The &link_internet; provides several services which can be accessed
with specialized programs.
By far, the most frequently used Internet services are:
- Electronic mail (e-mail), which has practically replaced
paper mail for many people, because it's fast, easy to use, and terribly
cheap.
- The World Wide Web (WWW, or just "the Web") allows you
to view text, graphics, and multimedia content in a special application,
a browser.
Its outstanding feature is hypertext, which links one
Web page to information on another Web page, which can physically reside
on any other computer anywhere in the world. The Web gives you access to
millions of pages of information.
On your &link_desktop;, you will find the
"Internet" folder, which
contains the Netscape Navigator browser allowing you to use e-mail
and the Web.
However, there are more Internet services than the above two, which
can be used with additional software:
- The File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is useful for transferring
single files over the Internet. Many times when you download software in
your browser, you will find that it is using this protocol because it is
more efficient for large files. Also, if you are running your own web site,
you will probably be using FTP for transferring files to your provider.
&os2; comes with several FTP clients. In addition, Netscape Navigator
supports FTP as well.
- Telnet allows you to start a command prompt session with a
remote host that has been configured for allowing such access. &os2; comes
with Telnet programs too.
- Internet Relay Chat (IRC) allows you to carry on live conversations
with other computer users, using the keyboard. IRC is organized into "channels";
by joining a channel on a particular IRC server, you can see all other people
that have joined and chat with them.
There are several IRC clients for &os2; available for download from the
Internet.