Internet

A worldwide system of computer 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). The Internet was originally developed for military usage, and then became widely used for academic and commercial research. 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).

The most widely used part of the Internet is the World Wide Web. Its outstanding feature is hypertext, a method of instant cross-referencing. In most web sites, certain words or phrases appear in text of a different color than the rest; often this text is also underlined. When you select one of these words or phrases, you will be transferred to the site or page that is relevant to this word or phrase. If you move the pointer over a spot on a web site and the pointer changes into a hand, this indicates that you can click and be transferred to another site. Web browsing is done with a web browser. The appearance of a particular web site may vary slightly depending on the browser you use.

Glossary of IP Communications