[ih] 'internet' and "Internet"

[Noel Chiappa]

    > From: "John Levine" <johnl at iecc.com>

    > You know, sometimes it's time to let go.

We created a _second_ word (back before almost anyone else knew what an
'internet' even was) for use in our technical discussions, because we _needed_
a second term. It is not clear to me that that need has passed. (I am under
the strong impression that there are still quite a few internets which are not
connected to the Internet; just do a Web search for 'air gap'. Note that one
can't even _say_ that observation without two different words.)

Whether people who can exchange information with people conected to the
Internet, but are not able to send IP packets to them directly, are 'on' the
Internet is basically a marketing discussion in which I am utterly
un-interested. (Note that this discussion has been around since the dawn of
time; early on, people who were not directly conected to the Internet could
often exchange email with those who were - were the former group 'on' the
Internet?)

The fact that 'ordinary' people (such as the afore-mentioned idiots at the
AP) are confused in their terminology is not relevant. Ordinary people often
speak of 'germs' - but that does not mean that micro-biologists have stopped
carefully using the two terms 'bacteria' and 'virus'. For a micro-biologist
to start using 'germ' in a technical discussion would be pretty much
equivalent to wearing a 'kick me' sign - even though plenty of
ordinary people use it.

	Noel