RE: WWW vs. Internet

> Nigel Peck wrote to <mailto:www-style@w3.org> on 9 June 2003 in 
> "Re: WWW vs.
> Internet" (<mid:BFECLKEDIHDIPFDEBCFNIEKJEMAA.nigel@miswebdesign.com>):
> 
> > Personally I consider the Web to be only Web sites.
> 
> What is a Web site? I'm not trying to be difficult; the question is in
> earnest. Can an FTP repository be a Web site? After all, I can access the
> FTP repository in the manner in which I access HTTP sites.

I see what you're saying but I would call that part of the Internet (FTP) but not part of the Web.

> > I was using TCP/IP as the name for the Protocol suite as a 
> whole (as most
> > people/everyone except you does?).
> 
> I thought that TCP/IP was used only to mean the Transport Control Protocol
> running over the Internet Protocol. Your phrasing, "TCP/IP based", would
> seem to include the two mentioned protocols and any protocols running over
> TCP. I admit that I'm not familiar with the proper use of the jargon.

I've always used TCP/IP as the name for the suit as a whole.

> > Would you have preferred me to say:
> > 
> > The world wide ip, icmp, ggp, tcp, egp, pup, udp, hmp, xns-idp, 
> rdp, rvd based
> > network and all the tens of thousands of services being run across it?
> 
> No, I prefer a concise definition more than a correct or complete one.

So what name would you use to refer to the suite of protocols used on the net?

> Speaking of which:
> 
> >> Well, I was hoping for the emergence of what I call useful 
> lies, but the
> >> definitions so far are too misleading to qualify.
> > 
> > Please explain.
> 
> Useful lies are explanations or definitions that are not correct, 
> yet which
> help people to understand or to function. Correcting a useful lie requires
> many details and is therefore avoided most of the time.
> 
> I considered your definition of the World Wide Web misleading because the
> definition did not include HTTP clients, let alone non-HTTP services.

Fair enough, just a difference of opinion.

> > And in answer to the question? Are the terms "World Wide Web" 
> and "Internet"
> > now synonymous?
> 
> The terms are not synonymous. I hope that, on www-talk, there is agreement
> on this point.

Me too. What's you definition of the Web then? And how does it differ from the Internet?

Cheers,
Nigel

MIS Web Design
http://www.miswebdesign.com/

Received on Saturday, 14 June 2003 07:16:54 UTC