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The Internet is all about new ways to communicate. Marshall McLuhan rightly suggested that new technology always imitates the old. The most popular Internet applications all have traditional paper based predecessors.

T H E N . . .

N O W . . . Web Browsing: This replaces magazines, newspapers, and glossy brochures as means of advertising and information sharing. Visit the site or online brochure of almost any major organization. E-mail: This replaces familiar postal mail for all practical purposes. Messages are delivered immediately around the world. You can even send "packages" or attachments holding large documents, images or media clips. Newsgroups: This new application replaces the bulletin boards of yesteryear. Newsgroups allow people to post questions and items for sale and get responses from around the world instantly.

	In addition to the three most common Internet applications, there are many new ones available on the market that do things never thought possible before...
		Internet Relay Chat: Chat is the computerized version of the old telephone "party line". People from all over the world communicate via typed text responding to one another in real time. There are versions this application that even display cartoon representations of yourself, called avatars. Virtual Conferencing In the old days, people assembled in board rooms and listened to someone give a presentation at a white board. Using virtual conferencing, people can exchange ideas using different colored markers on a common window, effectively brainstorming with one another over the Internet. Video Conferencing Telephone conference calls may soon be a thing of the past. With video conferencing, you can now conduct two way interviews and conversations with full sight and sound at a distance over the internet.

On a side note, You may hear a lot about early applications which attempted to make the Internet easier to use such as Archie, WAIS, Gopher and Veronica. These applications are oconsidered bsolete now with the advent of Web Browsers.

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