The terms “the Internet” and
“the Web” are often used as if they are the same thing. They’re not, and
understanding the differences can help make things a lot clearer.
The Internet has been in
development since the 1960’s, and is a way to allow different computers around
the World to talk to one another. Whether it is downloading a pdf file from a
website, or chatting to a friend over Skype – it is the Internet that connects
the computers together. The Internet is not actually a single physical network
– it’s just a set of rules (Internet Protocols) that allow different networks
to communicate.
When you connect your computer
to the Internet, it joins this network – and you can send or receive
information from any other computer or server online.
The Web (or World Wide Web) is
the system of web pages and sites that uses the Internet to pass the files
across. It was developed in the late 1980’s by Tim Berners-Lee, and you need a
Web Browser to access it. This could either be in a PC, a mobile phone or one
of the new iPods.
The Web is just one of many
services that use the Internet – other services include e-mail, internet
telephony and peer-to-peer file transfers. In the not-too-distant future, most
people will probably get all their TV programmes piped down the Internet as
well. And, looking deeper into my Crystal Ball I see people being digitally
transferred from location to location.
Since many of the services that
use the Internet (such as e-mail) can now be accessed through websites, the
confusion is likely to get worse.
In simple terms, just remember
that the Internet is the computer network, theWeb is a service that uses it.
No comments:
Post a Comment