 M Mailing List: An e-mail based discussion group. Sending one e-mail message to the mailing list's list server sends mail to all other members of the group. Users join a mailing list by subscribing. Subscribers to a mailing list receive messages from all other members. Users have to unsubscribe from a mailing list to stop receiving messages forwarded from the group's members. Megabyte: A
million bytes. A thousand kilobytes. MIDI: Musical Instrument Digital Interface - a high quality audio file format. MIME: (Multipurpose
Internet Mail Extensions) -- The standard for attaching non-text
files to standard Internet mail messages. Non-text files include
graphics, spreadsheets, formatted word-processor documents, sound
files, etc. See Also: Browser , Client , Server , Binhex , UUENCODE Generally speaking, "to mirror" is to maintain an exact copy of something. Probably the most common use of the term on the Internet refers to "mirror sites" which are web sites, or FTP sites that maintain exact copies of material originated at another location, usually in order to provide more widespread access to the resource. Another common use of the term "mirror" refers to an arrangement where information is written to more than one hard disk simultaneously, so that if one disk fails, the computer keeps on working without losing anything. See Also: FTP , Web Modem: (MOdulator, DEModulator) An electronic device that lets computers communicate electronically. The name is derived from "modulator-demodulator" because of their function in processing data over analog phone lines. These days, some people have begun to confuse them with Terminal Adapters. Basically, modems do for computers what a telephone does for humans. MOO: (Mud, Object
Oriented) -- One of several kinds of multi-user role-playing
environments. Basically, Dungeons and Dragons over the Internet. Mosaic: The first WWW browser that was available for the Macintosh, Windows, and UNIX all with the same interface. Mosaic really started the popularity of the Web. Later surpassed by Netscape and then Internet Explorer.See Also: Browser , Client , WWW MPEG: Motion Picture Experts Group - a video file format offering excellent quality in a relatively small file. Video files found on the Internet are frequently stored in the MPEG format. Full length movies (like 'The Net') are available on CD and are stored in the MPEG format.MUD: (Multi-User Dungeon or Dimension) -- A (usually text-based) multi-user simulation environment. Some are purely for fun and flirting, others are used for serious software development, or education purposes and everything that lies in between. A significant feature of most MUDs is that users can create things that stay after they leave and which other users can interact with in their absence, thus allowing a world to be built gradually and collectively.See Also: MOO , MUSE Multimedia: A combination of media types on a single document, including: text, graphics, animation, audio and video. MUSE: (Multi-User Simulated Environment) -- One kind of MUD - usually with little or no violence (a dungeon with no killing).See Also: MOO , MUD N Nameserver: A computer running a program that converts domain names into appropriate IP addresses and vice versa. Name Servers (also known as Domain Name Servers) are the backbone of the Internet system. Netiquette: The
etiquette on the Internet. Netizen: Derived
from the term citizen, referring to a citizen of the Internet, or
someone who uses networked resources. The term connotes civic
responsibility and participation. Netscape has grown in features rapidly and is widely recognized as the best and most popular web browser. Netscape corporation also produces web server software. Netscape provided major improvements in speed and interface over other browsers, and has also engendered debate by creating new elements for the HTML language used by Web pages -- but the Netscape extensions to HTML are not universally supported. Netscape lost the competition with Microsoft to build the best Internet browser and was taken over by AOL in 1999, making Microsoft's Internet Explorer with about 75% market share the dominant software to access the web. The main author of Netscape, Mark Andreessen, was hired away from the NCSA by Jim Clark, and they founded a company called Mosaic Communications and soon changed the name to Netscape Communications Corporation. See Also: Browser , Mosaic , Server , WWW Network: Any time
you connect 2 or more computers together so that they can share
resources, you have a computer network. Connect 2 or more networks
together and you have an internet. Newsgroup: The
name for discussion groups on USENET. NIC: (Networked
Information Center) -- Generally, any office that handles
information for a network. The most famous of these on the
Internet is the InterNIC, which is where new domain names used to
be registered. NNTP: (Network News
Transport Protocol) -- The protocol used by client and server
software to carry USENET postings back and forth over a TCP/IP
network. If you are using any common software like Netscape, Free
Agent or Internet Explorer, etc. to participate in newsgroups then
you are benefiting from an NNTP connection. Node: Any single
computer connected to a network. O OC-3 and OC-12: High speed data links carrying 155 and 622 Mbps of Data respectively. OC-3's and OC-12's have replaced, or are replacing T-3's to make up the backbone of the Internet. Online: When you connect to the Internet, you are online. P Packet: A chunk of data. The TCP/IP protocol breaks large data files into smaller "packets" for transmission. When the data reaches its destination, the protocol makes sure that all packets have arrived without error. Packets are used to transmit data on the Internet. Packet Switching: The method used to move data around on the Internet. In packet switching, all the data coming out of a machine is broken up into chunks, each chunk has the address of where it came from and where it is going. This enables chunks of data from many different sources to co-mingle on the same lines, and be sorted and directed to different routes by special machines along the way. This way many people can use the same lines at the same time. A code used to gain access to a locked (protected) system. Good passwords contain letters and non-letters and are not simple combinations such as virtue7. A good password might be: as-d45ipSee Also: Login PING: A program for determining if another computer is presently connected to the Internet. Pixel: Short for picture element - the smallest unit of resolution on a monitor. Commonly used as a unit of measurement. PKZIP: A widely available shareware utility allowing users to compress and decompress data files. Helps reduce storage space and transfer times. A (usually small) piece of software that adds features to a larger piece of software. Common examples are plug-ins for browsers and web servers.The idea behind plug-in's is that a small piece of software is loaded into memory by the larger program, adding a new feature, and that users need only install the few plug-ins that they need, out of a much larger pool of possibilities. Plug-ins are usually created by people other than the publishers of the software the plug-in works with. POP: (Point of
Presence, also Post Office Protocol) -- Two commonly used
meanings: Point of Presence and Post Office Protocol. A Point of
Presence usually means a city or location where a network can be
connected to, often with dial up phone lines. So if an Internet
company says they will soon have a POP in Belgrade, it means that
they will soon have a local phone number in Belgrade and/or a
place where leased lines can connect to their network. A second
meaning, Post Office Protocol refers to the way email software
such as Eudora gets mail from a mail server. When you obtain a
SLIP, PPP, or shell account you almost always get a POP account
with it, and it is this POP account that you tell your email
software to use to get your mail. Port: 3 meanings.
First and most generally, a place where information goes into or
out of a computer, or both. E.g. the serial port on a personal
computer is where a modem would be connected. Finally, port also refers to translating a piece of software to bring it from one type of computer system to another, e.g. to translate a Windows program so that it will run on a Macintosh. See Also: Domain Name , Server , URL Posting: A single
message entered into a network communications system. See Also: Newsgroup PPP: (Point to Point
Protocol) -- Most well known as a protocol that allows a computer
to use a regular telephone line and a modem to make TCP/IP
connections and thus be really and truly on the Internet. Protocols: Computer rules that provide uniform specifications so that computer hardware and operating systems can communicate. It's similar to the way that mail, in countries around the world, is addressed in the same basic format so that postal workers know where to find the recipient's address, the sender's return address and the postage stamp. Regardless of the underlying language, the basic "protocols" remain the same. PSTN: (Public Switched Telephone Network) -- The regular old-fashioned telephone system.
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