Re: What is a "hack"?

[dempson@actrix.gen.nz (David Empson)]

Nick <n_marx@ix.netcom.com> wrote:

> Speaking of computer words...  am I the only one who is bothered by words
> created for the sole purpose of creating corporate "buzzwords"?  The most
> troubling to me are the two terms:  "Intranet" and the even more absurd
> "Extranet".  Its all INTERNET no matter how you look at it!!!

No it isn't.  The "Internet" is the large international collection of
computers that we all know and possibly love.

An "Intranet" is a private network that happens to be running the same
underlying protocols (based on TCP/IP) which are used on the Internet.
There may or may not be a physical connection to the Internet.  If there
is a physical connection (including dial-up), there is usually a
firewall involved.

An "Extranet" is a bit silly - it is just an Intranet which is
distributed over multiple sites, rather than being on a single LAN, for
example, or a LAN plus dial-in.  It might even have part of its
communication taking place over the Internet.  This gets a bit grey.  I
think "Virtual Private Networks" fall into this area.

-- 
David Empson
dempson@actrix.gen.nz
Snail mail: P.O. Box 27-103, Wellington, New Zealand