On 7 April 2017 at 00:48, Dave Horsfall <dave(a)horsfall.org> wrote:
The Internet (spelled with a capital "I",
please, as it is a proper noun)
was born in 1969, when RFC-1 got published; it described the IMP and
ARPAnet.
As I said at a club lecture once, there are many internets, but only one
Internet.
From the OED entry of Internet, n. (with a capital I):
"Originally (in form internet): a computer network consisting of or
connecting a number of smaller networks, such as two or more local
area networks connected by a shared communications protocol; spec.
such a network (called ARPAnet) operated by the U.S. Defense
Department. In later use (usu. the Internet): the global computer
network (which evolved out of ARPAnet) providing a variety of
information and communication facilities to its users, and consisting
of a loose confederation of interconnected networks which use
standardized communication protocols; (also) the information available
on this network."
I have seen -- and written it -- abbreviated as "the 'Net". Is this
common about the globe?
N.