Many of you may not have noticed it, but the title is slightly sarcastic. Many people in today's world consider the internet to be something beyond comprehension... something that should be written all in capital letters. To disappoint you, and to remove the mysticism, the internet is only a bunch of computers, located around the world, that have been wired together. To join the internet, all you have to do is log on to any of these computers. So, when you see commercials promising you a "connection to the INTERNET", or "full INTERNET access", laugh. They are letting you use their computer system.
The easiest way to learn more about the history of the Internet is to read the following article included here without permission. A short history of the Internet
If you are reading this information on-line, you are already using the internet. The style (protocol) that you are looking at is called http, hyper-text transfer protocol. This is a fancy way of saying that if you click on "links" you will be brought to a different place. (In general, links are represented by underlined, blue words, or pictures outlined in blue.). Each place that you go to has an address, called an URL (Uniform Resource Locator). As with any address, it is located at a specific place on a specific computer. So, by typing in an address, or by clicking on a link, you may end up virtually anywhere.
There are other ways to move around the internet though. Such as using e-mail, which sends packets of information across the internet to the source and reassembles them. This is the most common use of the internet today. And best of all, no long-distance charges.
Telnet stands for ... well, telnet. It is a way for one computer to connect directly to another. This allows you to act like you are on another computer from the one you are on. Imagine that you came from Hong-Kong U (forgive me, I don't know any names of far away places) and you got very used to their computers there. BUT, you transferred here. By using Telnet you could log onto the system there and use the system you were familiar with from here.
IRC is the Internet Relay Chat server. This is a fun way to allow you to connect to many people across the world in real-time. Thus allowing you to hold conversations with them.
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