.S.  Department  of  Defense  research 
  testbed.  Though  it  has  been  widely  believed  that  the  goal  was  to  develop 
  a  network  architecture  for  military  command-and-control  that  could  survive 
  disruptions  up  to  and  including  nuclear  war,  this  is  a  myth;  in  fact 
  ARPANET  was  conceived  from  the  start  as  a  way  to  get  most  economical 
  use  out  of  then-scarce  large-computer  resources. 
 
  As  originally  imagined,  ARPANET's  major  use  would  have  been  to 
  support  what  is  now  called  remote  login  and  more  sophisticated  forms 
  of  distributed  computing,  but  the  infant  technology  of  electronic  mail 
  quickly  grew  to  dominate  actual  usage.  Universities,  research  labs 
  and  defense  contractors  early  discovered  the  Internet's  potential  as 
  a  medium  of  communication  between  _humans_  and  linked  up  in  steadily 
  increasing  numbers,  connecting  together  a  quirky  mix  of  academics, 
  techies,  hippies,  SF  fans,  hackers,  and  anarchists.  The  roots  of  this 
  lexicon  lie  in  those  early  years. 
 
  Over  the  next  quarter-century  the  Internet  evolved  in  many  ways. 
  The  typical  machine/OS  combination  moved  from  {DEC}  {PDP-10}s  and 
  {PDP-20}s,  running  {TOPS-10}  and  {TOPS-20},  to  PDP-11s  and  VAXes  and 
  Suns  running  {Unix},  and  in  the  1990s  to  Unix  on  Intel  microcomputers. 
  The  Internet's  protocols  grew  more  capable,  most  notably  in  the  move 
  from  NCP/IP  to  {TCP/IP}  in  1982  and  the  implementation  of  Domain  Name 
  Service  in  1983.  It  was  around  this  time  that  people  began  referring 
  to  the  collection  of  interconnected  networks  with  ARPANET  at  its  core  as 
  "the  Internet". 
 
  The  ARPANET  had  a  fairly  strict  set  of  participation  guidelines  - 
  connected  institutions  had  to  be  involved  with  a  DOD-related  research 
  project.  By  the  mid-80s,  many  of  the  organizations  clamoring  to  join 
  didn't  fit  this  profile.  In  1986,  the  National  Science  Foundation  built 
  NSFnet  to  open  up  access  to  its  five  regional  supercomputing  centers; 
  NSFnet  became  the  backbone  of  the  Internet,  replacing  the  original 
  ARPANET  pipes  (which  were  formally  shut  down  in  1990).  Between  1990 
  and  late  1994  the  pieces  of  NSFnet  were  sold  to  major  telecommunications 
  companies  until  the  Internet  backbone  had  gone  completely  commercial. 
 
  That  year,  1994,  was  also  the  year  the  mainstream  culture 
  discovered  the  Internet.  Once  again  the  {killer  app}  was  not  the 
  anticipated  one  -  rather,  what  caught  the  public  imagination  was  the 
  hypertext  and  multimedia  features  of  the  World  Wide  Web.  Subsequently 
  the  Internet  has  seen  off  its  only  serious  challenger  (the  OSI  protocol 
  stack  favored  by  European  telecom  monopolies)  and  is  in  the  process 
  of  absorbing  into  itself  many  of  the  proprietary  networks  built  during 
  the  second  wave  of  wide-area  networking  after  1980.  It  is  now  (1996)  a 
  commonplace  even  in  mainstream  media  to  predict  that  a  globally-extended 
  Internet  will  become  the  key  unifying  communications  technology  of  the 
  next  century.  See  also  {the  network}  and  {Internet  address}. 
 
 
 
  From  The  Free  On-line  Dictionary  of  Computing  (13  Mar  01)  [foldoc]: 
 
  Internet 
 
    (Note:  capital  "I").  The  Internet  is  the  largest 
  {internet}  (with  a  small  "i")  in  the  world.  It  is  a  three 
  level  {hierarchy}  composed  of  {backbone  networks} 
  (e.g.  {ARPAnet},  {NSFNet},  {MILNET}),  {mid-level  networks}, 
  and  {stub  networks}.  These  include  commercial  (.com  or  .co), 
  university  (.ac  or  .edu)  and  other  research  networks  (.org, 
  .net)  and  military  (.mil)  networks  and  span  many  different 
  physical  networks  around  the  world  with  various  {protocols}, 
  chiefly  the  {Internet  Protocol}. 
 
  Until  the  advent  of  the  {World-Wide  Web}  in  1990,  the  Internet 
  was  almost  entirely  unknown  outside  universities  and  corporate 
  research  departments  and  was  accessed  mostly  via  {command 
  line}  interfaces  such  as  {telnet}  and  {FTP}.  Since  then  it 
  has  grown  to  become  an  almost-ubiquitous  aspect  of  modern 
  information  systems,  becoming  highly  commercial  and  a  widely 
  accepted  medium  for  all  sort  of  customer  relations  such  as 
  advertising,  brand  building,  and  online  sales  and  services. 
  Its  original  spirit  of  cooperation  and  freedom  have  to  a 
  great  extent,  survived  this  explosive  transformation  with  the 
  result  that  the  vast  majority  of  information  available  on  the 
  Internet  is  free  of  charge. 
 
  While  the  web  (primarily  in  the  form  of  {HTML}  and  {HTTP})  is 
  the  best  known  aspect  of  the  Internet,  there  are  many  other 
  {protocols}  in  use  supporting  applications  such  as 
  {electronic  mail},  {Usenet},  {chat},  {remote  login},  and  {file 
  transfer}. 
 
  There  were  20,242  unique  commercial  domains  registered  with 
  {InterNIC}  in  September  1994,  10%  more  than  in  August  1994. 
  In  1996  there  were  over  100  {Internet  access  providers}  in  the 
  US  and  a  few  in  the  UK  (e.g.  the  {BBC  Networking  Club}, 
  {Demon},  {PIPEX}). 
 
  There  are  several  bodies  associated  with  the  running  of  the 
  Internet,  including  the  {Internet  Architecture  Board},  the 
  {Internet  Assigned  Numbers  Authority},  the  {Internet 
  Engineering  and  Planning  Group},  {Internet  Engineering 
  Steering  Group},  and  the  {Internet  Society}. 
 
  See  also  {NYsernet},  {EUNet}. 
 
  {The  Internet  Index  (http://www.openmarket.com/intindex)}  - 
  statistics  about  the  Internet. 
 
  (2000-02-21) 
 
 
 
  From  The  Free  On-line  Dictionary  of  Computing  (13  Mar  01)  [foldoc]: 
 
  internet 
 
    (Note:  not  capitalised)  Any  set  of  networks 
  interconnected  with  {routers}.  The  {Internet}  is  the  biggest 
  example  of  an  internet. 
 
  (1996-09-17) 
 
 

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