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What is the Internet, Anyway?

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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
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