The Internet dying?

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I do not believe it for the simple reason that it is used a LOT now so to say that it will die in the next 361 days is VERY unlikely.
 
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paul1149

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Hi Brinny,

It's here to stay. What it will look like, though, is anyone's guess. I first was online in 1983, with the proprietary CompuServ. It was text-based, and it cost extra to access their forums. Then came the internet, with CS as its gateway. And then CS no longer was needed.

In the early days everything was innocent and exciting. Then I watched usenet go downhill. Then Yahoo's chat rooms. Then spam became the largest use of email bandwidth. Then inappropriate content became pervasive. Then we lost our privacy.

Technology is a two-edged sword. It's a question of who will be in control of it, and that's not looking too good from my perspective. But we are called to be engaged (LK 19: Pragmateuomai), and to use what we can.
 
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brinny

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I first was online in 1983, with the proprietary CompuServ. It was text-based, and it cost extra to access their forums.

CompuServ wasn't the internet? What does it mean that it was "text-based"?
 
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Sophrosyne

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CompuServ wasn't the internet? What does it mean that it was "text-based"?
The internet consists of servers and others hooked up in such a fashion that they relay packets of data from one point to another. I believe Compuserve was a connect only service akin to a very large bulletin board which was what you had prior to the internet. Compuserv had many servers hooked up to each other a network but you couldn't directly pass packets of data to others you had to log into it or a bulletin board server and upload to the BBS or to something akin to a forum. Back then the bandwidth was extremely limited modems started out at 300 baud or about 37.5 bytes/sec. Compare that to lets say a 3Mbit/sec which is 10,000 times as fast and you can see that even a small picture would take minutes to load. I once downloaded a 500k picture at 300 baud and it was 45 minutes into downloading when my connection was interrupted. Imagine a CF page taking hours to show up the first time and you get the idea that text only was all that was possible. When we got 12,000 and 14.4k baud modems then later 56k modems then pictures were possible but even then large uncompressed images took too long to load.
Text based communication is very fast as you can compress text while most pictures online are already compressed optimally compression speeds up loading of pages as the amount of data is reduced dramitically.
 
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Sophrosyne

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I paid about 10 dollars a month for a BBS membership which accessed compuserv and their usergroups. I did so I could download stuff and read ads about computer parts and stuff for sale. When you bought software before the internet and it had bugs you had to either log into the company that sold the softwares server via a modem and download directly from them sometimes of which they didn't have an 800 number and it took 2 hours to get some patches costing a lot of long distance charges or you could get a membership to a BBS and they would download the files from other servers online and you could download from them while logging into them was a local (free) call. It wasn't until 1996 that I got internet access and didn't have to download from a BBS or company servers.
 
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Sophrosyne

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Thanks....I'm wondering, if the internet is going to change where there is no privacy, if there are/will be alternatives....
I think that in order to do much online you are already being watched, privacy is more at stake when you set up a social networking type account where you reveal your true identity to them. Anytime you put your real information and real pictures online it can be subject to others getting that information either they purposely give it (sell) to others or unscrupulous people steal it from servers that are hacked. With the greed online and the declining profit in simple ad based revenue from the days of the boom selling information is too much of a temptation for people. This is the reason I don't have a facebook or whatever account as I don't see them as giving me a "free" page but rather taking something from me in return by spamming me and giving info to others about me and my likes (hopefully anonymously).
 
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Sophrosyne

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Yeeeeek, i'm kinda' speechless......did it work the same for emails?
Some email services like google read your emails noting keywords they do it anonymously but do serve ads which means they track. Basically speaking it is hard to completely be invisible online you (not personally by name) are known by many sites because of cookies stores on your computer that are read by sites. They have flash cookies which have been known to be worse offenders in that the cookies are able to be read through flash apps and are persistant in that it used to be you couldn't permanently delete them in fact for a time there wasn't a way in flash to delete these hidden tracking cookies. Cookies are the way most people track your habits online that is why I don't be default accept cookies from most sites online but sadly I have gmail and use googles search engine and google has over 100 cookies on my computer to both help me on their 2 sites I frequent but also google shares this info with others too.
Emails are more private than facebook and the like but there is always a chance someone can hack your account. Back in the 90s there was Hotmail and Rocketmail and AOL and a few others and Hotmail was hacked often people getting into accounts. Today email is a lot more secure but nothing is 100% secure other than a computer not hooked online is secure from those online.
 
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EphesiaNZ

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It's here to stay. What it will look like, though, is anyone's guess

I reckon we're at the peak or, close to the peak of usage for this incarnation of the Internet. Smartphones and tablets may dictate the future path of the Internet but I can only guess.

In the early days everything was innocent and exciting. Then I watched usenet go downhill.

Loved newsgroups, sadly it's all but dead these days. At least email and IRC are still alive.

Technology is a two-edged sword. It's a question of who will be in control of it, and that's not looking too good from my perspective.

Well when you look at the NSA's recent revelations of putting their own listening devices into consumer products it not looking very good at all. Add this to the degenerate social networking rubbish, a la facebook, twitter etc... it all paints a very poor picture in my view.

Technology in my view is about progressing and enhancing humanity, I see it doing little of either currently.
 
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EphesiaNZ

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CompuServ wasn't the internet? What does it mean that it was "text-based"?

Ah text, I remember the text only days without a picture in sight - unless you count ASCII text graphics :)

I still do pure text based stuff such as email and browse the net, yes browsing the net with no pictures can be fun once you get use to the quirks and its blindingly fast too.
 
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Sophrosyne

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I reckon we're at the peak or, close to the peak of usage for this incarnation of the Internet. Smartphones and tablets may dictate the future path of the Internet but I can only guess.
I actually disagree with this on a level, I think usage will skyrocket unless an alternate solution is come up with to disconnect video streaming services from the internet I see perhaps all of television existing online instead of cable boxes you will have boxes that hook up to internet based tv services. In the future some will want to stream 4k video even which will increase bandwidth more I think the backbone will have to grow by logarithmic amounts in the next decade to keep up.
 
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paul1149

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Briny, as explained, Compuserv, GEnie and Prodigy, were each private networks. As the Internet arose, those networks patched into it. There was an inevitability to it. Back then compuserv email addresses looked like 98456786@compuserv.com. Later we were able to personalize them.

Text-based is like typing into a chat box, and the menus look like, say, the advanced boot menu Windows still has when you hit F8 on booting. Pictures generally weren't inline, you had to view them separately. To us back then it was all cutting-edge. Most CS services were pay by the hour, and there were stories of people paying $700 in one month when their kids got online after school.


Eph, I still see technology doing an amazing amount of good, but the bad is formidable at this point. Many Americans, too, are very concerned about the direction of our government and society.

Just today I read a story about microwave technology that can locate a beating heart under the rubble of a collapsed building. Great for saving lives in disasters. But I also could see this used to find people for the wrong reasons. It's not paranoia when they're really out to get you. :)
 
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Sophrosyne

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Just today I read a story about microwave technology that can locate a beating heart under the rubble of a collapsed building. Great for saving lives in disasters. But I also could see this used to find people for the wrong reasons. It's not paranoia when they're really out to get you. :)
This could be used in war for sure imagine a sniper being able to kill soldiers shooting them through trees and even inside vehicles by pinpointing their heart thus not having to spray bullets hoping for a hit.
 
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EphesiaNZ

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Thanks....I'm wondering, if the internet is going to change where there is no privacy, if there are/will be alternatives....

I personally think the Internet may revert back to a BBS type system due to concerns over security. Systems can only be more secure when you have control over them so it may be that the future still has an internet but will be broken down into country or regional level but still with worldwide access if and where needed.

A system currently under research is where we would possibly have servers in our own homes, or close by and share information in a bittorrent like way. We get a permanent store of regularly accessed sites locally. This will possibly lead to a faster internet, something that we all would like.
 
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brinny

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If the internet dies, it could be because of the Jimmies. I think to answer this question, one should at least consult where the internet dreams ... :

(it makes more sense if you actually go to YouTube and watch the video there lol)

There is no need to be upset - YouTube

ROFLOLOLOL!!!!!

*goes back to watching "The Mask of Zorro" * i GOTS ta see the under trodden win, mon.
 
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EphesiaNZ

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I actually disagree with this on a level

I was more referring to numbers of people than traffic consumed but as you say, data will skyrocket that's for sure. NZ are in the final stages of a Digital TV switch over and even this will be old tech soon as media will be fully streamed over the net but the speed of adoption relies on the telcos and their (over)pricing.

Number of people will increase still but not at the same rate. I think i saw some figures recently which hinted at this.
 
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