WWW: Beyond the Basics

23. Internet for the Masses

by Theodoros P. David

ABSTRACT

Despite the explosive growth of the World-Wide Web and the Internet in general, the percentage of the world's population that gets connected to the world's biggest network is not as impressive. There are two main obstacles blocking the "masses", i.e. the general public out of the Information Highway. First, the Internet can only be accessed through a computer. Second, the overwhelming majority of today's netisens use telephone lines via slow modems to access the Internet. But the introduction of the Word Wide Web (WWW) has made it almost impossible to access Web pages which are rich in multimedia content.

The purpose of this chapter is to investigate ways to overcome these two obstacles. New emerging technologies in both the end-user Internet device and the communication medium promise to make Internet for the masses a reality.

CHAPTER CONTENT

  1. Introduction
  2. Internet Devices
    1. Network Computer (NC)
    2. Who will use the NC
    3. How the NC works
    4. Security on the NC
  3. Broadband Public Networks
    1. Cable TV Networks
      1. Cablemodem
      2. Internet over Cable TV Networks
    2. Telephone Networks
      1. Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN)
      2. Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL)
    3. Satellite Networks
  4. Conclusions

    References

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Copyright © 1996 Theodoros P. David, All Rights Reserved

Theodoros P. David <tdavid@vt.edu>
Last modified: Mon Dec 16 1:16:15 1996