Text 296, 142 rader
Skriven 2005-07-12 19:19:48 av Sam Wu (1:167/565)
     Kommentar till en text av Michael Yount
Ärende: Re: Echo...
===================
 MICHAEL YOUNT wrote to SAM WU
 Re: Echo...

 > On 07-09-05 22:19, Sam Wu wrote to Zztzed:

 -> unless they're ditching the -> Internet
 in favor of something else. (But what would that
 something else -> even *be* these days?

 SW>  Internet II ?

> Not unless they're university students...

> (Amusing side note: the first link on
> http://www.internet2.edu/ under "Media Clips" is
> a story from Slate titled "Internet2 - It's
> better, it's faster.  You can't use it." Way to
> rub it in our faces, Internet2!)

 Thanks for that url. Here's the artlcle complete:
 ---------------------------------------------------

 http://slate.msn.com/id/2120440/

 Internet2 It's better, it's faster. You can't use it.
 By Alexander Russo
 Posted Tuesday, June 7, 2005, at 10:45 AM PT

 There's nothing obviously different or magical
 about Alan Crosswell's computer. The dirty, beige
 machine sits idle in a nondescript office at
 Columbia University, where Crosswell directs the
 school's computer network. Then he lets it loose.
 In just 2 minutes and 41 seconds, it pulls down
 more than 500 megabytes of Linux code from
 servers at Duke University, a task that would
 normally take hours. Next, Crosswell shows me a
 violin master class held via videoconference. The
 DVD-like resolution creates an immediacy that you
 don't get with choppy streaming video, and the
 better-than-CD audio allows both the teacher in
 Canada and the student in New York to hear every
 nuance.

 How are these incredible feats of data
 transmission possible? Because Columbia has
 access to the other, better Internet- Internet2.

 Yes, there is another Internet. The term
 "Internet" simply refers to a network of
 computers. The one that most of us use is
 Internet1, or the "commodity Internet." Internet2
 was created nearly a decade ago by academics at
 research universities as a noncommercial
 prototype-something like what the Internet was
 back when just a few university researchers were
 logged on to ARPANET.

 Like the commodity Internet, Internet2 comprises
 servers, routers, switches, and computers that
 are all connected together. Routers decide which
 way to send information, and servers handle Web
 site requests and store information for
 retrieval. What makes Internet2 so different is
 that it has many fewer users and much faster
 connections.

 While Internet1 is open to pretty much anyone
 with a computer, access to Internet2 is limited
 to a select few, and its backbone is made up
 entirely of large-capacity fiber-optic cables.
 Rather than Internet1, which is cobbled together
 out of old telephone lines, Internet2 was built
 for speed- the roads are all wide and smooth, like
 your own private autobahn. Internet2 moves data
 at 10 gigabits per second and more, compared with
 the 4 or so megabits you'll get using a cable
 modem. As a result, Internet2 moves data 100 to
 1,000 times faster than the old-fashioned
 Internet.

 More than 200 universities, 70 private companies,
 45 government agencies, and 45 international
 organizations log on to Internet2 every day. Your
 work computer might be linked to Internet2
 already- you can use this Java applet to find
 out. There are no secret Web addresses or special
 browsers required to log on, no buttons saying,
 "Click here for Internet2." Organizations that
 want to join up must demonstrate a research-
 related purpose, pay dues, and meet minimum
 technical requirements so they don't slow down
 the rest of the Internet2 empire.

 When you set up a super-fast Internet connection
 on a college campus, not everyone is going to use
 it for research. In the last two months, the RIAA
 has announced two separate groups of lawsuits
 against students who allegedly shared music using
 an Internet2-specific file-sharing site called
 i2hub.com. Wire reports on the lawsuits claim
 that an Internet2 connection allows you to
 download "a DVD-quality copy of the popular movie
 The Matrix in 30 seconds." I didn't get a chance
 to try any field tests. When I tried to persuade
 Columbia's Crosswell to let me download a couple
 of movies for my personal collection, he politely
 declined.

 So, will Internet2 be the downfall of the music
 and film industries? Probably not. Those
 30-second download speeds you're reading about
 are theoretical. Some universities put caps on
 how much data individual users can transfer, or
 how fast they can send and receive data on
 certain computers. Plus, the hardware in most
 home computers-the network cards, for example-
 isn't fast enough to keep up with Internet2
 speeds.

 The RIAA isn't completely safe, though. Not too
 far in the future, cable companies will probably
 sell Internet2-like download speeds to home
 users. However, most people won't ever use
 Internet2 itself.

 Internet2 was never designed to replace the
 Internet most of us are using now. It's more
 like a beach or a restaurant- great when not too
 many people know about it, frustrating when
 everybody and his mother starts to show up.
 Internet2's promoters like to compare it to
 early research networks that fostered the
 creation of canonical apps like the World Wide
 Web and e-mail. So, even if you never use
 Internet2 to download movies at hyperspeed, you
 still might benefit from the research. Let's
 just hope they let us use e-mail2.

 Alexander Russo is a Chicago-based education writer.
--- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v3.0pr5
 * Origin: Evening Shade INS (450)466-9637 (1:167/565)