WAIS (pronounced "ways") uses its own Internet protocol, an extension of the Z39.50 standard (Information Retrieval Service Definition and Protocol Specification for Library Applications) of the National Information Standards Organization. Web users can use WAIS by either downloading a WAIS client and a "gateway" to the Web browser or by using Telnet to connect to a public WAIS client.

   Most Web users will find that the abundance of server files and search engines already available on the Web will make WAIS superfluous. However, librarians, medical researchers, and others may find some specialized information available through WAIS that is not currently available on the Web.

   For background, download a paper by Brewster Kahle of the Thinking Machines Corporation, a company that helped originate WAIS. Try download.com (http://www.download.com) to obtain a WAIS client and WWWAIS (http://www.eit.com/software/wwwwais/) for a gateway program to the WAIS client.

• When you order something, the order is sent to the merchant. The merchant (actually, the merchant's server) sends back an invoice and asks the consumer to launch the Wallet in his computer (or to download it quickly if the consumer doesn't have it yet).
• When the consumer selects "Pay," the CyberCash software on the merchant server sends a message back to the consumer's PC that activates the "Wallet" software. The consumer selects one of the cards defined in the Wallet and clicks.
• The transaction includes real-time credit card authorization.
• CyberCash says" Soon we will incorporate an electronic "Cash" and "Coin" system to use for transactions that are considered small for credit cards.

   In addition to the uncompressed raw audio data, the Wave file format stores information about the file’s number of tracks (mono or stereo), sample rate, and bit depth.

   Webcasting uses so-called push technology in which the Web server ostensibly "pushes" information to the user rather than waiting until the user specifically requests it. (In actuality, most of the push is triggered by user or administrator preselection and arrives only as the result of client requests.) In addition to changing the Web for the home user, new Webcasting products offer corporations an organized way to manage information for their intranet users.

   Because some products and services seem aimed primarily at the corporate market and others for the home user, we describe how Webcasting works first for the home user and then for a company's intranet.

Webcasting (Home User)

Briefly, here's how it works:

1. You download one of the new Netscape or MSIE browsers or one of the Webcasting applications such as Pointcast or Backweb. Now you have software in your computer that can unobtrusively request and get information updates in the periods when you're not using your live Internet connection (you won't be aware of it).
2. The new browser or Webcasting software will ask you what "channels" or information categories and specific Web sites you want to be able to have brought to you. Typically, you fill out a brief profile and select from menus.
3. The user interface varies considerably, depending on the browser or application you have downloaded and installed. A typical interface is a scrolling tickertape on some part of your display screen that you can turn on or off. The tickertape displays news headlines, stock quotes, or other information. Pointcast provides a screensaver that brings you an array of news, weather, and other information as soon as you turn your computer on. Backweb's Headliner lets you select either a tickertape or a screensaver and change at any time. Both Internet Explorer and Netscape's Netcaster take an even more radical approach and provide a new interface in which information objects or sources are viewed along with word processing and other applications as though everything was part of your virtual desktop.
4. As you use your computer, the Webcasting software uses a portion of your Internet connection to request updates from the "channels" (Web sites) you have selected. As the updates arrive, they are either stored for you to view the first time you click on a "channel" or, if a channel is already active, the information is presented to you right away and continually as long as you are using your computer.

Webcasting (Intranet)

Briefly, here's how it works:

1. An enterprise's intranet manager installs one of several Webcasting products available (see Table below) on a central Web server. Depending on the product, a range of provided program "channels" may be available to provide the intranet users with international, national, and perhaps local news or news headlines and possibly other services. The intranet manager decides which "channels" to preselect for intranet users and which channels (or whether there will be any) available for the user to choose.
2. The channels that "come with" the product or represent existing sites on the Web may either be icons or graphical links to a Web site or may be summary services such as news tickers and stock quotes that furnish information whether or not the user elects to click to the source Web site.
3. The intranet manager can develop new channels to put on the server that will "push" corporate news, industry or trade news, and news about competitors to selected users in the company.
4. Some of the products will allow the intranet manager to gather statistics on how often each channel is being used.
5. The user of the intranet will view the default set of channels planned and provided by the intranet manager. The intranet will thus become a much more visible part of the user's computer desktop. In some cases, the user may be able to modify the user interface and turn the Webcast channels off (for example, turn off a screensaver background or a scrolling headline ticker) just as a home user can.

   Webcasting assumes that individually and as corporations, we want our Web to be less chaotic with information sources pre-selected and organized. Users can still get to the entire Web on their own as usual (at least we think in most companies). However, Webcasters believe you often won't need to if the information is brought to you first. The use of the term "channel" by the Webcasting providers underscores their belief that users will prefer fewer choices and more order. Some of the Webcast software allows users to add their own Web site selections as channels.

   Pointcast includes advertising as part of its content. The browsers and other Webcasters do not include advertising unless you click to the source site from a headline. Pointcast's screensaver approach requires about 10 megabytes of your hard disk. With one or two exceptions, the Webcasting software is free for downloading.

A Brief Comparison of Webcasting Products

   The following table summarizes the leading products, their content, presentation technique, and where to download them. (Note: Since these products are constantly changing, we recommend checking their Web sites for more up-to-date information.)

   The ring idea seems to have caught on as a more dynamic alternative to the list of "favorite sites" that many Web sites offer. The originator of the idea, Sage Weil (now 19 and in college), started the first ring in May, 1995. With several collaborators, Sage has created WebRing, a Web ring management system. As of April, 1998, there were over 40,000 Web rings using the system.

   There are Web rings on acrobatics, quilting, mermaids, the macabre, Spanish hotels, the Chevrolet, Dixieland, medieval studies, native American sites, and Winnie the Pooh. The largest number are on computer- and game-related subjects.

   Web servers often come as part of a larger package of Internet- and intranet-related programs for serving e-mail, downloading requests for FTP files, and building and publishing Web pages. Considerations in choosing a Web server include how well it works with the operating system and other servers, its ability to handle server-side programming, and publishing, search engine, and site building tools that may come with it.

   Since site implies a geographic place, a Web site can be confused with a Web server. A server is a computer that holds the files for one or more sites. A very large Web site may be spread over a number of servers in different geographic locations. IBM is a good example; its Web site consists of thousands of files spread out over many servers in world-wide locations. But a more typical example is probably the site you are looking at, whatis.com. We reside on a commercial space provider's server with a number of other sites that have nothing to do with Internet glossaries.

   A synonym and less frequently used term for Web site is "Web presence." That term seems to better express the idea that a site is not tied to specific geographic location, but is "somewhere in cyberspace." However, "Web site" seems to be used much more frequently.

You can have multiple Web sites that cross-link to files on each others' sites or even share the same files.

At least one publication is using the term "Website." We prefer Web site.

   The New Hacker's Dictionary offers this definition (hypertext links are to our own definitions) :

n. [acronym: `Window, Icon, Menu, Pointing device (or Pull-down menu)'] A graphical-user-interface environment such as X or the Macintosh interface, esp. as described by a hacker who prefers command-line interfaces for their superior flexibility and extensibility. However, it is also used without negative connotations; one must pay attention to voice tone and other signals to interpret correctly.

   In addition to handheld computers and cable TV boxes, Windows CE is also offered as the operating system for the Auto PC, Microsoft's concept of controlling applications (such as selecting radio channels) while driving, using interactive speech technology.

   Microsoft provides a detailed explanation of WINS and DHCP on its Web site in a paper, Windows NT Server: Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol and Windows Internet Naming Service. Based on Microsoft's paper, DHCP and WINS have been submitted to the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) as proposed open standards in Request for Comments 1533, 1534, 1541, and 1542.

   Winsock runs between an application program such as a Netscape browser and the Internet program in your computer, TCP/IP. A request flows in the following order:

Netscape or other application
|
winsock.dll
|
TCP/IP
|
Modem or network card |
The Internet and destination

   Winsock provides this interface for different versions of the Windows operating system. A comparable interface exists for Mac computers. Beginning with Windows 95, Winsock came as part of the operating system, but in earlier systems, a Winsock program had to be installed. UNIX systems do not require a Winsock equivalent because TCP/IP and its use of sockets was designed to run directly with UNIX application programs.

   A number of companies offer a Winsock program, sometimes along with a suite of Internet protocol programs and applications. For example, Chameleon offers a suite that includes a Web browser, an FTP utility, a mail utility, and others. The Winsock program is included. The Trumpet Winsock is another popular stand-alone version. Winsock runs as a Windows dynamic link library (DLL) file. That is, it is loaded into the computer when an application needs it but doesn't need to be included as part of the application.

   When you initially get set up with Internet access, you may need to make sure you have the right version of Winsock for your operating system and the applications provided by the access provider. If your operating system provides one version and the application suite provided by the access provider provides another, one version of Winsock may need to be removed.

   A broader definition comes from the organization that Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee helped found, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C):

"The World Wide Web is the universe of network-accessible information, an embodiment of human knowledge."

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