Internet history

The Internet has been around for much longer than most people think, with its roots able to be traced back to the 1960s. This web site will give you an insight into the background and development of the medium. Youll find information on its rapid growth, the fierce competition generated and the major players involved. Clear goals have driven some, whilst others have become household names almost by accident. Find fascinating facts on a phenomenon that has changed communication to an extent which was previously totally unimaginable. 1960s: Advent of packet-switching network heralds birth of Internet 1968: US Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) furthers packet-switching development 1970s: ARPA introduces network for defence and develops e-mail. US universities join network 1973: First intercontinental network connection as University College of London joins network 1975: Bill Gates creates Microsoft as PC sales grow 1979: USENET is developed, pushing Internets rapid expansion 1985: Forerunner of America Online (AOL) is launched by Steve Case 1990: Tim Berners-Lee develops Internet computer language and address system 1991: WorldWideWeb browser and server software made available by Tim Berners-Lee 1993: Mosaic, the first properly developed web-browser, takes Internet by storm 1994: First World Wide Web Consortium conference held 1995: Amazon launched by Jeff Bezos 1995: eBay basis set by Pierre Omidyar 1995: Yahoo launched by David Filo and Jerry Yang 1998: Google opens its doors 1998: ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, is born 2004: Google stock market launch 2005: Google invests US$ 1 billion for 5% stake in Time Warners AOL 2006: Number of websites tops the 100,000,000 mark 2007: Launch of Windows Vista 2008: Bill Gates retires. Launch of Google Chrome

ARPA and Internet

At the beginning The Internet began to evolve when packet-switching networks came into operation in the 1960s. When transmitted, data is broken up into small packets, sent to its destination and then reassembled. In this way a single signal can be sent to multiple users. Packets can be compressed for speed and encrypted for security. ARPANET moves it forward Early packet-switching networks were set up in Europe. In 1968, a similar system was developed in the USA which went into operation at the US Defence Department's Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) in 1969. ARPA, also called ARPANET, used Network Control Protocol (NCP) as its transmission protocol from 1969 to 1982, when NCP was replaced with the now widespread TCP-IP (Transmission Control Protocol - Internet Protocol). With the technology in place, the question was what to do with it! A number of interconnected US military computers formed the first sizable Internet for defence use. E-mail developed through ARPANET as did the bulletin-board system, Usenet in the 1970s/80s. During this period all major universities in the USA were connected to the network. This was found to be the ideal method of sharing experimental and educational data. 1973 saw the first intercontinental connection when the University College of London, England, joined the Internet. USENET spurs it on USENET contributed enormously to the Internets rapid expansion and is considered to have begun in 1979. Its spirit of information sharing and discussion was the hallmark of its system and was reflected in the Internet as a whole. When personal computers were introduced in the late 1970s, a huge new and ever-expanding computer population was introduced to the Internet. E-mails was increasingly used, network discussions took place and in the 1980s, communities formed chat rooms. The World Wide Web widens its horizons 1991 saw the introduction of what we now call the World Wide Web, the brainchild of Englishman Tim Berners-Lee. He saw the need for a standard linked information system which could be accessed by all the various types of computers in use. In 1993 the first properly developed web-browser, Mosaic, took the Internet by storm. Developed at the National Centre for Supercomputer Applications (NCSA), it gave birth to a huge boom in Web usage. What is the Internet? Today, the Internet is an enormous network of millions of computers allowing constant communication throughout the world. It includes: the World Wide Web, electronic mail (e-mail), File transfer Protocol (FTP), Internet Relay Chat (IRC) and USENET (news service) The World Wide Web is the part of the Internet that most users see and use and which has made it so popular. The web continues to grow at an absolutely incredible rate. Technology has improved to such an extent that the web is now considered to be indispensable for education, business and entertainment. There are billions of pages on the web and thousands more are added every hour. E-Mail Anyone can apply for an e-mail address and send and receive messages from their computer. The main benefit is the almost instantaneous delivery of messages. An e-mail to the other side of the world takes a

few seconds. You can also sign up to automatically receive newsletters and other information, delivered directly to your computer. File Transfer Protocol Web pages are transferred between computers using the HTTP protocol, with other types of files sent using FTP. Users can share files, such as music and videos between themselves and the rest of the world by uploading them to a server and then allowing others to download them to their own computers. Internet Relay Chat IRC is a service allowing you to connect to your chosen channel and talk to others with the same interests. By downloading an appropriate programme, you can start chatting right away. USENET USENET (Unix User Network) is a system of bulletin boards whereby messages and points of view can be posted to be read and replied to. Similar to IRC, all sorts of topics are discussed and a wide range of groups take part. There is no doubt that the Internet will have an increasing influence on the world in future.

Tim Berners-Lee
Father of the Web In 1976, Tim Berners-Lee graduated from Oxford University, England, where hed built his first computer with a soldering iron using a Motorola microprocessor and an old television set. He then spent two years working for major Telecom equipment manufacturer Plessey Telecommunications Ltd, in Dorset, UK. In 1978 Tim went to D.G Nash Ltd, also in Dorset, where he wrote software for intelligent printers and also a multitasking operating system. He then spent eighteen months as an independent consultant. During this time, from June to December 1980, he carried out work as a consultant software engineer for CERN (well-known European Particle Physics Laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland). Whilst there, he wrote a programme for storing information including using random associations, for his own use. He called it "Enquire", but it was never published. However, this programme was the basis for the future development of the World Wide Web. Between 1981 and 1984, Tim worked for Image Computer Systems Ltd, responsible for technical design. In 1984, he took up a fellowship at CERN, to work on distributed real-time systems for scientific data acquisition and system control. During this time he also worked on FASTBUS system software and designed a heterogeneous remote procedure call system. In 1989, he submitted a proposal to CERN to develop an information system thus creating a web of information. CERN didnt react, but he started working on it anyway. It was based on his previous "Enquire" work and designed to enable people to work collectively and combine their knowledge in a web of hypertext documents. In 1990, he wrote the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) - the computer language, which would be used to communicate hypertext documents on the Internet. He also designed a system to provide document addresses on the Internet. Tim Berners-Lee called the address a Universal Resource Identifier (URI). (This is now generally known as a URL -Uniform Resource Locator.)

By the end of 1990, he had also written a programme (browser) to retrieve and view hypertext documents. This he called "WorldWideWeb." He went on to write the first web server the software, which stores web pages on a computer for others to access. Tim then set up the first server as info.cern.ch at CERN and tried to awaken interest in introducing the system in the company to link data between their various incompatible systems. But bureaucracy reigned and his efforts went unrecognised. So he turned his attention to the Internet community and in 1991 made his WorldWideWeb browser and server software available on the Internet. Web growth and misgivings As the number of Web users grew, it became more and more appealing as a medium. Sharing information became much simpler. It was far easier to post information on the Web once than reply repeatedly to multiple requests for the same data. Official bodies, required to publicize their information, also turned to the Web. The Web became even more attractive as the amount of available information increased. The number of sites and users grew constantly and the number of visitors to the info.cern.ch server grew by a factor of ten each year. By summer 1993, the site was getting ten thousand hits a day. Tim Berners-Lee was delighted with the growth - but also had misgivings. He considered the Web to be a serious medium and was concerned that the visual-appeal being introduced would cause it to become frivolous. He was also concerned that the huge success would lead to such fierce competition that the open nature of the Web would be endangered. Tim recognised that a control of some sort was necessary to maintain a smooth running Web. However, a controlling body should not be able to alter the basic freedom and openness of the Web. World Wide Web Consortium On May 24, 1994, the first WWW conference was held at CERN. At the conference, Tim Berners-Lee spoke of his idea to create a consortium to assist the Webs smooth development. He spoke of his aims; that no one should control the Web and that a consortium should help parties agree on how to work together while also withstanding any attempt by an institution or company to take control. In July of 1994, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) agreed to host the consortium. MIT would be the American headquarters and CERN the European headquarters. Later CERN dropped out and France's National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Control became the European headquarters. Tim Berners-Lee moved to MIT in Boston to head the consortium, now known as the World Wide Web Consortium or simply W3C. Its purpose was to lead the Web to its full potential, primarily by developing common protocols to enhance its interoperability and evolution." Membership would be open to any organization and any member would be free to participate in any meeting or working group put together by the consortium. The W3C develops open technical specifications that can be used free by anyone. These specifications are reached by a very democratic process. Any member can suggest a new project and if given sufficient support, the project proceeds. Once completed it is released by the consortium as a "recommendation." The W3C does not enforce its recommendations, but simply encourages everyone to adopt them. The modest man In 1997, Timothy John Berners-Lee was awarded an OBE In 2003, Tim was awarded a knighthood for his pioneering work. The famously modest man said he was "quite an ordinary person", and although it felt strange, he was "honoured".

In 2004, the Finnish Technology Award Foundation named him as the first winner of the Millennium Technology Prize. This is prestigious award, worth 1 million. The honour is bestowed as an international acknowledgement of outstanding technological innovation that directly promotes people's quality of life, is based on humane values, and encourages sustainable economic development.

ICANN
What is ICANN? ICANN - the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers - is an international, non-profit organization that has assumed responsibility for Internet Protocol (IP) address space allocation, protocol identifier assignment, generic (gTLD) and country code (ccTLD) Top-Level Domain name system management and root server system management functions. ICANN states that: it is dedicated to preserving the operational stability of the Internet; to promoting competition; to achieving broad representation of global Internet communities and to developing policy appropriate to its mission through bottom-up, consensus-based processes. Domain Name System The Internet is considered to be non-hierarchical. The World Wide Web Consortium aims are that no one should control the Web and that the consortium should help parties agree on how to work together while also resisting any attempt by an institution or company to take control. However, the Internet relies on a centralized hierarchy to manage the Domain Name System (DNS). A domain name, such as www.internet-story.com, has to be unique in order for e-mails to be correctly routed and web sites found. This basic requirement of individuality, to avoid two people using the same domain name, creates the need for some sort of body to monitor name allocation. However it is precisely this control which in effect awards a degree of power over the Internet. Whoever controls DNS also decides how names and routing numbers will be assigned to websites and other Internet resources. As the Internet developed, the DNS was voluntarily controlled by the National Science Foundation and U.S. Government contractors. Therefore the DNS was in fact under the control of the U.S. Government. This progressively became a political and legal issue as the Internet expanded. Attractive domain names became increasingly rare, speculators registered trademarks as domain names in the hope of a quick profit and disputes escalated. Other governments became more and more concerned about U.S. control of an essential element of the Internet, the global importance of which was rapidly growing. ICANN is born In 1998, the U.S. Department of Commerce (DoC) and an agency of the department - the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) brought out a Green Paper proposing privatisation of the management of Internet names and addresses to ensure global participation in DNS management. This was followed by a meeting of an international group and the formation of ICANN as a private non-profit Californian corporation. Its role was to hold responsibility for the coordination and management of the technical aspect of the Domain Name System and ensure so-called universal resolvability to allow all Internet users to find valid addresses. ICANN has no function with regard to other Internet issues such as Internet content, rules governing financial transactions, unsolicited e-mail (spam) or data protection. ICANN is governed by an international board of directors with members from Australia, Brazil Bulgaria, Canada, China, France, Germany, Ghana, Japan, Kenya, Korea, Mexico, the Netherlands, Portugal, Senegal, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The international staff ensure that ICANN meets its operational commitment to the Internet community. ICANN states that participation is open to all who have an interest in global Internet policy as it relates

to ICANN's mission of technical coordination. ICANN provides many online forums which can be accessed via ICANN's website and the supporting organizations and advisory committees have active mailing lists for participants. In addition, ICANN holds public meetings throughout the year. Controversy remains But some degree of controversy still remains. ICANN lacks much of the accountability normally found in companies which are accountable to stakeholders and are in competition in the marketplace. ICANN is a non-profit organization and in essence a monopoly. It also has a unique relationship with the U.S. Department of Commerce. The question is asked - who exactly governs the Internet?

ISOC
Internet Society Known as ISOC, the Internet Society comprises over 20,000 individual members from over 100 organizations in more than 180 countries. Since 1992, the principle aim has been to maintain and extend the availability of the Internet and all its associated technologies, in order for individuals and organizations of all kinds to enjoy closer global communication and thus cooperation in all respects and in all fields. This involves liaison with other organizations, governments and the public in general, in order to maintain, further develop, spread and harmonize Internet standards as a whole; to maintain and develop effective administration processes on a global scale; to provide Internet related education and research and to assist developing countries in introducing and developing an efficient Internet infrastructure. The societys guiding principles call for a self-regulated and open use of the Internet; without censorship; with freedom from excessive restrictive controls; without any kind of discrimination; without constraints on the encryption of information by users and encouraging cooperation between networks. The Internet Society provides direction on issues regarding the Internets future development and is also home to other groups involved in the Internet infrastructure, including the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and the Internet Architecture Board (IAB). The needs of an ever-expanding universal Internet community are supported by the societys annual International Networking (INET) Conference and other sponsored events. The Society is governed by a board of 20 trustees elected by its international members. Each trustee holds office for three years unless a shorter term is specified.

Provider, Server, Hosting

The Internet is a complex global network of computer networks linking millions of computers. All these computers can communicate with one another via Internet, bringing people from all over the world into contact. In addition it provides the millions of Internet users with access to a vast amount of information on virtually any subject. Servers This is a computer that runs a software programme controlling access and providing the functions required by network users. In principle, a server carries out requests from network users, providing people with speed, efficiency and thus increased productivity. A server optimises system performance and

dispenses with peer to peer connections. Instead of having to wade through files on numerous other computers, the server holds all data which can be accessed by all connected to it. Centrally stored data is available instantly and simultaneously to all authorised network users, whatever their location. Basically a server is a powerful computer which carries out numerous requests at an incredible speed and automatically optimizing user productivity. This system also forms the basis of Internet access. Internet providers Obviously it would be impossible to connect each and every computer directly with cables. This is where an Internet Access Provider (IAP) comes in. This is a company which provides access to the Internet and the actual hardware to connect some type of dedicated data line from its network source to your computer. It also provides and manages the send & receive data stream. Most Internet providers generally hire space on their server for web site storage. A modem is required for Internet access. Modems In simple terms, a modem is a device which allows your computer to communicate with other computers via a communications link. A modem converts computer data into the format used on the communications connection and the remote modem converts that transmission back into data. Modems vary in shape, size and type, depending on the connection system. Some are integrated into the computer, others have an external connection to the computer. Connection to the Internet may be made via a modem for a standard telephone, cable network, DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) or a wireless system. Broadband is a term often heard regarding Internet access and simply means high speed Internet access. Routers In order to cope with the immense number of message transfers, the network contains a substantial number of switching points called routers. A router is a computer which communicates with more than one network running software to allow it to move data between networks Routers receive messages and direct or route them along the correct networks to the desired destinations. So-called routing protocols have been devised in order for large networks with many sub-networks to automatically recognize where the various networks are and move data automatically between them. Web Hosting To have a web site on the Internet, you need a web server but owning one is very expensive. This problem is solved by a web host. Instead of you having to fathom out how all the technology works, a web hosting company will do it for you and rent you space for your web site on the companys web server. So effectively your web host provides Internet space for your web site and also those of others. This costs a great deal less buying a server and you still retain control over the construction and configuration of your individual web site. Domain Name A domain name is your web address, allowing access to your web site. It is often referred to as URL (Uniform Resource Locator) which describes the address for any document on the Internet. The name should be simple and easy to remember to make it readily accessible to all wishing to visit it. Domain names are usually coupled with e-mail accounts and end with .com (commerce), .net (network), .org (organization) or very often the official abbreviation for a specific country. WLAN Wireless local-area network is a local-area network which uses radio waves instead of wires to communicate data, providing opportunities for new applications and increased network flexibility. WLAN users can access networks and information from far beyond the walls of their usual static location, which may still have a wired system. But wireless LANs may also simply provide a connection between

the basic wired network and various users with access to information on that network. This is of enormous benefit to all kinds of employees who are not tied to a desk and who can use hand-held or notebook computers. For example: hospital staff, external auditors, construction-site managers, network managers, warehouse managers, teachers and their students the list is endless. The huge expansion of the Internet and its online services and todays reliance on networking make WLAN an ideal tool for sharing data in all spheres. And although wireless LAN hardware may be more expensive than wired systems, the ease and speed with which a WLAN system can be installed - no pulling cables or installing unsightly conduits usually more than offset an additional cost of hardware. There are various technology options for WLAN solutions: Spread Spectrum is the most common, using a wideband radio frequency technique. It is considered very efficient, reliable and secure. It uses more bandwidth than narrowband transmissions but produces a louder, more easily detected signal provided that the receiver is tuned to the correct frequency. Otherwise the signal appears like background noise. Narrowband This is a radio system which transmits and receives on a specific radio frequency, keeping the signal as narrow as possible. Cross-talk between communication channels is avoided by coordinating different users on different channel frequencies. Its similar to a telephone line, in as much as one private phone user cannot listen in to a conversation made by another private user. A radio receiver filters out all signals except those on its designated frequency. Frequency-Hopping Spread Spectrum Technology FHSS uses a narrowband carrier that changes frequency in a pattern recognized by the transmitter and receiver. Effectively, correctly synchronization maintains a single logical channel. To an unintended receiver, FHSS appears as a short-duration impulse noise. ISDN Integrated Services Digital Network provides digital data service over traditional analogue telephone lines. It was intended to be the solution for providing faster Internet connection in comparison to the slow data delivery of traditional modems. But it lost out to cable modems and DSL (digital subscriber lines), which do the same. ISDN sends and receives data at rates of up to 128Kpbs and carries voice and data transmission on the same line. The installation requires the telephone company to set up a network interface device which has to be wired to the analogue telephone line. An ISDN adapter has to be installed in the computer together with the appropriate software. A connector plugs into the adapter at one end and into the telephone line at the other. The computer uses the ISDN line instead of a dial-up modem. But it took some time to cure technological teething problems, despite the fact that development started back in the early 1980s. Installation was problematic and service expensive. At one time ISDN was thought to be the all-embracing answer to problems such as solution voice-data integration, image handling and live collaboration. It has never lived up to those expectations but nevertheless is still a good solution for users in remote places where DSL and cable modems are not available. ADSL Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line, often referred to as broadband, is a technology allowing you to enjoy very fast Internet access. It provides connection speeds of up to 20 times the speed of a standard dial-up installation. There are no dial-up charges, no second phone line is required and the major benefit is that the Internet connection is always on. So there are savings on telephone charges - both on calls and line rental and large amounts of data can be downloaded very quickly. Also, despite the fact that you may have only one line, you can still use the telephone and Internet at the same time. This has the obvious advantage of not missing calls while online, as both voice and data can be transferred at the same time. ADSL functions by placing a splitter on the existing telephone line to enable multi-frequency

communication. This splits a telephone line signal into two separate channels, one for voice and one for data. Wi-Fi Wireless Fidelity, is a general term used to refer to a product or service using any type of 802.11 technology. Wi-Fi networks operate in the unlicensed radio bands - 2.4 and 5 GHz, with an 11 Mbps (802.11b) or 54 Mbps (802.11a) data rate, respectively. Wi-Fi-enabled devices, such as notebook computers or PDAs, can send and receive data over-the-air from any location equipped with Wi-Fi access. This functions by means of access points installed within a WiFi location that transmit an RF signal to Wi-Fi enabled devices sited within range of the access point. To simplify: WiFi is also a local-area network (LAN) that uses high frequency radio signals to transmit and receive data over distances of a hundred to a few hundred feet. With unencrypted Wi-Fi, e-mail, every password and every Webpage can be read by any other user on that Wi-Fi network. That means that only secure (encrypted) e-mails should be sent and a password or confidential information should never be entered on a Webpage over Wi-Fi unless it is a secure connection. Cable modem A cable modem connects a computer system to the Internet using the cable TV network. Cable Internet technology allows for much faster data transfer rates of millions of bits per second. However, that bandwidth is usually divided amongst all subscribers within a defined area and the effective transfer rate, though still fast, is much slower per individual user. A cable modem Internet connection is always on and dialling up unnecessary. If the computer is turned on, all you need do is click the e-mail or Internet icon to connect. A modem gets its name from the words modulate and demodulate. That is to say it is a device which modulates and demodulates a signal between an analogue network (e.g. a phone) and a digital end device (e.g. a computer). The early cable modems did the same, but with a cable TV signal. These days however, many cable Internet service providers are changing to a fully digital network for everything, including TV signals. So the term cable modem will soon be replaced by the correct term cable terminal device.

E-Commerce
Business on the Internet Electronic-commerce
Business was once conducted by barter. Money was invented to make it easier but business was still conducted face-to-face. Then along came the telephone and buying and selling could be carried out at the end of a cable. People no longer had to actually go to the market. E-commerce is an extension of that cable. These days you can conduct business without in reality handling goods or cash. But e-commerce is much more that merely a substitute for traditional shopping. E-commerce operates from business to consumer and business to business. Amazon is a typical example of business-toconsumer e-commerce, but buying and selling stocks & shares and managing your bank accounts also fall under this category. Business-to-business e-commerce goes further and includes electronic data exchange or interchange (EDI), a speedy, automated system of information exchange between companies who work closely together. Another example is standardization of specifications within a given field, for ease of price calculations in a competitive market.

E-commerce is an ideal medium. Sending data over a network is more efficient and much faster than traditional methods and thus, far more cost effective. E-business This is really nothing more than using the Internet and its related technologies to conduct normal business operations. Whether in advertising, sales, purchasing, human resources, marketing or management, the Internet can be used to increase productivity, reduce costs and thus increase turnover. In other words its a management tool. And whats more, its a management tool that is accessible to all businesses, whether a one-man-operation or a large corporation. E-banking or net banking This is one of the management tools of e-business. It provides efficiency for banks and businesses and convenience for individual customers. All banking functions can be carried out via the Internet: checking the status of accounts, transferral of funds between accounts, carrying out financial transactions, even using the account for online purchases. However one concern remains security The Internet is a huge advantage, but as it is so public, security remains very much an issue on which much effort has been and still is being expended. The most common breach of security is information gathering, usually without your knowledge. For example with: Cookies When using a browser to surf the Internet, a cookie is a small file set to and from the browser so that the website can track your movements on that site perhaps as a registered customer. In this way cookies are useful. However, they can also be used to track your web movements to provide information to others, such as details of websites you visit, purchases made, where payments have been made by credit card. Cookies can be disabled with the advantage of preventing some websites from gaining information, but the disadvantage is that many websites work better using cookies. E-mails Once you start using e-mail youll soon be unable to imagine life without it. Not only can you send and receive texts, but also attachments with pictures, sound documents and even video clips. Unfortunately very often some of these attachments are unwanted to the point of being illegal. In addition, viruses that can destroy computer data can be spread via e-mail. Safety tips Install a fire-wall programme to reduce the risk of hackers gaining access to your computer and protect it from Internet-borne threats such as spyware. Install an anti-virus programme so that your computer recognizes and eliminates any infected data received. Install an anti-spyware programme to recognize and eliminate any spyware which will get through. A simple tip: if you receive a suspicious e-mail attachment, drag and drop it on to the computer desktop and with a right mouse click scan it with your anti-virus programme. Be generally very cautious about giving personal details online. If you want to go a stage further, there is software which allows you to surf the web anonymously. Some safety systems EFT: Electronic fund transfer. Electronic transfer of value.

Encryption: Encoding data so that only the desired recipients can decode and read it. It provides protection when transmitting sensitive data. SET: Secure electronic transactions. A standard for safe e-commerce developed by credit card providers and others. TLS: Transport Layer Security a widespread security and privacy mechanism for the web. The effect of Internet on business Weve all heard the saying Its a small world. Internet has indeed made the world even smaller and brought people closer. Perhaps not physically, but certainly in a virtual sense. With its communication advantages, the Internet revolution has touched practically every aspect of our private and professional lives. There is no doubt that its effects will grow. Communication costs will reduce. Travel time and costs will reduce as electronic data transfer increases. Information availability will explode even further and education will be available to remote areas. Trade via Internet will rapidly increase. The market will expand and be easier to reach. Decentralisation of the work place may even eventually reduce or eliminate rush-hour traffic. But new problems will undoubtedly appear, some of which are already affecting us. Internet security and privacy. New Internet rules and regulations. Unwanted data. Terrorist propaganda..and and and... One thing is for sure this is just the beginning!

AOL
Development and growth. America Online (AOL), originally founded in 1985 by Steve Case as Quantum Computer Services, launched its first online service, Q-Link, in November. Steve was born in 1958 in Honolulu. By January 1986, Q-Link had a total of 10,000 users. In October 1991, Quantum changed its name to America Online, Inc. and successfully launched itself on the stock exchange on 19 March 1992. By 1993, AOL was providing Internet access to about 500,000 members and offering its own online services. In 1994 membership had increased to over 1 million. At this time AOL also acquired various companies: Internet applications developer BookLink Technologies; Internet publishing tools developer NaviSoft and multimedia publishers Redgate Communications. In 1995, AOL reached 4.5 million members and was rated Best Consumer Online Service by various IT magazines and the Information Industry Association. Share value rose from the initial $ 11.50 to over $ 58. 1995 also saw the launch of rival Microsoft Network (MSN) and a network war began. In 1996 AOL services reached 7 million members and AOL France, AOL UK and AOL Canada were introduced. Growth continued in 1997 with the addition of AOL Japan. By this time e-mail services had reached enormous proportions, already outstripping the US Postal Service. In 1998 AOL surpassed the 15 million member mark, formed a partnership with Sun Microsystems and acquired CompuServe and Netscape. AOL also continued to expand with the launch of AOL Australia. By 1999 AOL had over 20 million members and acquired yet more companies: When Inc, MovieFone, Inc, Spinner.com, Winamp, SHOUTcast, Tegic Communications, and Digital Marketing Services Inc. It also moved into the high-speed DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) market.

AOL also launched in Hong Kong and Brazil. In 2000 AOL and Time Warner announced merger plans to create the worlds largest media company to be called AOL - Time Warner, a combination of AOLs online services and Time Warners huge media and cable assets. Further growth continued as AOL moved into Argentina and Mexico. By now membership had increased to over 26 million and iAmaze, Quack.com, and MapQuest Inc. were acquired. In 2001, as the AOL - Time Warner merger was completed, membership passed the 33 million mark. Alliances with Amazon.com, AT&T and eBay took place to speed development of online services including shopping, music and messaging. In 2002, AOLs customer base exceeded 34 million members using over 1 billion Internet hours per month. This year also saw the introduction of AOL for Small Business and Broadband Radio@AOL. Burst bubble takes its toll Despite all these apparent successes, the bursting of the late 1990s tech industry economic bubble had already radically effected the companys combined worth. Huge amounts of advertising revenues from dot.com companies also disappeared and in 2002 the AOL element was considered to be the weakest part of the company. Time Warners problems left them with a multi-billion dollar debt. A number of AOL Time Warner assets were either closed or sold. Bouncing back But by the first quarter of 2003, the worlds largest media concern was able to announce a profit of $396 million. Turnover had also increased by 6% to $10 billion for the quarter. For the same period the previous year, the company had declared a record loss of over $54 billion following value adjustments and write-offs. AOL was the only division of Time Warner to have a reduction in turnover and profit. In the first quarter of 2003 AOL lost almost 300,000 of its over 26 million customers in the USA. In 2004, Time Warner as a whole was able to record substantial profits and even the online division AOL increased its quarterly turnover by 2% to over $2 billion. However, the company was still losing customers in the USA and Europe. But despite this, Time Warner has regained confidence and seems set to expand in all its divisions. But that was back then. As it turned out, the companys share price stagnated and investor criticism grew, spurred on by Carl Icahn, an activist shareholder and challenger of Time Warners management. In 2005, in a move to stem the tide, Time Warner CEO, Dick Parsons, announced that the company was considering buying back billions of dollars of its own stock and distributing more of its cable TV sector to shareholders. At the same time, he recognized that a balance had to be maintained in returning capital to shareholders to avoid creating too much debt and possibly leaving the company in a weak position should other opportunities arise. It was also indicated that as a company priority, AOL would change from an Internet service provider to an advertising-driven Internet site ultimately providing growth opportunities. Amidst all this, there was an unconfirmed report that Time Warner was considering an AOL Microsoft Corporation MSN alliance. Time will tell!

Amazon
The early days In summer 1994, former investment banker Jeff Bezos left New York for Seattle, Washington to create an online bookstore. The web site was launched in July 1995 to sell books through the Internet. These were the early days of Internet and the web site was unattractive. However it worked quite well despite a lack of key information such as publication dates. And Tom Alberg from the Madrona Venture Group was impressed enough to invest $100,000 in Amazon in 1995. Amazon quickly became more than an online bookstore. It soon became a community in which customers could create book reviews online and research others before buying. It became not just a case of buying books but also of sharing opinions. Rapid growth In 1996, its first full financial year in business, Amazon generated $15.7 million in sales. In May 1997, Amazon.com raised 54 million in an initial public offering as it launched itself on the stock market. In October 1997 Jeff Bezos himself hand-delivered Amazons 1-millionth order to a customer in Japan. One year after its stock market launch, Amazon added music CDs and videos to its web site. It then followed up with five more product categories electronics, software, toys, video games and home improvements. This was growth at absolutely breakneck speed and many onlookers thought that the rapid growth policy would indeed break their necks. But early investors, such as Nick Hanauer, were convinced that Amazon would make a profit. However, profits didnt come quite so quickly. Instead Amazon grew at express speed and profits were waived for the sake of growth to make it impossible for others to duplicate their achievement. Its said that Hanauers initial $40,000 investment was at one time valued at $250 million. Hanauer apparently still keeps an old T-shirt from Amazons early days that reads: "Eat another hot dog, get big fast!" The end of 1999 saw annual sales reach $1.6 billion and on 10 December, Amazons stock closed at an all-time high of $106.69. And in the same month, Time Magazine named Bezos "Person of the Year," calling him the "King of Cybercommerce." But just one month later, the King's crown slipped badly. Amazon.toast Amazon fired 150 workers as part of a reorganization plan. Five days later, they reported a loss of $323 million for the fourth quarter, but promised lower losses in future. But the subsequent fourth quarter saw losses exceed that amount by more than $200 million. By the summer of 2000, Amazon's share price had dropped by almost 70% and analysts began to criticize the company for venturing into too many products and spreading itself too thinly. Speculation on Wall Street suggested that Amazon would file for bankruptcy or be bought out. Some even clearly warned investors to avoid buying Amazon stocks. Gloom and doom mongers gave the company various labels such as Amazon.toast or Amazon.bomb as the collapse of the worlds largest e-tailer was predicted. In early 2001, when Amazon reported a huge fiscal loss of

$1.4 billion - the company's worst-ever annual performance - Jeff Bezos finally came up with an answer. Changing focus In January 2001, the companys chief executive promised a profit by the year-end. But expenses had to be cut and the business restructured. 1,300 workers (about 15 percent of its work force) were laid off. Two warehouses and a Seattle customer-service centre closed. Jeff Bezos gave orders to get rid of crap and cease selling unprofitable products. The company concentrated on streamlining its storage, packaging and delivery operation. It boosted its online offer by becoming an online shopping portal, offering and selling products from companies such as Toys R Us and Target. It also competed with eBay through Amazon Auctions. By the end of 2001, Jeff Bezos had kept his word. Amazon reported its first profit with fourthquarter earnings of $5 million. It was clear that one quarter of profits would not be enough but since then profits have steadily improved. This was only achieved by continuously pushing sales and increasing business efficiency and also expanding the products offered on the web site. 10 years on Nearly 10 years on and Jeff Bezos name remains synonymous with the company. Hanauer, who describes his long-time friend as the smartest man in the world is pretty sure that Jeff Bezos will head Amazon for some time to come. "He remains as single-mindedly focused on Amazon now as he ever was says Hanauer. Amazon has survived and is also making a profit - a fact that many analysts and observers doubted would ever happen. The company has grown into a multibilliondollar business and is now not only the undisputed leader of Internet commerce but also reaping a profit. Its community of almost 40 million customers will help it retain its market lead.

ebay
The story goes that founder Pierre Omidyar wanted to call it Echo Bay, but the name had already been registered by a Canadian company mining for gold in Nevada. So Pierre Omidyar chose eBay. The Mac days Pierre Omidyar is the founder of eBay. He was born in Paris in 1967, the only child in a FrenchIranian family. At the age of six, the family emigrated to the United States and he grew up in and around Washington, D.C. Pierre was bitten by the computer bug at a very early age, sneaking out of the gym to teach himself on his science teachers cheap computer. He later graduated to an Apple II and got paid to computerize the schools library catalogue. In the mid-1980s, Pierre Omidyar went to Tufts University near Boston. His main subject was computer science and Apple programming became his obsession. Apple had become a sort of cool trendy alternative to the major computer companies. Pierre did all his work on a Macintosh from his dorm room, rather than use the PCs in the computer laboratory. He created his first Mac programmers utility tool for other programmers. He got a summer job as an intern in Silicon Valley with Innovative Data Design, a company which wrote image programmes for Macs. This

led to a full-time job and Pierre Omidyar took the following semester off to continue working. After completing a further semester at Tufts University, he moved to the University of CaliforniaBerkeley, where he finished his degree. A bit of business pays off In 1991, Pierre Omidyar teamed up with a colleague to found the Ink Development Corporation producing software for pen-based computers. This was the technology which - it was thought would replace the keyboard with a stylus. It did not! However, Ink Development had also developed some software tools for online commerce. They changed direction and re-launched as an electronic retailer eShop. In 1994, things werent moving fast enough for Pierre Omidyar and so he left eShop. He kept a fair- sized stake in the company and when it was bought by Microsoft two years later, became a millionaire before the age of 30. A story As legend has it, in summer 1995 Pierre Omidyar was dining with his fiance, Pam Wesley, when she mentioned that she was having problems finding PEZ collectors with whom to trade. PEZ, originally breath-freshener mints (later fruit-flavoured sweets) in dispensers with character heads, had become collectors items. This, so the story goes, gave Pierre the eBay idea. But actually it is not true. The fact is that Pierre Omidyar was following all other computer freaks in trying to find a use for the Internet. The dawning Though Pierre Omidyar had never been to an auction in his life, he believed that an auction could be an interesting marketing tool. Place an advert giving a minimum price and if several people show an interest - why not let them bid? At the time, Pierre Omidyar was employed by a company called General Magic and so had to do his programming in his spare time. Over a long weekend, he created an auction web site. It didnt look very appealing, nor did he have a clue as to what the public might want to auction. He just created various categories: antiques, books, comics, computer items, electronics. and called the site AuctionWeb. At the beginning the site was free and slowly began to attract visitors. Traffic on AuctionWeb steadily increased through the autumn of 1995 and by the end of that year AuctionWeb had hosted thousands of auctions with over ten thousand bids. Time to cash in In 1996, Pierre Omidyar decided to start charging sellers a percentage of the final sale price. He had no idea whether it would be accepted or not, but soon the cash and cheques came rolling in. AuctionWeb was one of the few to make a profit right from the start. By June, revenues had doubled for the fourth consecutive month, reaching $10,000. Pierre Omidyars hobby had become a business. He left General Magic and hired his first part-time employee, Chris Agarpao. Its said that at this time, the staff sat around on folding chairs and DIY style desks were delivered in cardboard boxes to be screwed together by the employees. It is also said that there was only one single telephone and the staff were not allowed to answer it. Anyway, the number was kept secret because Pierre Omidyar wanted to keep costs to a minimum. The intention was that any customer

with a query should send an e-mail. By August, AuctionWeb was so successful that it was joined by Jeff Skoll, a go-getting entrepreneur who had done some consulting work for AuctionWeb. Pierre Omidyar believed that Jeff Skoll was the man to develop and drive the business. Around this time, the laidback dot.com types were faced by men-in- suits with economic degrees, who had the task of making money while the more relaxed Omidyar tended the AuctionWeb web site and community. In 1998 eBay as it was now called, was launched on the stock exchange. Although the launch was very successful Odymar was not particularly satisfied. He had envisaged an auction in typical eBay style with the eBay community having a bite of the cherry, but Wall Street and the American stock exchange laws saw it differently. But in 1999, the casual approach almost brought ruin. Technology had been neglected and on 10 July, the whole computer system crashed and stayed down for 22 hours. Without backup! Luckily the company weathered the storm, got the system back up and running and very quickly invested millions in state-of-the-art technology. A few years later Today its clear that Pierre Omidyars perception has paid off. He quite simply believes that the human race is basically good. At the beginning, many prophesied that it could not work complete strangers dealing with complete strangers. But it is now obvious that it does. He also believes that the Internet community should remain the central philosophy, fearing a steady commercial takeover. But some things have changed. Pierre Omidyar never wanted advertising on the web site. However, these days eBay is one of the favourite sites for banner advertising. Now known as eBay, the San Jose-based company has become the largest person-to-person online trading community. eBay used the web to create a totally new market in the form of an auction. It now has over 1,000 categories and bids are placed at the rate of over 600 per minute. It is said that over 250,000 items are added daily and that it has sold over 45 million items since its conception in 1995. The site has about 50 million registered users and employs a staff of over 2,500. One of the most expensive items to be sold (as yet) was a Gulfstream II jet for $4.9 million! Despite his wealth - he is now a multibillionaire - Pierre Omidyar remains a modest man. In 2004 he was still driving around in a beat-up VW convertible.

Microsoft
The birth of Microsoft William Henry Gates, better known throughout the world as Bill Gates, was born on 28 October 1955 in Seattle, Washington. His family was well-known in the worlds of business and politics. In his early school days, it became clear that he had inherited many of the excellent qualities of his forefathers. In elementary school he rapidly stood out, outstripping the abilities of his peers. Recognizing his intelligence, his parents enrolled him at Lakeside, a private school renowned for its academic emphasis. This decision ultimately set the course of Bill Gatess future. It was at Lakeside that he first made his acquaintance with computers.

First computing experience In spring 1968, Lakeside decided to introduce its students to the world of computers. Although computers were then too large and expensive for the school to buy, it bought computer time on one owned by General Electric. The few thousand dollars earned through a fund raiser was considered enough to buy ample computer time. However, Lakeside had totally underestimated the pulling power that the computer would exert on its pupils. A few of the Lakeside students, including Bill Gates, became completely fascinated with the computer. They spent day and night writing programmes and soaking up knowledge through computer literature. Classes were skipped, homework often remained undone and - worst of all computer time soon ran out! In autumn 1968, a company called Computer Center Corporation opened in Seattle offering computer time at reasonable rates. Lakeside School and Computer Center Corporation entered into an agreement allowing provision of computer time for Lakesides students. The young hackers soon started causing problems, making the system crash several times as well as breaking the security system. They were banned from using the system for some weeks. In late 1968, Bill Gates, his friend Paul Allen and two others from Lakeside founded the Lakeside Programmers Group. Their aim was to apply their computer knowledge in the outside world. The opportunity arrived faster than expected. The Computer Center Corporation was having problems with weak security and a system which frequently crashed, resulting in loss of business. Having been impressed by the earlier roguish activities of the students with Lakesides computer time, the Computer Center Corporation hired them to expose weaknesses in its computer system. In return the Lakeside Programmers Group received unlimited computer time. Bill Gates and his friends took this opportunity to pick the brains of the Computer Center Corporations employees for any new information and developments and it was during this time that Bill Gates and Paul Allen really began to acquire the skills and knowledge which, seven years later, led to the founding of Microsoft. A bit of business In March 1970, the Lakeside Programmers Group had a setback and had to find a new way to get computer time when the Computer Center Corporation went out of business following financial problems. They got their break when Information Sciences Inc. hired them to develop a new programme. They received not only free computer time but also royalties if money was made from the groups programmes. Bill Gates and Paul Allen then branched out on their own and formed a company called Traf-O-Data, producing a small computer to monitor traffic flow. This made them about $20,000. During their years at Lakeside, Bill Gates and Paul Allen continued to search for opportunities to profit from their computing skills. The opportunity came when defence contractor TRW experienced computer problems similar to those at the Computer Center Corporation. TRW offered Bill Gates and Paul Allen the job of fixing the bug-infested computer system. It was at this time that the two first considered forming their own software company. On to basics

In autumn 1973, Bill Gates joined Harvard University. Undecided as to what to study, he took the standard freshman course. He did well but his heart wasnt in it. Once again he immersed himself in the world of computers. During this time, Bill Gates and Paul Allen stayed in contact, discussing ideas, projects and the possibility of opening a software business. In December 1974, Paul Allen was on his way to meet Bill Gates when he bought a magazine that had caught his eye. Popular Electronics pictured the Altair 8080 on its cover with the headline "World's First Microcomputer Kit to Rival Commercial Models." They both knew that the home computer market was about to take off and that this was their big chance. Someone had to make software for these new computers. Bill Gates called MITS (Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems), the makers of the Altair and told them that he and Paul Allen had developed a BASIC that could be used on the Altair. They hadnt actually written anything. Nor did they have an Altair! However, MITS were unaware of this and wanted a demonstration of their BASIC. Intensive work began to prepare the promised programme. Eight weeks later it was ready. Paul Allen flew to MITS to demonstrate and test their creation. Paul Allen had never touched an Altair before. If the Altair simulation he had designed on the schools computer, or any of Bill Gatess code was faulty, failure was highly likely. He entered the programme into the companys Altair and the it immediately worked perfectly. MITS struck a deal with Bill Gates and Paul Allen to buy the programme rights. By now Bill Gates was convinced that the software market had been born. Within a year, he had left Harvard and in 1975 Microsoft was founded. The browser war But Bill Gates almost missed the opportunity provided by Internet. At one time, he even considered it to be merely a passing fad. However, once Microsoft had realised Internets potential, the company not only rapidly caught up but overtook its competitors. In 1995 Netscape Navigator was the leading more or less standard browser with a 90% market share. The only competition came from a few browsers under development such as Mosaic and Lynx. Microsoft licensed Mosaic as the basis of Internet Explorer 1.0 which was released with Microsoft Windows 95 Plus Pack, quickly followed by Internet Explorer 2.0. The race for supremacy had begun. Rapid release of new versions of Netscape and Explorer followed. Netscape was essentially a relatively small single product company. Microsoft had two distinct advantages: resources and a monopoly in the operating systems market. Internet Explorer was included in every copy of Microsoft Windows. The result was that using revenue from Windows, Microsoft Explorer was rapidly improved and was soon as good as Netscape Navigator. Users no longer found it necessary to install Netscape Navigator. Today Internet Explorers market share is estimated at 90%. Microsoft is todays world leader in software, services and internet technologies for personal and business computing. It employs over 56,000 people worldwide, has subsidiaries in about 90 countries. The companys net revenue in 2003 was over $32 billion. New software launch In 2007, Microsoft Corporation CEO Steve Ballmer could hardly hold back his excitement at the launch of Windows Vista and the 2007 Microsoft Office System in New York and admitted that he

was too keyed up to sit down. He was clearly enthusiastic and optimistic as he gave his projections for Vista sales. He anticipated that in the first three months, five times as many copies of Vista would be sold as Windows 95 in the same period following its launch, and expected to sell double the amount of Vista compared to Windows XP in that time. Ballmer pointed out that it was 12 years since Microsoft had launched a new version of Windows and Office simultaneously and noted that significant changes had taken place since Windows and Office 95 were launched. Today, the PC with its access to mobility, communication and entertainment plays a major role in peoples lives. Both Vista and Office 2007 had been designed to take maximum advantage of this. Steve Ballmer made four basic points: Vistas ease of use with a new Aero interface, the new ribbon and integrated search in Vista, the focus on security, with better parental control and anti-phishing features, the properties for maximising the use of digital entertainment, movies, games and photos and the provision of easy access and connection to multiple computers, other devices and to the Internet Following the introduction, Steve Ballmer was joined by representatives of Dell, Intel, Toschiba, AMD and HP to answer questions fired at them by the several hundred reporters who had gathered at the enormous vaulted room in the Cipriani Restaurant. Many of the questions related to security and Ballmer gave his assurance that security had been given incredible importance and went on to mention BitLocker, a full disk encryption feature for data protection. The question of whether a date had been fixed for issue of the first service pack also came up and raised a laugh among those present. Steve Ballmers answer was an emphatic No! and noted that the intention was not to need one at all. Well see!

Intel
The U.S.-based Intel Corporation was founded as the Integrated Electronics Corporation and is best known as developer and manufacturer of microprocessors, computer chips and other computer components and its intel inside logo used from 1990 to 2005. Intel was founded in 1968 by San Francisco-born chemist and physicist, Gordon Earle Moore, in cooperation with Burlington-born physicist, Robert Noyce. Both had worked for Fairchild Semiconductor which introduced the first commercially available computer chip and for which Noyce is credited with being co-inventor. Market leader Also involved in the founding of Intel was Andy (Andrew Stephen) Grove, a Hungarian-born American businessman and chemical engineer who ran the company through most of the 1980s and 90s and remained Executive Board Chairman until November 2004. Grove was very much a key figure in Intels success and still provides sound advice. At the end of the 1990s, Intel was one of the worlds most successful businesses within the semiconductor sector. From 1992 until today (2005 annual figures), Intel has ranked number one in world semiconductor sales, out distancing such big names as Samsung, Texas Instruments and Toshiba. Clear aims Intel initially produced random-access memory integrated circuits and was very successful during the 1970s. During this time, Intels engineers invented the first microprocessor - the Intel 4004 - which was launched on the market in November 1971. This was to become the turning point for Intel. As the

personal computer gained rapid ground in the early 1980s, the memory-chip market became fiercely competitive, with particular pressure coming from the Japanese. Andy Grove decided that Intel should concentrate on microprocessor manufacture. As the personal computer industry took off in the late 1980s and through the 1990s, Intel reaped the benefits of Andy Grove's farsighted business acumen. In the 1990s in particilar, a great deal of research and development was carried out by Intels so-called Intel Architecture Labs, in both the hardware and software sectors for personal computers. Whilst Intel left its mark with hardware innovations, its software development lost out to Microsoft. Inside Jobs At the Worldwide Developers Conference in June 2005, Steve Jobs, co-founder and head of Apple Computers, announced that Apple was changing its policy and would make a transition from using PowerPC microprocessors to Intel processors for Macintosh computers. Power PC microprocessors were used after Apple had teamed up with IBM and Motorola (now Freescale) in the mid-1990s. The switch began in January 2006 with the release of the MacBook Pro notebook computer. Legal wrangles Intels long-term dominance of the microprocessor market has led to it being accused of unfair business practices and made it a target for legal proceedings. These included investigation by the United States Government Federal Trade Commission in the 1980s and 90s. However, very little ever came of these lawsuits and Intels dominance continues. Its biggest rival is California based Advanced Micro Devices, but even here, Intel has long had licensing agreements - although over the years AMD have sued Intel for anticompetitive practices on several occasions. Nevertheless, their cooperation led to exposure of an industrial espionage attempt and a guilty plea in 1996 by Argentinian Guillermo Gaede, who tried to steal data from Intel and sell it to AMD. Insides out Intels market capitalization in the first quarter of 2006 stood at around $120 billion and its shares are traded on the American electronic stock exchange - National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation (NASDAQ). In 2006, Intel changed its intel inside logo to a new logo and slogan intel Leap ahead Time will tell whether or not Intel will actually stay ahead!

Apple
In December 1974, the magazine Popular Electronics pictured the Altair 8080 on its cover, headlined Worlds First Microcomputer Kit to Rival Commercial Models. But it was left to the consumer to actually put the kit together, get it working and write the software! The private computer market was about to take off. The magazine article was the spur which led to the founding of Microsoft, after Bill Gates struck a deal with Altair manufactures Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems to produce software for the Altair.

The birth of Apple The magazine also caught the eye of Steve Wozniak who at the time worked for Hewlett Packard, producing calculators. Wozniak spent his spare time playing with early computer kits similar to the Altair and considered them all too complicated for hobby computer freaks. He also realized that

computer parts such as microprocessors and memory chips had fallen in price to such an extent that building his own computer was no longer a mere dream it was now within financial reach. He got together with fellow computer buff Steve Jobs. On 1 April 1976 they released the Apple I computer and launched Apple Computers in Los Altos, California together with another friend Ronald Wayne, who dropped out a few months later. Apple I was displayed at a meeting of The Homebrew Computer Club a computer hobby group to which Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs belonged. A local dealer ordered 100 Apple I computers with the proviso that Wozniak and Jobs would do the assembly to which they agreed. They built and sold around 200. In April 1977, the Apple II was released and shown at the first West Coast Computer Faire in San Francisco. Apple Computers were firmly established, quickly pulling ahead of two other PCs launched that year the TRS-80 and Commodore PET. Although more expensive, the Apple had the advantage of colour graphics and a floppy disk drive. Over two million Apple IIs were sold. When Apple went public in 1980, its stock value was $117 million. Jobs goes In May 1980, the Apple III was launched as the company competed against IBM and Microsoft, who gained a considerable share of the computer market in the early 1980s. In 1984, Apple launched the Macintosh or Mac as it became widely known, with a $1.5 million commercial shown during the Super Bowl XVIII. Sales at first went well but repeat orders were poor. However, sales quickly picked up after the introduction of the LaserWriter printer. With this, the PageMaker programme and advanced graphics, the Mac got a firm footing in the world of desktop publishing. In 1985, Jobs resigned from the company following an internal power struggle which he lost. Jobs founded NeXT Inc. Steve Wozniak also left Apple to pursue other interests but remains a major shareholder. In 1989, the portable Macintosh computer was released, but its bulk meant that Apple had to rapidly rethink the design. With the input from industrial designers including Sony, in 1991 they came up with the PowerBook 100 the forerunner of todays laptop. During these years, Apples technological innovations made its products market leaders. Jobs returns But Microsoft was not sleeping and Windows development began to overtake the Apple Macintosh - to the extent that Apple sued Microsoft for theft of intellectual property. The case dragged on for years before being finally thrown out of court. At this time Apples management was in chaos and various product flops caused the public to lose faith. Apple continued to lose ground to Microsoft Windows. In the mid-1990s, Apple teamed up with IBM and Motorola in an attempt to counteract Microsofts advance. The Power Macintosh was released in 1994 using IBM and Motorola hardware and Apple software. But through the mid to late 1990s, the various attempt at improving Apples operating systems seemed to go awry. Apple considered using various operating systems including Microsofts Windows NT and NeXTs NeXTSTEP OS. The latter was finally chosen,

bringing Steve Jobs back to Apple. In July 1997, CEO Gil Amelio was fired after considerable financial losses, Steve Jobs took over as interim CEO and restructuring began. Back in the black In 1998, just one year later, the iMac computer was introduced. A new all-in-one Macintosh aimed at a general market, featuring an innovative new design with a translucent plastic case, initially in Bondi Blue and white and later in other colours. It was a huge success, selling 800,000 pieces and bringing in a $309 million profit in that year - the first profitable year for five years. The Power Macintosh was redesigned along similar lines and its development continues. In May 2001, Apple opened Apple retail outlets in prime locations in the U.S.A, to have a more direct influence on the market and thus increase sales. Apple continued to be innovative. In November 2001, it introduced the iPod portable digital audio player, with sales of over 42 million and Apples iTunes Music Store offering online music downloads at 99 US cents. By early 2006, 1 billion downloads had been chalked up. In June 2005, Steve Jobs announced that Apple was to produce Intel-based Macs. The MacBook Pro notebook computer and a new iMac were released in January 2006, both with Intels Core Duo chip technology. The Intel chip allows the latest computers to run the Windows operating system. It is clear that Apple, with Steve Jobs at the helm, will continue to be innovative and keep many customers who are totally devoted to the brand. There is no doubt that Apple is a computer cult. *** Stephen Wozniak was born on 11 August 1950 in Los Gatos, California, where his father was a Lockheed engineer. The area, now known as Silicone Valley, was then already a centre for technology. Inspired by his father, Steve Woz Wozniak was into electronics from a very early age and constructed various devices from kits or from scratch, including a voltmeter, ham radio, calculator and games. After leaving high school he went to the University of Colorado but quickly dropped out. While working for Hewlett-Packard producing calculators he met Steve Jobs, another computer hobbyist obsessed by electronics. They joined forces to found Apple Computers. Although Steve Wozniak made a fortune, it was the technical aspect of the business which fascinated him. In 1981, a plane he was piloting crashed on the runway and it took two years for him to recover from his injuries and amnesia. During that time he became involved in other ventures, sponsoring concerts and pursuing New Age interests. In 1983 he returned to Apple, but left for good in 1985. He then attended Berkley University, where he earned his bachelor's degree in computer science and electrical engineering. In 1985, the two Steves, Wozniak and Jobs, received the National Technology Award from President Reagan. Steve Wozniak started various other businesses and donated considerable sums to charitable causes, his local school in Los Gatos, technology museums, and universities. In 2005, he received an honorary Doctor of Engineering degree from Kettering University in Flint, Michigan.

He now once more lives in Los Gatos, California with his wife and six children. *** Steve Paul Jobs was born on 24 February 1955 in San Francisco, California to an American mother and a Syrian father. They later married and gave birth to Jobs sister, novelist Mona Simpson, whom he first met as an adult. Steve Jobs was raised by adoptive parents, Paul and Clara Jobs, first in Mountain View and then in Los Altos, California. His adoptive father was a machinist at Spectra-Physics, and Steves early interest in technology was inspired by his father's work. During his schooldays, Steve Jobs attended after-school lectures at Hewlett-Packard in Palo Alto, California. He also worked there as a summer employee with Steve Wozniak, with whom he later founded Apple Computers. After graduating from high school, Jobs enrolled at Reed College in Portland, Oregon, but dropped out after just one semester. He went back to California and in 1974 joined the Homebrew Computer Club with Steve Wozniak. He got a job with Atari, manufacturer of video games in order to save some money. He used his savings to backpack through India with Daniel Kottke, a Reed College friend, before returning to his job at Atari. It was around this time that Jobs and Wozniak developed the Apple computer. They launched the Apple I and Apple Computers Co. on 1 April 1976. In 1985, Jobs resigned from the company following an internal power struggle. Jobs founded NeXT Inc. Steve Wozniak also left Apple to pursue other interests but remains a major shareholder. But in 1997, following considerable financial losses by Apple, Steve Jobs once again took over the helm of Apple and today is as innovative as ever. Steve Jobs is married to Laurene Powell and the couple have three children. Steve Jobs also has a daughter from an earlier relationship.

Google
Google is a play on the word googol, said to have been coined in the 1940s by Milton Sirotta, nineyear-old nephew of American mathematician Edward Kasner (1878 1955). It is equivalent to 10 raised to the power of 100 or in other words - 1 followed by 100 zeros. The name Google reflects the company's mission to organize the immense, seemingly infinite amount of information available on the web. The beginning Google's founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, both graduates in computer science, met at Stanford University, California in 1995. Larry, then 24, was on a weekend visit from the University of Michigan and Sergey was 23, amongst a group of students showing him around.

They apparently didnt particularly hit it off, arguing strongly on several topics. However, they did find common ground in their approach to solving the colossal complex challenge of retrieving relevant information from an immense mass of data. Their mission became to organize the world's information in such a way as to make it universally accessible and useful. By January 1996, Larry Page and Sergey Brin had begun collaboration on a search engine called BackRub and just a year later its reputation as the new search technology was already growing. Finding a partner During the first half of 1998, Larry and Sergey continued on perfecting their technology. Having little interest in starting their own company, they then began looking for potential partners to license what they now considered to be the best search technology available. Despite the technology boom, interest in Google, as it was known by then, was very limited. Friend and Yahoo founder David Filo encouraged Larry and Sergey to start a search engine company and develop the service themselves. Go for it Unable to raise interest and find a partner, Larry and Sergey made the decision to go it alone. But they badly needed cash to move out of the dorm and pay off credit card debts run up for development. They postponed their Ph.D. plans, formulated a business plan and went in search of an investor. A faculty member put them in touch with Andy Bechtolsheim, one of the founders of Sun Microsystems. Following a Google demonstration, Andy immediately recognized its enormous potential. But being a busy man he had to leave in a hurry saying I dont have time to discuss details, why dont I just write you a Cheque? He made one out for $ 100,000 to Google Inc. Made it! This created a small problem. Google Inc. did not exist. The cheque couldnt be turned into cash. So over the next couple of weeks, Larry and Sergey were busy with the task of setting up a company and finding other founders. Ultimately they raised almost $1 million. On 7 September 1998, Google Inc. opened its doors in Menlo Park, California. Its first employee was Craig Silverstein, now Google's director of technology. Google was already answering 10,000 search queries every day and in December 1998, PC Magazine named Google one of its Top 100 Web Sites and Search Engines. Google was moving up in the world. Theyd made it! Since then, the company has expanded enormously with over 1,900 employees worldwide, and a management team representing some of the most experienced technology professionals in the industry. Today, Google is widely recognized as the world's best search engine. Stock market launch Following months of speculation, confusion and unforeseen problems, Google finally made its

stock market debut in August 2004. Google had decided upon a launch using an innovative Dutch auction process - where investors who bid at or above the market-clearing price pay that price. At first, Googles share auction seemed to run to plan confirming reports that most bids were around the suggested price range of $108-135 per share and valuing the worlds biggest Internet-search company at up to $36 billion. But then came the dramatic news that Google had cut the size of its initial public offering (IPO) by almost 50% and was telling investors to expect a price of $85-95. Google finally priced its shares at $85, valuing the entire group at just $23 billion. Shares rose a little above $100 on the first day of trading but the price was still well below the level hoped for by Google's bosses. Did the mishaps on the way to flotation cause the sharp drop in value? Or a general weakness in dotcom shares? Or was an auction the wrong method? Or was $135 a share simply overpriced? Google is the clear leader in online searches and its revenue is expected to soar but the question is raised will its profits do likewise? Google shares one year on When Google made its stock market debut, the share price was $85. This soon rocketed - to the surprise of many pessimists. But a restriction - known as a lockup - had been imposed before the launch, to prevent quick dumping of shares on to the market. After about three months, some employees and investors took the first opportunity to sell their shares, making a handsome profit and causing a slight dip in the share price. It stood at around $170. However, just over one year after the launch, one share now costs well over $300, making Google worth about $85 billion. More than any other media company and even ahead of Time Warner! And some analysts are predicting a further substantial rise. Google remains one of the fastest-growing companies and the most-used search engine in the world, earning the lions share of its income from online advertising. Not just a search engine Google also serves corporate clients, including advertisers, content publishers and site managers with cost-effective advertising and a wide range of revenue generating search services. In addition to the straightforward search engine, Google also provides many other services. For example: Ask a Question a service involving over 500 carefully screened researchers, University Search giving detailed information on specific schools. Mail-order catalogue browser, Directories on various topics, Froogle shopping site, News search updated news from 700 sources, Discussion forums and many more. Google Earth You can now virtually explore the world from the comfort of your own home. The computer age and Google Earth make it possible. Imagery and 3D data show the entire world - and its absolutely free for personal use! Simply point and zoom to anywhere on the globe, download onto your PC and youre off on your travels. Satellite images and local data are at your finger tips and zoom into view. You can zoom in on a specific address or search for a restaurant, hotel, school or hospital etc. Just type the address into the Fly to box and click on search. At the moment (2005), street addresses are limited to

the U.S. UK and Canada. You can tilt and rotate to see 3D views of buildings and terrain, look up driving directions and even fly along a route. You can also call up information on businesses: an address, how to get there and links to detailed information on a specific business. Google Earth helps you: Plan a trip Get driving directions Measure distances Locate a house or apartment Locate a local business Explore the world Fancy a quick virtual trip to New York? Or would you prefer London? Or maybe Paris? Google Earth

Yahoo!
The name Yahoo! is an acronym for "Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle," but Yahoos founders David Filo and Jerry Yang say they chose the name because they liked the dictionary definition of a yahoo: "rude, unsophisticated, uncouth."

The beginning The founders of Yahoo!, David Filo and Jerry Yang, Ph.D. candidates in Electrical Engineering at Stanford University, California, started their system in February 1994 as a way to keep track of their personal interests on the Internet. Soon this was taking up more of their time than their doctoral studies. Eventually, their records became so unmanageable that they had to break them down into categories and then subcategories. The basic concept began as a web site called "Jerry's Guide to the World Wide Web" but this was later renamed Yahoo. The breakthrough Word spread quickly and soon hundreds of people were accessing web sites, using David and Jerrys system, from far beyond Stanford University. By autumn 1994, Yahoo had achieved its first million-hit day. It was soon clear to David and Jerry that they held the key to a potentially successful business. In March 1995 they set up their business and went in search of investors. In April 1995, Sequoia Capital, a well-regarded investment company, agreed to fund Yahoo with an initial investment of almost $2 million. The stock market launch Yahoo grew very rapidly. David and Jerry hired a management team and in autumn 1995 secured further funding from investors Reuters Ltd. and Softbank. Yahoo! made its highly successful stock exchange debut in April 1996 and already had 49 employees. Today

Yahoo is now a leading global Internet communications, commerce and media company, offering a comprehensive branded network of services to over 230 million people each month. It employs well over 3,000 staff. The company also provides online business and enterprise services designed to enhance the productivity and web presence of Yahoo!'s clients. These services include Corporate Yahoo!, a popular customized enterprise portal solution; audio and video streaming; store hosting and management and web site tools and services.

Wikipedia
Imagine a world in which every single person is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge. That's what we're doing. This is the statement published on the website of the Florida based, non-profitmaking Wikimedia Foundation Inc., the parent organization of various free-content projects, including Wikipedia the award-winning free online encyclopaedia. Wikimedias aim is to provide free knowledge to everyone throughout the world. To achieve this, it relies on public donations to run its wiki-based projects. Wikipedia, founded in 2001 by American Jimmy Wales, allows anyone with Internet access to edit its articles. The assumption is that this so-called open source content is just as valuable as information from professional sources. In a personal appeal, Jimmy Wales says Wikipedia is based on a very radical idea: realization of the dreams that most of us have always had on what the Internet can and should become. Thousands of people, from all over the world and from all cultures, working together in harmony to share clear, factual, unbiased information a simple and pure desire to make the world a better place. Sabotage or stupidity? Wikipedia, now available in over 100 languages, has become a very popular research medium. By 2005, within five years of its launch, it had become one of the worlds top 30 websites, with almost 4 million entries. But just how accurate its free content actually is has been brought into doubt by totally misleading articles published on its website. For example; in the publication USA Today, publicist John Seigenthaler severely attacked Wikipedia for an anonymously written article posted on the website for four months that linked him to the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert. The article based on Wikipedia information also spread to other websites. Because of the anonymity guaranteed by Wikipedia, the author of the article in question remains unknown. The New York Times has apparently banned its reporters from using Wikipedia as an information source. Is Jimmy Wales idealistic dream of a free encyclopaedia for every individual on the planet realistic. Or will it be shattered by saboteurs or sheer stupidity? Surprisingly accurate The acclaimed natural-science magazine Nature published the results of a comparison of Wikipedias amateur information with the professional information contained in Encyclopaedia Britannica. 42 natural-science topics were chosen and scrutinized by experts. The result was that they found 162 mistakes in Wikipedia, but also 123 in Britannica. Despite the relatively limited random test, Nature considers Wikipedias information to be surprisingly accurate. The number of mistakes in a Wikipedia natural-science entry is not substantially larger than in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, which is considered to be the leading work of reference. Whenever errors are mentioned, Wikipedia fans maintain that these have long been corrected. The appraisal by Nature and similar quality assessments are of limited use because of the constant changes. Wikipedia is an on-going exercise and mistakes are quickly rectified - but new ones are constantly being added. Articles quality also varies considerably. Because it is impossible to guarantee top quality in each

individual case, some people consider Wikipedia to be unsuitable as a work of reference. However, the results of Nature tend to show that Wikipedia can be valuable, providing some caution is used. Anonymity a weakness Anyone creating a Wikipedia article must now register, but this merely takes a few seconds. All that is required is a user name and password. Many authors identify themselves but quite a few do not - such as the one who created the bogus Seigenthaler posting. True accountability is still lacking and Wikipedias inherent weakness is anonymity. But that is likely to change.

MySpace
MySpace is a hugely popular social networking service, a website providing a virtual community of likeminded people a platform on which they can communicate on just about any subject. Contact can be verbal, by chat, instant messages, blogs or even video conferences. MySpace is particularly aimed at the younger generation from age 14. It is published on Internet in association with Seventeen, an American magazine for teenage girls that first appeared in 1944 and is still one of the most popular of its kind today. MySpace was founded in 2003 by Tom Anderson and Chris DeWolf, graduates of different Californian universities. It was acquired by Rupert Murdochs News Corporation in 2005, which bought out Intermix, the MySpace parent company, for a sum reputed to be half-a-billion US Dollars. In 2006, MySpace users passed the 100 million mark, and the site reached pole position as the most visited Internet site in the USA. Firm favourite with teenagers MySpace is a free service. Visitors can simply browse through the website while members can create personal online profiles, like webpages, reflecting their personality and interests, and communicate with old and new friends. The result is an enormous, globally-linked chain of people. Following contact to friends' profiles, members can maintain contacts by leaving messages, chatting, playing games, planning events etc. Members can upload pictures to further personalize their profiles and express their opinions through blogs. The site is also a platform for posting the personal talents of musicians, film makers, photographers and artists of all kinds. However, MySpace services are purely for the personal use of its members and commercial use is prohibited. Any violation leads to immediate banning from the service. MySpace has become a favourite online destination for teenagers. Its a fun site for those who want to be a part of the young in crowd. However, as such it also attracts many underage kids keen to join this cool new scene. Pitfalls of posting The fact that MySpace is so popular with youngsters has led to police and education authorities running information campaigns to warn parents of the possible dangers of using these sites. Paedophiles and those preying on young people surf on this type of site, where personal information is so easy to obtain. MySpace does have certain restrictions and endeavours to provide protection for youngsters. MySpace strives to inform users of the pitfalls of using its and similar sites. If a users profile is not set to private, it can be accessed by all and sundry. Hence personal details such as addresses, phone numbers, schools attended, workplace, favourite haunts etc. should never be posted for all to see. As MySpace says: If you wouldnt share it with a creepy stranger on the street, dont post it on MySpace! Profiles of members under age 16 are set by default so that access and contact can only be made by members with whom the youngsters are already familiar. An adult cannot contact a member under age 16 unless he knows the members last name or e-mail

address. Members under 18 are prevented from joining in group discussions on certain topics. In addition, safety tips aimed at young members appear as the site is browsed. MySpace also claims that its employees proactively investigate possible underage users, and profiles of members found to be below age 14 are deleted. A positive revolution? MySpace is revolutionizing the way in which todays youngsters communicate with each other worldwide. And who knows, perhaps this online global interaction between young people may ultimately lead to positive social change.

YouTube
YouTube is a free video-sharing website on which users can distribute their video clips short films in video format primarily found on the Internet. The site was founded in February 2005 by American-born Chad Hurley, Taiwan-born Steve Chen and Jawed Karim, born in East Germany of Bangladeshi decent. All three were former employees of PayPal, the Internet payment-transfer company. A preview of the YouTube website was presented to the public in May 2005 and officially launched six month later with the initial headquarters in San Mateo, California The venture gains YouTube was initially funded by a so-called angel investor, a wealthy individual who provides business start-up capital, usually with a share in ownership. In November 2005, Sequoia Capital, the venture capital company founded by Donald T. (Don) Valentine invested US$ 3.5 million in YouTube. Don had previously funded various other successful technology companies. Roelof Botha, a partner in Sequoia Capital and former PayPal financial director, joined the YouTube executive board. Following impressive growth within a few short months, Sequoia Capital invested a further US$ 8 million in YouTube Protests provide impetus YouTubes rapid expansion quickly caught the attention of the traditional media. Despite official YouTube policy prohibiting uploading of copyrighted material and the companys efforts to regularly remove uploaded content infringing copyright laws, a large amount of such content continues to be uploaded. In February 2006, NBC requested removal of its copyright content from the YouTube website. Although YouTube complied with NBCs request, the incident hit the news and the increased publicity gave even more impetus to YouTube expansion. NBC then realised the truth of the old saying If you cant beat em, join em! and in June 2006 announced a strategic partnership with YouTube. An official NBC channel would be set up on YouTube presenting promotional clips of the TV series The Office and YouTube would also promote NBCs videos on its website. CBS, which had previously also requested the removal of various video clips, followed suit in July 2006. Nevertheless, copyright lawsuits are likely to plague YouTube sooner or later. Fast lane to fame YouTubes success has also catapulted a number of unknowns to Internet-celebrity status. One is Peter Oakley, known as geriatric1927, from Leicester in the UK. The widowed pensioner, born in 1927, gained instant popularity with a series of autobiographical videos entitled Telling it All, revealing various aspects of his life including his service in World War II. YouTube has also provided a launching pad for new bands and their music. OK Go, the rock band from Chicago and Washington DC, and Sick Puppies, the Indie rock band from Sydney, Australia both became famous almost overnight through YouTube.

Googled In summer 2006, YouTube became one of the fastest growing websites in the world, rated as the fifth most popular website by Alexa, a company providing web-traffic statistics to other sites. Surveys conducted in July 2006 showed that 100 million clips were viewed daily on YouTube, 65,000 new clips were uploaded every 24 hours and the website was visited 20 million times each month. In October 2006, it was announced that Google would acquire YouTube for US$ 1.65 billion. The company would continue operating independently and keep its co-founders and all employees. The deal went through on 13 November 2006, marking Googles biggest purchase to date.

NASDAQ
NASDAQ, is an acronym for National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations and also a stock exchange run by the National Association of Securities Dealers. This is also known as NASD, the regulatory body primarily responsible for the regulation of persons in the US securities industry. When NASDAQ started trading in February 1971, it was the world's first electronic stock market. It is now is the largest American stock exchange with over half the companies trading in the United States listed. NASDAQ comprises the NASDAQ National Market and the NASDAQ SmallCap Market. The main exchange is in the United States with a branch in Japan and associations with exchanges in Hong Kong and Europe. Instead of a huge stock-exchange building, NASDAQ relies on its computer system, which links an enormous network of dealers making markets in stocks listed on the system. Multiple market participants are allowed to trade through its electronic communications networks structure, thus increasing competition. In 1984, NASDAQ introduced the Small Order Execution System (SOES) ensuring the automatic processing of small market orders, which might otherwise be overlooked in 'turbulent' market conditions. In July 1995, the NASDAQ stock index closed above the 1000 mark for the first time. In the largest civil settlement in US history, on 9 November 1998 a federal judge approved a US$103 billion settlement requiring dozens of brokerage houses (including Merrill Lynch, investment banking and stock brokerage company; Goldman Sachs, a NY investment bank and Salomon Smith Barney, now Citigroup Global Markets, to repay investors who claimed they had been cheated in a widespread pricefixing scheme on NASDAQ. The NASDAQ index reached its peak of 5048.62 in March 2000. Then followed the dot.com boom collapse and the index fell by almost 80%! Five years later it is hovering around the 2000.00 mark.

PayPal
PayPal was founded in late 1998 by American Peter Theil, former securities lawyer and options trader. He and a group of friends from Stanford University created the company Confinity. Peter Theil financed Max Levchin, a software developer who saw the need for a secure software system that allowed electronic transfer of payments. Other investors rapidly showed interest, including Nokia Ventures which put up $3 million and Deutsche Bank which contributed a further $1.5 million. Following its launch in November 1999, Confinity

attracted more backers including investment bank Goldman, Sachs & Co which invested $23 million in Confinitys PayPal.com. With the rapid expansion of the Internet, PayPal soon had 1.5 million account holders generating a throughput of $2 million per day. This rapid success led to eBay naming PayPal.com its primary online payment service. X.com, an online bank founded by Elon Musk, and PayPal merged to become the worlds largest secure online payment network. The name PayPal remained although X.com was listed as the parent company. In early 2002, PayPal was floated on the stock market for around $ 900 million. By July 2002, PayPal account holders numbered 16 million with 295,000 payment transactions taking place every day. In October 2002 eBay acquired PayPal for around $1.5 billion. The PayPal service enables anyone with an e-mail address to make and receive online payments quickly and securely using the existing payment infrastructure with the benefit of the latest fraud prevention technology. By 2004, PayPal, located in San Jose, California, had 50 million account holders with its services available in some 45 countries.

Logitech
The mouse man actually started his business in a cowshed on his father-in-laws farm some 25 years ago. Swiss-born Daniel Borels Logitech computer mouse is now a world leader and he employs 9000 people. Daniel Borel, born in Neuchtel, Switzerland on 14 February 1950, founded the Logitech Company in 1981 with Italian partners Pierluigi Zappacosta and Giacomo Marini. From very modest beginnings in a cowshed on the farm of Borels father-in-law, it has now become one of the richest companies in Switzerland, with assets of around 350 million Swiss francs and employing around 9000 people worldwide. Ingenious idea When Logitech was founded, personal computers were still controlled by keyboards. After graduating with a degree in physics at Lausanne, Daniel Borel spent time at Americas elite Stanford University, where in 1976 he came across an invention by US engineer Douglas Englebart who had already developed a computer mouse during the 1960s. Daniel Borer immediately recognized that Engelbarts ingenious idea could replace complicated keyboard functions. With assistance from other engineers from the Ecole Polytechnique Fdrale de Lausanne, Borel pushed forward further development of Engelbarts invention. Look back and smile Despite the banks refusal to provide Borel with any risk capital, he steadfastly followed his goal and produced the first mouse in 1982. The computer mouse was called quite simply 'P4' it was chunky, almost hand-size and at 300 US dollars, also very expensive. The new innovation was ahead of its time: there was no call for it and it nose dived. Badly in need of orders, Borel took off to see Bill Gates at Microsoft, who had just launched the first mouse controlled Word programme. Borel offered to supply his mouse, but Gates strung him along for two years. Borel moved the company headquarters to Fremont, California but at the same time aimed at the Asian market. The move to California brought a breath of fresh air and new dynamism to the company, which to a certain extent had been held back by traditional Swiss over-caution. Today, Daniel Borel can look back and smile. Logitech has long outstripped Microsoft in the PC-mouse field and is now the world leader. But Logitech by no means rests on its laurels. The PC mouse is now one product amongst many in the computer technology field and the range keeps on expanding. Success is above all thanks to Internet hype. Logitech no longer needs to supply

major PC manufacturers, which then put their own logo on the Swiss mouse. Todays consumers can buy the original themselves and business is booming! Back to the roots Daniel Borel now lives in London and has handed over operational management of Logitech, while following proceedings as Chairman of the Executive Board. And despite its global stance, Logitech Europe is based in the village of Romanel-sur-Morges in the French-speaking region of Switzerland. A mere12 kilometres from the cowshed where it all began!

online advertising
Over 900 million people use the World Wide Web. Global annual expenditure on online advertising is approximately $10 billion. This is a very small percentage of the total amount of about $450 billion spent on all advertising. Online advertising is designed to pay for start-up and operational costs, subsidise free access to costly content and provide a profit. The print media has successfully used a similar method for many decades, plus one advantage: paid subscriptions. According to the latest theories, advertising sends signals to the marketplace that the advertiser has the means to spend money, that he is solid, reliable, a leader to be counted upon, an honest, stable company. But if care is not taken, this message can get lost in online advertising. The Internet is flooded with free advertising so that paid advertisements dont always get the necessary recognition of credibility. Also users often resent the intrusion of banners and popups etc. with the result that Web advertising is sometimes ignored. But this situation is likely to change and clutter-free, improved methods of online advertising will probably emerge. Some advertising methods Online banner advertising Banners are the long flag-like ads found at the top, sides or bottoms of many web sites. A site providing a banner can only guarantee that people will see it. There is no guarantee that anyone will read it or click on it to access the web site. The more appealing the banner, the higher the chances of a click through. This can be achieved by offering information or products of value, or by making the banner attractive enough to encourage a person to click on it for more information. The average click-through rate is 2 to 3 percent. There are two main categories of banner advertising: paid banners and free banner exchanges. Paid banner advertisements A web site may be advertised on search engines and directories. This allows targeting of specific segments of a large audience. It can be specified that a banner is shown if a particular topic is searched for, such as business, clothes, computers, marketing, travel, sport, etc. Free banner exchanges A banner exchange is a service designed to help advertise and promote a web site. As a member, it is possible to display banner advertisements from other exchange members on your web site. In return, a banner will be displayed across the banner exchange network. These are usually automated systems which keep track of click-on rates and all other statistics regarding banner display. Skyscraper advertisements These are also banners, but are the tall vertical adverts found to the left or right of a web site.

Popups and popunders A popup is the advertisement which suddenly appears - pops up in addition to the web site that has been opened. A popunder is the same thing except that it is loaded under the web site and first appears when the web site is closed. Pay per click (PPC) advertising Pay per click advertising is a relatively inexpensive way to drive targeted traffic to a web site. Using search terms specifically relate to that web site, people looking for the product or services offered can be targeted. Payment is only due if someone clicks on the advertisement and is transferred to the web site. For web site visitors it works just like any other search engine. For the advertisers, its an excellent way to drive highly targeted traffic in an inexpensive way. With PPC advertising, the advertiser can bid how much to pay per click. The higher the bid the higher the appearance in the search engine. Overture, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Yahoo, is one of the leading PPC advertising companies. It promotes prominent placement in search-engine results and a clever, cost effective way to sell a product or service online. Payment on results leads to the best advertising rate of return. Overture, formerly called GoTo.com, was founded in 1997 by Bill Gross. In 1998, the company launched its sponsored search service enabling advertisers to bid for search result placement on keywords relevant to their individual businesses. The company's full range of search-based products and tools helps bring together businesses and highly motivated customers. Newsletter advertising The World Wide Web is full of newsletters, on all subjects imaginable, distributed to thousands of members. An advertisement in these publications is an inexpensive way of reaching a specific target group.

Copyright
Berne Convention Copyright. The laws vary from country to country, but the Berne Union for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Property (Berne Convention) is an international copyright treaty signed by almost 100 countries. Under the Berne Convention, copyright is protected during the life of the author and for 75 years after his/her death. Copyright gives authors, artists, etc. the right to exclude others from using their works. Copyright protects original works of expression, which include: architectural work dramatic, including accompanying music literary work motion pictures and other audiovisual pantomimes and choreographic pictorial, graphic and sculptural work sound recordings

Copyright law in brief This information is designed to provide no more than a brief insight into copyright. Essentially, anything that has been created can be protected under copyright and copyright must not necessarily be explicitly stated. However, although copyright is always implied, for the author it is safer to state that a work is protected under copyright. A copyright notice includes a copyright symbol , or the word copyright, the year of first publication and the name of the copyright holder. Basically, copyright law gives the copyright owner of a creative piece of work the sole right to any financial proceeds from that work. This applies to all creative work and is valid for all media, whether in electronic or hard form. The copyright owner may reproduce, display or perform, sell, rent, distribute or transmit the work, provided that no other laws are broken in doing so. Limits Only expression is protected, not facts or ideas. Very similar, or even identical work produced at a later date does not infringe copyright if produced independently. Although very complicated, the exception to the basic principle of copyright is the so-called fair-use provision which allows limited non-commercial use. Essentially this means that use of work, protected by copyright, for research, teaching, news reporting and such like is considered to be fair use. Breach of copyright The Motion Picture Association of America completed a survey which concluded that 25% of Internet users had downloaded films illegally. The survey also suggested that even more films would be downloaded if the download time was faster. Those who admitted to downloading films also stated that they had reduced the number of visits to a cinema or the purchase of DVDs. This is just one example of copyright infringement. It is estimated that reproduction of material such as films, video games, software, etc. costs the industry well over $30 billion a year. Song and music swapping MP3 MP3 is a form of compression enabling the downloading of MP3 files from the Internet and playing them on a computer or burning a CD. The advantage is that it makes song files small enough to pass them around on the Internet relatively quickly. This led to the development of music-swapping companies, one of the first being Napster which developed a different way of distributing MP3 files. Instead of storing the songs on a central computer, the songs were stored locally on users' computers and called peer-to-peer sharing or P2P. When downloading music with Napster, the music can be downloaded from another person's computer from anywhere in the world. Napster became so popular that within a year it expanded to 60 million visitors per month, before being closed down by a court order because of violations. It later re-launched itself as a legal music-download site. File sharing networks, where Internet users can download and exchange music free are increasingly being cracked down upon by the music industry, which has been badly beaten financially. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) has filed hundreds of lawsuits against Internet file-sharing networks throughout Europe and thousands in the U.S.A. on behalf of companies, including EMI, Warner Music and Universal Music. There is now a decline in the use of music-swapping networks and therefore the desired result is being achieved. The threat from Internet From the above it is clear that the Internet has become the largest threat to copyright. The Internet is full

of information including news items, novels, plays, pictures, software, etc. and last but certainly not least - e-mails. And the fact is that almost all of it is protected by copyright law.

Weblogs
Weblogs, or simply blogs, are web sites which are regularly kept up to date by site owners or contributors. They are non-commercial and the content is on a specific subject or range of subjects, more often than not of topical interest. As the name implies, they take on the form of a diary or log. The word weblog is attributed to Jorn Barger, an American writer born in 1953 in Yellow Springs, Ohio. He became well known on Internet as the editor of Robot Wisdom, one of the early weblogs. The format of weblogs is very varied with no hard and fast rules. They may be based on miscellaneous themes with discussions and their ensuing sequence of responses - so-called threads. Some post stories of interest to awaken reactions and stimulate comments. Some are more specifically aimed at particular interest groups whilst others are a daily summary or collection of news items or web highlights. Weblogs all have one thing in common they change. And it is this continual change which motivates visitors to return to the site on a regular basis. The fact that a contribution can be made creates a feeling of participation, making the web site that much more personal. Usenet (Unix User Network) which began in the late 1970s was one of the forerunners of weblogs and contributed enormously to the Internets rapid expansion. Its spirit of information-sharing and discussion was the hallmark of its system and is reflected in the Internet as a whole. Another odd term within the weblog scene is blogroll. This is a collection of links found on a weblog site linking to other sites. The link may be included because other weblogs are based on similar topics or aimed at a similar readership etc. Some examples of weblogs Personal weblogs are often no more than diaries containing the authors experiences and thoughts with regard to daily life and events, but they sometimes include contributions from other people. For the most part these may be used by a circle of friends as a means of frequent communication but can also be read by the entire Internet community. Friendblogs are similar to personal weblogs but form a network of weblogs of friends and acquaintances who share like interests. Corporate weblogs are a sort of continuously changing official or semi-official newsletter with contributions by corporate employees. Directory weblogs are constantly updated lists of web sites with content of interest to web surfers. Group or collective weblogs are written by numerous contributors and based on a specific subject. Access may be completely open or limited to a specific group. Topical weblogs, as the term implies, are based on a particular subject at a particular time. However the time often extends over a long period, depending on the subject matter. These weblogs often contain

technical content. Thoughtful weblogs tend to be more philosophical, covering a vast variety of topics. Although these thoughts crop up in various weblog types, the philosophical aspect remains distinctive. Political weblogs are as varied as politics itself and the views aired range over the whole political spectrum, from extremely conservative to extremely liberal. Some of the more popular ones clock up over 1 million visits per month. In 2003, political weblogs were used by Howard Dean and Wesley Clark when contending for Democratic Nomination for the U.S. Presidential Elections. Weblog publishing There are various tools and software packages for creating and maintaining weblog sites including tracking and feedback features. Weblog hosting sites and services are also available.

Web publishing
There are many reasons for wanting a web site and many people create their own. But once a web site is found, on the infinite expanses of the Internet, its immediate appeal makes the difference between raising interest for a longer look and closing it to search further. And this is where a good web designer can make that difference. However, there are a few simple rules that you and your web designer should follow. For example: make sure that your web site is clearly labelled and easy to navigate; that its simple enough to load quickly not everyone has broadband; make sure your home page has appeal you only have about 10 seconds to raise interest; But much like an architect designing a house, the web designer needs your input to understand your needs. Whats the purpose? Who do you want to appeal to? What are you trying to sell? Should the web site be traditional or trendy, functional or flipped out, humorous or serious.? How much text do you intend to include? Do you have pictures? Do you want links to other web sites etc. etc. This information is the framework on which the designer can form the basis of your web site. Like the architect, the web designer will provide an initial draft for discussion and eventually you reach agreement on the final design. Publishing Now that your web site is created, your web designer will check to ensure that it functions well on the main computer systems and major browsers and then publish it on the Internet. But that is not the end of it. Site maintenance is also required. For example, periodical link checking to ensure that all links are working and that web sites to which yours is linked still exist. Search engine optimisation (SEO) is an aspect which all who do business on the Internet confront themselves with sooner or later. Most try it themselves, some get professional advice. There are certain basic things which can be done to make a web site more user friendly. For example: avoid using frames most search engines dont like them and nor do visitors; give your web site at least 5 pages a web site needs content for search engines and surfers to find it; link each page to every other page its easier for visitors and search engines; dont include too many dynamic pages - not all search engines can give you a ranking for them; avoid using a form for the home page their content is of little or no use to a search engine. HTML

HyperText Markup Language is a language that provides the structure of documents in order for World Wide Web browsers to retrieve them from the Internet. HTML is an application of Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) the International Standard for text markup. Markup language stems from publishing, when an editor used to mark paragraphs with a pencil. Basically, text markup provides the structure of a text, rather than its appearance in order for it to be readable by a variety of systems. HTML was specifically developed to be used together with the HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) to encode documents for display on the World Wide Web. Hypertext Is really a word which describes the sort of texts found on a web site where you can jump back and forth from one section to another using a link, as opposed to following a text, page by page, as in a book. Or jump from one web site to another located elsewhere on the Internet. PHP/ASP PHP is a script language and interpreter, freely available for download online. It was originally derived from Personal Home Page Tools but now stands for Hypertext Preprocessor. PHP is an alternative to Microsoft's Active Servers Page (ASP) technology. ASP and PHP scripts are embedded within a Web page along with its HTML. Before the page is sent to a user, the web server calls PHP to interpret and perform the operations necessary in the PHP script. An HTML page that includes a PHP script usually has a suffix of ".php" ".php3," or ".phtml". ASP and PHP can be looked upon as "dynamic HTML pages," as content will vary based on the results of interpreting the script. PHP is a widely-used general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited for web development as it can be embedded into HTML. JavaScript Is a scripting language which enables web authors to design so-called interactive sites. Scripting is basically programming. JavaScript has the ability to interact with HTML in order to include dynamic content in a site. In fact it must be placed within HTML to be read and interpreted by browsers. Use of JavaScript does not require a license and may be used by anyone. Mistakenly, many think that JavaScript is a simpler version of Java. This is not the case. Java is a different language developed by Sun Micro Systems and is much more complex than JavaScript.

dot.com crash
The dot.com crash around the turn of the century should not really have been a surprise. The major stumbling block was lack of experience. E-commerce was in its infancy and the ease and speed at which a dot.com business could grow and become viable was totally over-estimated. Certainly there were other influencing factors such as the fear of giving credit card details online - an issue fanned by the media. This has now become less relevant. The failure rate of dot.com businesses was far higher than the failure rate of traditional enterprises. But the fact is that scrutiny of the respective business plans or balance sheets would doubtless reveal that the chances of the majority surviving were very remote from the start. One pointer is that the very high success rate of an existing business introducing e-commerce which basically means that if you have experience in your business youll probably succeed. If not youll most likely fail. But there were successes. As an example, Internet holiday sales rocketed during this time. However, for the media, bad news tends to be better than good news so these examples were not given a great deal of coverage. Stories such as boo.com were far more interesting. The story goes that Swedish founders Kajsa Leander, Ernst Malmsten and Patrik Hedelin, with the support of the virtual Miss Boo, sold classy clothing items in

many countries across the globe. But just a year and a half after their start-up, the $120 million or so venture capital had been used up. The legendary champagne & caviar lifestyle of the founders, who had moved to London, was partly blamed. But other factors played a greater role in the downfall. Its costly enough to achieve a large volume of sales - marketing is even more expensive and distribution at an international level is much more complicated and costly. There are different currencies, languages, distribution systems etc. involved and without a clear project plan, failure was pre-programmed. But surely this is just one more case to put down to inexperience, unrealistic expectations of the New Economy and being blinded by stock exchange fantasies. Huge marketing campaigns were launched and expansion at all costs was the buzzword. The collective euphoric delusions of the up-up-and-away startup businesses ended in a collective nosedive. And there were enough Kamikaze pilots around with huge egos, rose-tinted spectacles and a total overestimation of their own abilities to steer a course ending in a crash landing. Most businesses didnt fail because they were involved in the New Economy, they failed through lack of basic business acumen. Now this all seems to be straightforward common sense. So why did so many experienced venture capital companies back so many losers? Was it just a gamble on their part? A gamble with a lot of experience behind it? Did they gain as shares soared in the hype of dot-com stock exchange launches, leaving the millions of small, inexperienced investors to bear the brunt? Not to mention the many employees who lost their dot-com jobs. The burst of the dot-com bubble blew even viable dot-com companies into thin air as confidence crashed. In the meantime most start-up companies have changed their strategies. Learning to walk before you can run is back in fashion, as is profitability. And partnerships with companies in the Old Economy are sought after. The outlook is brighter and dot-com failures en masse should be a thing of the past. The circle appears to have closed with the realisation that chances are coupled with risks and the greater the chance the greater the risk.

Internet irritations and dangers

Spam In general spam can be defined as any unsolicited e-mail, usually in the form of advertising for a product or service. Spam wastes an enormous amount of peoples time. Even though you may think an e-mail is spam, you often have to read the first sentence to be sure before deleting it. If you get dozens a day, the time wasted rapidly mounts up. Unfortunately there seem to enough people falling for the offers to make sending spam worthwhile. In addition to lost time, spam also uses up considerable bandwidth on the Internet. Despite bans, because the Internet is public its almost impossible to prevent spam. There are organisations which try to fight spam using various techniques, and filters are available which recognize some spam algorithmically, for example by the subject line or sender. But spammers know all the tricks and are often ahead of the game. The story goes that the word spam comes from the Monty Python song: "Spam spam spam spam, spam spam spam spam, lovely spam, wonderful spam" A sort of endless nonsense, which continually repeats itself. The song featured in a skit in a restaurant, in which every dish included some spam, a trade name

for luncheon meat. Wherever the word came from, spam is invasive you dont want it, but you get it anyway. And the worst thing you can do is click on the button saying you dont want it, or send an e-mail complaint back. Then they, whoever they are, know that their spam is reaching you. And you will get more Malware This is a general term meaning malicious software such as viruses, worms, Trojans, spyware, adware, etc. Computer viruses In the early 1980s, experiments were carried out on computer security and 1983 saw the emergence of the first virus. Fred Cohen, at that time a student at the University of Southern California, had the idea of introducing self-reproducing software, which could spread by infiltrating existing programmes, thus attacking the security of multi-user computing systems. Len Adleman, Cohens thesis adviser suggested that this was similar to a biological virus, which uses the resources of the cell it attacks to reproduce itself. The term computer virus was born. So what is a virus? A virus is a programme with the ability to reproduce and spread rapidly. It is often difficult to eliminate. A virus infiltrates a file and is spread as that file is copied and forwarded to other computers. At the very least a virus can cause problems by taking up storage capacity and memory and slowing general computer performance. However some viruses can destroy files, reformat hard drives or cause other damage. At one time viruses were spread mainly through the interchange of floppy disks but the Internet now provides a much better and quicker distribution system. Viruses attached to todays essential business tool e-mail can spread a virus throughout a company like wildfire and cost many millions in lost data, lost productivity and high fees for re-establishing crashed computer systems. Tens of thousands of viruses have already been identified and it is estimated that about 400 new viruses are created every month. Anyone with basic programming knowledge and a desire to cause computer damage can create a virus. A non-damaging virus will spread and just take up storage space. With damaging viruses, the spread usually takes place over a long period before the virus is actually activated. The activation may be tied to a particular date or particular computer command. Once a virus is discovered, details are sent to the ICSA (International Computer Security Association) in Washington, D.C. They in turn distribute details to antivirus software developers who modify their software to detect the new virus. Depending on the virus, this can take months. As new software is installed and updates made, the virus threat is finally reduced to a level where it is no longer a major threat. Virus hoaxes Normally spread through e-mails, a virus hoax is usually a false warning of a non-existent computer virus. As such, they cause no harm to computer systems other than slowing mail servers down if spread in large numbers. In addition to the hoax itself, unsuspecting recipients then send out e-mails to all their contacts warning them of the supposed virus threat, creating even more network traffic. However, some hoaxes go further, with a message giving directions to remove specific files from your system to get rid of the virus. This form is then no longer a hoax but is in itself a virus, because it leads you to remove some vital file which may cause your computer to malfunction. Before reacting to any virus warning, even ones that appear genuine, check with one of the online anti-

virus programme providers who list hoaxes and real viruses. Computer worms Worms differ from viruses in that they dont reproduce by infiltrating files but by infiltrating systems. For example, a network worm spreads by reproducing itself throughout a network system. An Internet worm sends copies of itself through the Internet system via poorly protected computers. An e-mail worm sends copies of itself via the e-mail system. Trojans The name is derived from the Trojan Horse of Helen of Troy fame. It is a particular type of malware used to infiltrate a computer without the users knowledge. Trojans may install a so-called keystroke logger, which can record all the keystrokes entered on a computer keyboard. This provides information on all computer activity including passwords used. This information is then passed on to fraudsters via the Internet. A typical method used is to send out random e-mails which appear genuine, encouraging computer users to click on a link from the e-mail to enter a malicious website, which in turn exploits a web browsers vulnerability to install a Trojan. Another form of Trojan allows infected computers to be targeted for a denial of service attack. The aim is to deny the victim access to a particular service. Such an attack can effectively disable your computer or network - with possible disastrous consequences depending on the type of organization. Unlike viruses, Trojans cannot reproduce. Phishing First identified in 1996, phishing is the practice whereby fraudsters acting as legitimate organisations such as banks, online payment services etc., send misleading e-mails requesting personal and financial details from unsuspecting recipients. In other words fishing for information useful to the fraudster in order to transfer money into the fraudsters account or make online purchases on someone elses account. Typically, a message requests the recipient to "update" or "validate" his account information by clicking on a link with the threat that failure to do may lead to suspension of the user's account, etc. To avoid having his account suspended, the user follows the e-mail instructions and the trap is sprung. The link to which the unsuspecting victims are directed opens a copycat website of the institution named in the email and looks official. Thousands of such e-mails are sent out in the hope of catching out a few of the unwary. The information phished for includes numbers for bank accounts, credit cards, security codes, social security and phone numbers, login names and passwords and names and addresses. Adware and Spyware Short for advertising-supported software, adware is a software application in which advertising is displayed while the programme is running. This may take the form of pop-ups or banners which appear on the computer monitor. Advertisers pay for the service and help to recover some of the costs of software development, thus keeping the price low or even free, whilst the programmer still makes a profit. Adware may run on a computer without the users knowledge, having been included in shareware or freeware downloaded from the Internet. Most adware affects the various Windows operating systems and may be noticeable by the presence of more pop-ups on the web browser and a possible reduction in computer performance. Some adware programmes include codes used for tracking and collecting information about users, their

computers, websites visited and so on. This is then called Spyware. Combating Adware and Spyware is fairly easy with programmes such as Ad-Aware or Spybot, which can be downloaded free of charge from the Internet and regularly updated. There are also commercial packages for sale. Protection Treat all unsolicited e-mails with suspicion and never click on links on these e-mails to enter unknown websites. Never, ever answer unsolicited e-mails. Youll just end up with even more spam. Ensure that you are using the latest version of anti-virus software. Most will automatically provide updates. Download security updates or so-called patches from the Windows Update site, depending on your system. Install a firewall to help keep hackers at bay and make you invisible on the Internet. Ignore all requests for personal details. Legitimate companies never request personal information via the Internet. Never forget that e-mail is not a secure method of transmitting personal information. Thoroughly check all credit card and bank statements to ensure that there are no unauthorized charges. If a statement is not received on time, check with the institution concerned to confirm your address. Be cautious about opening any e-mail attachment, even from known sources. Before opening it, drag and drop the attachment onto your desktop and scan it for viruses. Identity theft When we think of identity theft, we usually think of credit card details. However, ID thieves are also interested in other information, including credit reports, social insurance numbers, driving license numbers, phone cards, mortgage details, birth dates, passwords and PINs, addresses and phone numbers. ID loss is not just about money. ID loss may mean losing much more. Credit rating may be lost and until this is restored, you may find difficulty in getting a job, a mortgage or even a passport. Todays cunning bank robbers only rob databanks. Computer criminals have realized the potential of the power of information and computer crime is the fastest growing form of crime. If operating remotely, ID thieves run little risk of being caught and even if they themselves dont use the information, it can be sold on to fraudsters who use it to impersonate others. How is this done? Some examples: Using credit cards to charge an existing account or create a new one. Opening a new telephone account using a stolen identity. Fraudulent electronic bank transfer to draw from a bank account using stolen identity. Using a stolen identity to get a job. Using ID cards or driving licenses for tax or benefits fraud. Using a stolen identity to obtain a loan or mortgage. Using a stolen identity for frauds of various kinds or when caught committing a crime.

As individuals, most of us have become accustomed to caution, to being extra careful with credit card and personal information. But criminals go where information is collected. Regrettably not all companies protect your records adequately in their databank. Some institutions hold records of millions of people and big break-ins can lead to loss of our personal secrets. One U.S. security firm discovered that passwords from 50 banks, eBay and PayPal login details and also credit card numbers had been stolen from a server by a Trojan virus. Another discovered that hackers had accessed a credit card system holding 40 million various credit card numbers. And data has been lost in far simpler ways: in the U.S., a shipment of bank customer data tapes disappeared in transit. In Singapore, bank customers records disappeared during shipment between two offices. A Japanese bank inadvertently threw out CDs containing copies of the financial records of its customers. And there was the Australian bank manager who, by using clients IDs, stole $17 million to feed his gambling addiction. Figures published in 2005, showed that in the U.S. alone about 53 billion US$ per year is lost through ID theft. 90% is paid by retailers and businesses - ultimately of course at the expense of the consumer. Some simple safeguards: Make a spare copy of all credit card, investment and bank details. Contact your credit card company if new cards dont arrive on time. Never use names, dates or consecutive numbers or letters for passwords or PINs. Never give passwords or PINs to anyone. Either by e-mail or personally. Check all credit card statements thoroughly. Shred your information before disposing of it. Install a firewall and anti-virus programme on your computer. Remove all data before disposing of a computer,

cyberterrorism
Just what is cyberterrorism? The word cyber relates to the culture of computers, information technology and virtual reality. Terrorism is the use of violence and intimidation in the pursuit of political aims. Cyberterrorism may therefore be defined as the use of computer technology, as a tool and a vehicle to intimidate and pressurize others. Consider for a moment the extent to which we have become dependant on computers. In almost any business these days, whether large or small, work is disrupted if the computer system crashes. But computers not only help us run our businesses, they control communications as a whole, such as financial services on a global scale. Without computers, aviation could no longer function and power sources would be paralysed. Essential information and records are stored on computer systems throughout the world. Where would the fight against crime be without computer technology? Computers have become crucial for survival. Take them away and we all take a massive step backwards. However, computers are vulnerable and have their weaknesses, so just how susceptible are we to a deliberate attack? The fact is that we are surrounded by the resources to launch a cyber attack. A computer connected to the Internet is all it takes, plus of course, one necessary and essential ingredient - know-how! In 1996, realising the dangers of cyberterrorism, President Clinton created the Commission of Critical Infrastructure Protection in order to introduce safeguards. With heightened awareness, various government organizations throughout the world have introduced protective measures with adequate

firewalls, more stringent login procedures and password controls including encryption. Groups have been formed to search out and deal with any cyber attacks. Government organizations make regular attempts to gain control of systems to pinpoint any weaknesses. These days, highly sensitive, classified information is often stored on computers with no external connection. Experts consider that terrorists would prefer to cause damage by blowing something apart, than quietly finding out how to hack into and manipulate a computer system. Terrorists want to make an impact and create headlines for their cause. However, manipulating a computer system itself is one thing, accessing and destroying or changing critical data is another. Because of the World Wide Web and despite considerable expenditure in recent years, data access by persons wanting to cause harm remains a valid threat. Most hacker attacks do not disable a system but corrupt it, making it carry out wrong tasks whilst appearing to function quite normally. For example: corrupting an airlines reservation system data would wreak havoc. Changing pharmacy data on medication could cause numerous deaths. However, whilst such data appears to be at serious risk, the actual risk to mankind is probably less critical. The awareness of the need for computer protection has spread not only to computer specialists throughout the world but also to individual users. Behind every computer is a human being and although the element of human error exists, so does the element of human intervention. Intervention in the sense of prevention - of vigilance, discovery and evasive action.

VoIP Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is a communication service using broadband technology to transmit calls, faxes and/or voice messages over the Internet rather than over the traditional public telephone network. The Internet is based on data transmission, known as packet switching, which is far faster and more efficient than the traditional method of making telephone calls through local telephone circuit switching networks. The service may be used via computer, a special VoIP telephone or even a normal telephone together with a broadband connection. In can be compared to e-mail, except that VoIP transmits the spoken rather than the written word. To use this global service you need a broadband connection and a VoIP service provider. VoIP has been slow to take off, largely because the service was unreliable and didnt always work. But now (September 2005) there seems to be some activity. Its reported that Internet auctioneer eBay intends acquiring Skype Technologies SA, a free computer to computer telephone service. And it wont come cheap, so eBay will want to see some rapid expansion. Some smaller deals done in the VoIP sector by Microsoft and Yahoo are another indication that things are moving. In 2005, Linux-based platform Asterisk demonstrated the potential of VoIP by creating a service called Contact Loved Ones to connect Hurricane Katrina evacuees with their families. Evacuees were able to call their home number and record a message which would be heard by anyone calling that number and callers could also leave their own message. To provide a similar service using traditional telephone technology would have been inconceivable. One thing is not yet clear will government regulations, such as the decision by the U.S Governments Federal Communications Commission requiring all VoIP services to provide emergency call capability, complicate matters and cause a rise in costs?

Refrence: www.internet-story.com