Thursday, September 6, 2007
Introduction
The history of the Internet depends on whose version of history you read. Many have written their story of what they believe to be the origins of this revolutionary tool. I've read and researched a variety of articles over the years and have found some to be complete and utter nonsense while others although inconceivable for the time rang true and stood out from the others. I was fortunate enough to get involved with the Internet at the beginning of the rage, just as it was becoming popular and ISPs were popping up everywhere. I worked in an ISP think-tank in San Francisco, California and worked with men and women who got involved with the Internet in the mid-80s. They were my mentors and we worked together at enhancing the Internet user experience and developing connections that would bring it into the homes of millions of people.
When It All Began
This first iteration of the Internet we know today had a very different objective from its first design in 1969. Initially, it was intended to be a research test bed for network computing, communication protocols that would allow networked computers to communicate, and computer and data resource sharing. This first generation of the Internet is known as ARPANET (Advanced Research Project Agency Network) and was the result of defense department funding working in concert with dedicated computer scientists. Because of the dedication of these computer scientists, we now have the TCP/IP protocol suite.
But the vision of networked computers began much earlier when a series of articles was published by Dr. J.C.R. Licklider, of MIT in 1962. The articles talked about a "Galactic Network". This Galactic Network was a concept where Licklider envisioned a globally interconnected community where the time-sharing of programs, data, and information was commonplace. Later on, Licklider went on to become the first head of computer research at DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency). While there, he was successful at convincing his successors, Ivan Sutherland, Bob Taylor and MIT researcher Lawrence P. Roberts of the importance of this vision and work began to develop a time-shared computer network.
The Timing of the Internet
Certainly the timing of the Internet had come. Packet network technology was now more than a theory and in fact packet development conducted by MIT (1961-1967) the RAND Group (1962-1965) and by the NPL in the UK (1964-1967) had all been done simultaneously without the researchers knowing of each others work or so it is said.
Leonard Klein at MIT published the first paper on packet switching theory in 1961 and later authored the first book on the subject in 1964. Due to his early development of packet switching theory, his Network Measurement Center at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) was selected as the first node in ARPANET. Not long after, Stanford Research Institute (SRI) was selected as the second node because of Doug Englebart's project on "Augmentation of Human Intellect" which included oNLine System (NLS) an early hypertext system. Shortly thereafter, the first host-to-host message was sent from UCLA. Later, two more nodes were added; UC Santa Barbara and the University of Utah.
Much to the surprise of those developing ARPANET, their computer network turned out to be something more than a means for computer-to-computer communication, and the most common use of ARPANET became human-to-human communication using electronic mail and discussion lists.
By 1971, ARPANET grew to 15 nodes including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), RAND, Bolt Beranek and Newman, Inc. (BNN), Systems Development Corporation, Harvard, Lincoln Lab, UIU (C), CWRU, Carnegie-Mellon University and NASA/Ames.
ARPANET continued on as a means for computer scientist and academics to conduct research, and share research data. And in 1973, ARPANET made its first international connection to the University College of London and the Royal Establishment in Norway.
CSNet is Introduced
But ARPANET wasn't by any means a public network and many Computer Science departments didn't have the privilege of access. So, a new computer network was created by the U.S. National Science Foundation in the early 1980s as an alternative to ARPANET. This new network was the Computer Science Network (CSNet) and it linked the Computer Science departments of any university or research institution together.
The two networks still were private and in 1986 the National Science Foundation funded yet another network (NSFNet). NSFNet launched with the intention of being an "open" network that would allow academic researchers' access to university and research institute supercomputers. NSFNet went online in 1986 and was the fastest network with a 56kbit/s backbone and NSFNet used the TCP/IP protocols. NSFNet was quickly popularized and in 1988 the network upgraded to a 1.5Mbit/s then again to 45Mbit/s in 1991.
Private Sector Networks
ARPANET and CSNet, although restricted, were however revolutionary and inspirational in their making. They led the private sector to develop and create similar type private networks and quickly Local Area Networks (LANs) were everywhere and shortly thereafter, Wide Area Networks (WANs) were common for large businesses until finally the reality of an "Internet" or "Galactic Network" emerged. And, with TCP/IP protocols used, many commercial networks were joined together in the US and Europe.
I'm not sure if the pioneers of the Internet had envisioned then how quickly the Internet would evolve, and now with the growing need for information in real time, enhancements continue to improve our "galactic network". Perhaps this was all part of Licklider's vision, but unfortunately, he passed away in 1990 and only witnessed the brink of the Internet rage.
The Internet At Home
In the early 90s, once the Internet became available to "average" folks, homes and small businesses were only a phone call away from becoming part of the Internet by using a dial-up connection. At that time, the Internet was considered lightening fast when the 28.8 modem hit store shelves. And, Internet Service Providers were more and more available. The Internet had begun its migration from an academic resource pool to the commercial giant of today.
The Global Internet
Now, only a decade or so later, high speed Internet is in nearly every corner of the globe. The need for an instant response from the Internet is more and more important with the information age. It seems no one can resist the compelling urge to "logon" and meander through the Internet searching for that special recipe or the latest book that can be delivered to your door. Shopping is much easier and the Internet even lets you travel to destinations like the Smithsonian and the Louver for a virtual tour or have groceries delivered to you home.
And now, Licklider's "galactic network" has now reduced the distance of where we can go in the world today. With more and more resources available for students and more and more recognizable shopping centers and hobby shops, our "galactic network" drives us to want and expect more from our computers and have faster, safer and more reliable connections with high speed DSL, broadband or satellite connections. Dial-up connections are still very popular and now you can add a Web Accelerator if you don't qualify for a DSL or Cable connection.
Today's Internet
The future of the Internet is anyone's guess. Now that we can get important e-mail right on our cellular phones or instant access with our Personal Digital Assistant (PDAs) there's no telling just how far technology will take us. And the number of applications used on the Internet keeps expanding. With products like Voice over IP (VoIP), Internet Call Waiting and Caller ID, and Internet Fax Service, our professional lives have become more automated and more instant allowing us to be more productive in other ways.
New telephony and Internet transport speeds are bound to be enhanced to provide even faster connections for dial-up and home users. Already, with DS3 and fiber technology, our businesses have dedicated instant access to virtually anything we want to know.
So, all the work and dedication that went into developing the Internet rage has enabled us to work and live far differently and some might think even better than our forefathers expected. So, a special thanks to those responsible for creating this new "galactic network" we call the Internet. To those of you researching the history of the Internet, I hope this article helps with understanding the origins. Please note that the Internet runs several applications one of which we call the web. The web or World Wide Web was developed much later and is a principal feature of the Internet. The two however, are distinctly different.
Promote Residual Affiliate Programs
This interesting article addresses some of the key issues
regarding Affiliate marketing. A careful reading of this material
could make a big difference in how you think about
Affiliate marketing.
Are you a webmaster in need of additional income? Or
are you planning to set up an online business but you still
don't have any product to sell? If so, affiliate marketing
may be the best solution for your problems. With affiliate
marketing, you won't need to worry about the products you
have to sell. All you need to have is a website with
sufficient contents that are related to the products of a
certain online company offering affiliate programs.
By becoming a member of the program, or by becoming an affiliate,
you can start earning a certain amount of money right away!
Affiliate marketing is some sort of business relationship
established between a merchant and his affiliates. In affiliate
marketing, an affiliate agrees to direct some traffic to a
merchant's website. If that traffic is converted into some
kind of action, like a visitor purchasing a product on the
merchant's website or a visitor becoming a lead for the company,
the affiliate who directed the traffic will be compensated.
Compensation may take the form of either a percentage sales
commission for the sales generated or a fixed fee predetermined
upon the application of the affiliate on the merchant's
affiliate program.
Promising a lot of benefits both for the merchants and the
affiliates, affiliate marketing has become one of the most
popular online marketing methods today. In fact, almost every
merchant or retailer site today offers an affiliate program that
any one can join into. Most retailers would entice people to
become affiliates or members of their program by promising great
benefits like large commissions, lifetime commissions, click
through incomes and a lot of other benefits. But would all
these affiliate programs bring off the same benefits?
Most affiliate programs would pay you, as an affiliate, a
one-time commission for every sale or lead you brought to the
merchant's website. Commissions for this kind of affiliate
programs are usually large, ranging from 15% to a high of about
60%. Other affiliate programs would pay you a fixed fee for every
click through or traffic you send to the merchant's site.
Programs like this often pay a smaller fee for every click through,
usually not getting any larger than half a dollar. The good
thing about this kind of program, however, is that the visitor
won't have to purchase anything in order for the affiliate to
get compensated.
Another type of affiliate program is the residual income affiliate
program. Residual affiliate programs usually pay only a small
percentage of sales commission for every sale directed by the
affiliate to the merchant's site. This commission often comes
only in the range of 10% to 20% sales commission. Because of
this, many people ignore residual affiliate program and would
rather opt for the high paying one-time commission affiliate
program. Are these people making a mistake, or are they making
the right decision?
We can't tell, for sure, if people are making a mistake by choosing
a high paying one-time commission affiliate program. But we can
definitely say that they are making a large mistake if they ignore
residual affiliate programs. Residual affiliate programs would
indeed pay at a lower rate, but merchants offering such kind of
programs would generally pay you regular and ongoing commissions
for a single affiliate initiated sale! That means, for the same
effort you made in promoting a particular affiliate program, you
get paid only once in a one-time commission program, and a regular
and ongoing commission for a residual program!
So, are the benefits of promoting residual affiliate programs
clearer to you now? Or are they still vague? If they are still
vague, then let's make them a bit clearer with this example.
Suppose there are two online merchants both offering web hosting
services on their sites. The first merchant offers a one-time
commission type of affiliate program that pays $80 for every
single affiliate initiated sale. The second merchant also offers
an affiliate program, but this time a residual affiliate program
that pays only $10 for every single affiliate initiated sale.
As an affiliate, we may get attracted at once at what the first
merchant is offering, as $80 is definitely a lot larger than $10.
But by thinking things over before actually getting into them,
one may be able to see that the second merchant is offering us
more opportunity to earn a larger amount of money.
Supposed you have directed traffic to the merchant and it converted
into a sale, you'll get paid once by the first merchant for the
sale you have initiated. But with the second merchant, you'll get
paid monthly for as long as the customer you have referred to the
merchant continues to avail of the web hosting service. That
means that for the same effort of getting one customer to avail
of the merchant's service, you get paid monthly in residual
affiliate programs while you only get paid once in a one-time
commission type of affiliate programs.
So, are residual affiliate programs worth promoting? Definitely
yes, because you virtually get more money from these types of
affiliate programs in the long run! And would residual affiliate
programs work best for you? Probably not, probably yes. It is
not really for me to tell. But with the benefits that residual
affiliate marketing can provide, it would really be unwise to
ignore such programs.
There's no doubt that the topic of Affiliate marketing can be fascinating.
If you still have unanswered questions about Affiliate marketing, you
may find what you're looking for in the next article.
Eugenijus Sakalauskas
E-Ezine - Free marketing recourses,
website promotion tips
Subscribe to our FREE Internet home business
and website marketing secrets E-course.
and Get $247 value an amazing 15 bonuses now.
http://ezine.pluginnetproefit.com/
http://pluginnetproefit.com/
Subscribe: mailto:plugin@freefollowup.co
Just How to Make Money Online
Hello my name is Paul and I have been marketing online for a few years now. I have read many books and subscribed to many newsletters. Been a part of many affiliate programs. I basically know my way around online. I wanted to to share something I have come across. The main reason is it is that it is all in one package rather than learning the hard way as I have done. Everything that I have studied online about on how to make money online is in this collection. It's been a troubled road for me finding out how to succeed. Then you find out it costs an arm and a leg just to get the information to show you how. Whether you want to start your own website, get more traffic to a website you already have, be successful with an affiliate program, start your own affiliate program, make a killing on ebay, resell an exceptional product, or build a list. Everything is here in this collection.
I must tell you it took me some trials and tribulations to finally find this information in one place. I believe what I am sharing with you WILL save you some time online. There will be no more spending hundreds of dollars to find out how to make money online. All your information and tools for success are here. Have a look at this amazing collection of 130 ebooks and software package with all the tools to succeed online there for you. You will be doing yourself a favor and you will not be disappointed. I am surprised at the prices people are charging for information on how to succeed online it is ridiculous. This collection is a steal at the price charged. Just check it out. http://www.ebooksuccess.biz
|
