
                      WHAT IS THE INTERNET?

The Internet is technically the successor to the Defense Advance Research
Projects Administration Network (DARPANET).  This was an early network
of research labs, defense contractors, and government agencies that 
experimented in linking local area networks together.

DARPANET was succeeded by the National Science Foundation Network -
NSFNet.  In the mid 1980s, NSFnet grew to connect most university 
campuses in the United States. 

Aside from the history, the Internet has since grown phenomenally.  Today
some estimate as many as 900,000 host systems on nearly 7000 networks in
43 countries are connected to the Internet either directly, or via some form
of e-mail gateway.  As a result, it has become the common e-mail bus for the
online world.  Additionally, in November 1991, President Bush signed a High
Performance Computing Act that will fund expansion of the Internet by some 
$2 billion dollars.  Senator (now Vice President) Albert Gore authored this
legislation and this emphasis on a telecommunications infrastructure is 
expected to expand under the Clinton administration.

What does this mean to you?  It means you can send electronic mail from 
this BBS to virtually any network or e-mail system in the world - including
overseas locations, at no additional charge.  All you need is the 
correct Internet mail address.  And the recipient can respond - and 
you will receive your mail right here.

So what is YOUR address?   Your user name on this system @BOARDWATCH.COM.

Example:   Logon name on Boardwatch - Jack Rickard
           Internet Address         - jack.rickard@boardwatch.com

Notice the space between JACK and RICKARD has been replaced by a period.
This is a common Internet convention.  Spaces are discouraged and you 
should probably replace them with a period.  It does NOT matter whether
it is addressed in upper case letters (capitals) or lower case.

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