ABC of Medical Computing: THE INTERNET

The Internet is a huge network of computers that spans the globe. It originated in the late 1960s from an American military project which was intended to provide reliable communications in the event of a nuclear war. The network started with just four computers but grew rapidly over the next few years. An estimated 40 million computers are now connected to it, and this number is growing by about 10% each year. Although access was originally restricted to government departments and organisations such as universities, the Internet has recently been opened up to everybody. It is now used by people and organisations from all walks of life including commercial organisations, university departments, hospitals, and medical schools, as well as agrowing number of individual users dialling in from home.