Internet technology fundamentals and applications

¶ … grown up in the technology age are proficient in the use and possibilities of the information super highway. We are aware of the well-known heroes who developed the internet and began its exponential growth into a tool for everyday life, such as Bill Gates and colleagues, yet a phenomena of such magnitude cannot be attributed to one or even a few individual developers, of high tech systems that required high tech knowledge and ability. It is for this reason that further inquiry must be done to identify other influential members of this exclusive club of freethinkers.

Steve Case, AOL's chief executive, says: "Only through the Internet could alone sailor halfway across the Pacific perform life-saving surgery on himself using the online instructions of a U.S. doctor." The Internet is important. Computers are critical. Technology is vital to the future. So what can bankers do? What do we do to be part of that future? How do we survive in that world? (Johnson 11)

Though the above message demonstrates the idea that the internet is integral to some very fantastic, some would say even fanciful possibilities the simple reality that it is available to so many everyday people at any given time because of the creativity of AOL and its founder Steve Case is the most fundamental message of this work.

A great deal of recognition must go to the groups and individuals who created the user friendly movements known as Internet Service Providers and the largest provider must be recognized for it leadership and development impact. The Founder, Chairmen and CEO of America Online, Steve Case gets my vote as the most influential of all Internet developers, both sung and unsung. It is Steve Case and his foresight and leadership that brought the Internet into the homes of millions of users and in fact drove the growth of home PC ownership. Without such freethinkers there would be little or no demand for a service that required intense study and intricate knowledge to access and use effectively. (Webopedia website "Who's Who in Internet and Computer Technology")

Founded in 1985, just after the initial offerings of the internet, AOL boasts 30 million national and international members. (AOL website "Who We Are") As one of the pioneers of publicly offered access AOL must be regarded as one of the most influential companies of the last century and its Chairman and CEO Steve Case, with the company since its inception should be thought of as a father of public access internet creation.

Founded in 1985, AOL was the first consumer online service, and has continued to be a leader on the online services market. AOL was the first to include an instant messaging service, the first to include Parental Controls, the first with "anywhere" e-mail, and the first service designed specifically for broadband consumers. (AOL website "Who We Are")