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A computer network is defined to be an interconnected collection of autonomous computers. Interconnected means capable of exchanging information, and autonomous means, that there is no dictatorship. The connections allow users to exchange data, and pool and share resources, Computer Networks have rapidly become an integral part of business life. They allow a business to streamline the overall operation and to interact with suppliers and customers very efficiently. On the most basic level computer networks are great to share resources, such as printers and storage space. On the most advanced level computer networks can carry video data for remote video conferencing for example. The most common uses of computer networks are:
Desktop sharing lets remote workers see and interact with a graphical computer screen. This makes it easy for two or more people who work far apart to read and write a shared blackboard or write a report together. When one worker makes a change to an online document, the others can see the change immediately, instead of waiting several days for a letter d) Saving Money: Next goal is to save money. Mainframe (room-size) computers are roughly ten faster than the personal computers, but are a thousand times costly. This imbalance caused the system designers to design a system consisting of personal computers, one per user, with data kept on one or more shared file server machines. In this model the user are called the clients and this whole arrangement is known as the client-server model. In client-server model, the communication generally takes the form of a request message fro client to the receiver asking for some work to be done. Server does the work and sends back the reply. e) e-commerce Another goal for many companies is doing business electronically, especially with customers and suppliers. This new model is called e-commerce (electronic commerce) and it has grown rapidly in recent years. Airlines, bookstores, and other retailers have discovered that many customers like the convenience of shopping from home. f) Scalability: Another goal is scalability. Scalability is the ability to increase the system performance gradually as the workload grows, by just adding more processors. 2) Uses of Networks in Home Applications a. Access to Remote Information: Access to remote information occurs in many forms. One of the areas where it is happening is access to the financial institutions. Many people pay their bills, manage bank accounts and handle investments electronically. Home shopping is also becoming popular these days. Another application that falls under this category is the access to information systems like World Wide Web which contains information about art, business, history, government, geography, economics and several other topics. All the above applications involve the interaction between the user and a remote database.
b. Person to Person Communication: Electronic Mail popularly known as email is widely used by millions of people to send text messages, photographs audio as well as video to other people or group of people. This application belongs to person to person communication category. Videoconferencing is also becoming popular these days. This technology makes it possible to have virtual meetings among far flung people. It is also a type of person to person communication. c. Interactive Entertainment: These days we can see many live programs and shows. The best thing is that we can interact with them by participating in the quizzes and the contests organized by them. Interactive entertainments such as XBOX gaming online and online tutorials which used flash for interactive environment. d. electronic commerce: Home shopping is already popular and enables users to inspect the online catalogs of thousands of companies. Some of these catalogs are interactive, showing products from different viewpoints and in configurations that can be personalized. Another area in which e-commerce is widely used is access to financial institutions. Many people already pay their bills, manage their bank accounts, and handle their investments electronically. This trend will surely continue as networks become more secure. e. ubiquitous computing The last category is ubiquitous computing, in which computing is embedded into everyday life. Many homes are already wired with security systems that include door and window sensors, and there are many more sensors that can be folded in to a smart home monitor, such as energy consumption. Increasingly, consumer electronic devices are networked. Devices such as televisions that plug into the wall can use power-line networks to send information throughout the house over the wires that carry electricity.
4) Social Issues
A popular feature of many networks are newsgroups or bulletin boards whereby people can exchange messages with like-minded individuals. The trouble comes when newsgroups are set up on topics that people actually care about, like politics, religion, or sex. Views posted to such groups may be deeply offensive to some people. Worse yet, they may not be politically correct. Furthermore, messages need not be limited to text. High-resolution color photographs and even short video clips can now easily be transmitted over computer networks. People have sued network operators, claiming that they are responsible for the contents of what they carry, just as newspapers and magazines are. The inevitable response is that a network is like a telephone company or the post office and cannot be expected to police what its users say. Stronger yet, were network operators to censor messages, they would likely delete everything containing even the slightest possibility of them being sued, and thus violate their users' rights to free speech
5) Scientific Use
Within Science computer networks were used very early on to share resources and exchange data. This goes back to the beginnings of the Internet, and in fact, the Internet as we know it today was created within a scientific laboratory. It is standard procedure to use networks to share data and use remote computers to carry out large computations. This includes the use of supercomputers in various locations. As an example consider the use of a supercomputer located in Norway by researchers in the UK. For scientific use it is inconceivable nowadays not to be using a computer network. Interestingly, each laboratory has a technician who is dedicated to the maintenance of the computer network and the safeguarding of data through regular backups. Businesses ought to take notice of this.