RFC 1935 (rfc1935) - Page 1 of 11
What is the Internet, Anyway?
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
Network Working Group J. Quarterman
Request For Comments: 1935 S. Carl-Mitchell
Category: Informational TIC
April 1996
What is the Internet, Anyway?
Status of This Memo
This memo provides information for the Internet community. This memo
does not specify an Internet standard of any kind. Distribution of
this memo is unlimited.
Copyright (c) 1994 TIC
From Matrix News, 4(8), August 1994
Permission is hereby granted for redistribution of this article
provided that it is redistributed in its entirety, including
the copyright notice and this notice.
Contact: , +1-512-451-7602, fax: +1-512-452-0127.
http://www.tic.com/mids, gopher://gopher.tic.com/11/matrix/news
A shorter version of this article appeared in MicroTimes.
Introduction
We often mention the Internet, and in the press you read about the
Internet as the prototype of the Information Highway; as a research
tool; as open for business; as not ready for prime time; as a place
your children might communicate with (pick one) a. strangers, b.
teachers, c. pornographers, d. other children, e. their parents; as
bigger than Poland; as smaller than Chicago; as a place to surf; as
the biggest hype since Woodstock; as a competitive business tool; as
the newest thing since sliced bread.
A recent New York Times article quoting one of us as to the current
size of the Internet has particularly stirred up quite a ruckus. The
exact figures attributed to John in the article are not the ones we
recommended for such use, but the main point of contention is whether
the Internet is, as the gist of the article said, smaller than many
other estimates have said. Clearly lots of people really want to
believe that the Internet is very large. Succeeding discussion has
shown that some want to believe that so much that they want to count
computers and people that are probably *going to be* connected some
time in the future, even if they are not actually connected now. We
prefer to talk about who is actually on the Internet and on other
networks now. We'll get back to the sizes of the various networks
later, but for now let's discuss a more basic issue that is at the
Quarterman & Carl-Mitchell Informational