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Pooh-Bah
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As I ran a spellcheck on my draft of a case synopsis today, I was once again intrigued by the spellcheck program's insistence that "Internet" is capitalized. Am I the only one who would prefer that it be the "internet?" Although there is, unavoidably, only one internet, we don't always regard a noun used to designate a unique item as subject to capitalization. The terms "sun" and "moon" - although generic terms, in common conversation are used without elaboration to mean Sol and Luna - are not capitalized, so why "Internet?"
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enthusiast
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I am pretty strict on differentiating the capitailized and non-capitalized versions of the word *internet. An internet is simply a connection between two networks. When talking about the loosely-connected network of networks that spans the globe, I always capitalize it. For most purposes, I suppose, the reader will generally know which 'net is being discussed. But the tech gurus (who really run the world) need to have ways to differentiate.
JMHO
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Carpal Tunnel
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Competition is good in most enterprises, but competing internets? God forbid. Monotheism is inevitable. Let us hope that the Internet remains similarly singular.
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Carpal Tunnel
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...any other use of the word "internet" would seem to not be giving the public what it wants [threadnetting-e].
I use "internet" as I do "expressway". There is no need to capitalize it unless it sits with a qualifier, like "The JFK Expressway" or "The Crosstown Expressway". Since rarely do I speak or write of my own internal network which I refer to as our "LAN"(local area network), the restricted use of the word "internet" provides the differentiation for me, especially since the only qualifier I would use with "internet" is "f-----'", which requires no capitalization.
JMF'O
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Pooh-Bah
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Probably market hype: virtual reality, the internet is a place and "internet" a place name. decapitate, say I.
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Pooh-Bah
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I have been given to understand that internet use was fairly limited until cetain people discovered (or believed) that they could make money by its use. So if its current success owes its being to capital, then it is only right that it initial should be Capitlaised!
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Pooh-Bah
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An internet is simply a connection between two networks. When talking about the loosely-connected network of networks that spans the globe, I always capitalize it. For most purposes, I suppose, the reader will generally know which 'net is being discussed. But the tech gurus (who really run the world) need to have ways to differentiate.
Thanks, Brandon, for scratching the itch of curiousity I had as to why Internet is capitalized. [putting on-Carnac-hat emoticon] I predict that, the need of the tech world notwithstanding, "internet" will be adopted by the majority as the proper spelling of the internet, leaving the tech world to designate another method of differentiation.
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Sparteye writes that she predicts that, the need of the tech world notwithstanding, "internet" will be adopted by the majority.
No argument there. Language evolves (or is evolved) to suit the needs of the users. I suppose that English grammar has a ready-made solution to the problem that will reduce confusion. You used it in italics, the word *the. If someone says they are working on an internet, I, of course, don't think they're working on the Internet because they've used a marker for new information, or information they thought I am unaware of (the article *an).
Yep, those articles are here saving us again. What useful little words they are!
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old hand
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An internet is simply a connection between two networks.
Huh? That's what I would refer to as a WAN connnection. Any time you link two networks together you CAN call it an internet - but sod that, it's too confusing. A group of computers that are linked ('networked') together, e.g. using copper cabling and a distributor, i.e. switch or a hub is a network - agreed?
More precisely, if the network is confined to one geographic area then it's a L.A.N. (Local Area Network).
If the communications network spans a wide geographic area, such as a country or continent (using routers), then it is a W.A.N. (wide area network). I don't know many computing specialists who would call a WAN their 'internet' -After all, one can't hear a capital :-)
Anyway, LANs can use many different technologies to connect to remote LANs and form a WAN, e.g. dedicated lines through an ISP ($), tunnelling and VPNs (using the Internet), Frame Relay - and lots of things not worth going into here.
Generally, most refer to the internal (private) network of a firm (be it a LAN or a WAN) as the network or intranet. Some understand intranet merely to encompass the firm's internal website though.
As one might imagine, definitions of the Internet vary greatly, and it's all very complicated and abstract anyway. Something like this will do though:
A decentralised global network connecting millions of computers using countless services and connection methods provided by an ever-growing IP protocol suite.
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I also use the terms WAN and LAN, but please note the singularity of those terms. A Wide Area Network is only only network, not two. When you link two WANs, you have created an internet. It is easier to see in times past when, in the Department of Defense, certain branches had tied together their LANs and WANs, but did not tie them into the larger (growing) Internet. They did, however, have an internet (connecting their various networks). It couldn't properly be called a WAN or LAN because it was many WANs and LANs tied together. (In another aside, a LAN or WAN will have a central point where the network is administered; networks tying together multiple LANs and WANs don't have a single centralized control system.)
Again, I reiterate that most people may be unfamiliar with this kind of usage because many work with only the Internet and not with *independent internets. But I assure you, they exist.
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A Wide Area Network is only only network, not two
You're losing me there. Where one geographically dispersed network stops, and the other begins is arbitrary anyway - is all determined by your perspective.
most people may be unfamiliar with this kind of usage because many work with only the Internet and not with *independent internets. But I assure you, they exist.
I get where your coming from Brandon, but. I've worked in the area a while and I ain't heard one person term an expansive network, 'an internet'(..admittedly I work in a country where English isn't spoken) - but you've got to admit, it's more than a tad confusing. Guess my sketchy(sic) definition of the Internet was o.k. though - or would you like to offer your own?
Let me conclude by saying that internet and Internet mean one and the same thing to me - if a technician/specialist is referring to some communications network he/she is usually going to be speaking on a little more precise terms regardless.
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