What was the intended use of the internet?

Question

I was sitting here, surfing away on the web, and then I wondered.... Anyone know why the internet was originally invented?

And on a side question... how does it work?? I'm curious now!

Answer 1

Wikipedia has an informative article on the background leading up to the 'birth' of the Internet:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARPANET

Asking how it works is somewhat like asking how the human body works. There are many different technologies which come together to make the Internet possible. One needs to have a basic understanding in the areas of computer technology, software, data representation, telecommunications, electronics and network routing to be able to piece together the knowledge to provide a meaningful explanation of the how the Internet truly works.

It's easiest to first understand how two devices can communicate with each other directly to at least eliminate the complexities of routing. If you have the time, it's all there on Wikipedia.

Answer 2

It was originally intended as a way for the government / military and universities involved in related research to continue communicating even when communications were interrupted, for instance, by a nuclear attack. The government first went to AT&T, whose technology at the time was based on circuit-switched networks (setting up a dedicated line between two parties), but what the DOD wanted was a packet-switched network (where the path between the two parties might change, be broken, etc., but reestablish / reconfigure itself in a situation where the links were unreliable).

An early version of this was the ARPANET, which grew, more or less into the Internet we know today.

In the 1980's, then-senator Al Gore, a strong advocate of making technology more publicly available, suggested making the ARPANET open to a larger audience, so that a wider community of people could make use of it, as he saw it as being of potential, though indefinite, benefit. I actually have a physical copy of the article he wrote, quoted in its entirety, from the technical journal "Communications of the ACM". In 1994, a few online services such as Delphi (which I used at the time) provided on-line access to the "brand new" Internet, whose primary interfaces at the time were "gopher" and FTP, rather than HTML.

I know a lot of people don't like to believe it, but Gore did have an influencing role in the Internet becoming what it is now. I was there when it happened and I remember it.

Probably not what you were interested in, but I hope this helps.

Answer 3

The one I used in college, there was no "Net" was used primarily between the medical department and the classes/ library for the extended purposes of quicker learning, getting the info quicker.
Then it was patched to the other buildings like the English Literature and some others, Finally to a inside "Net" that combined other Universities.

Answer 4

no, no,no. It was REALLY invented by the US Army back in the 1970's in order for high ranking generals to send messages back in forth covertly. It was later used in experimentation by universities as a new medium for mass communication.

Answer 5

Originally it was created by scientists as a way of sharing information and getting feedback...or so I have read. I have no idea how it works...but then, I don't really know how today's telephone works either.

Answer 6

Communication for buisnesses to exchange information to other states.

Thats what i learned in my Web Page Design class ^^

Answer 7

It aws invented for the military.

Answer 8

Wikipedia is a very useful tool to answer questions like this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Internet

Answer 9

it originally was to basically send letters to their friends down the road but then they figured out how to send it far away.How it works well go to this site http://www.theshulers.com/whitepapers/internet_whitepaper/index.html