You knew we'd pick it. The Net was created in 1969 for defense-related research and known as ARPANet (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network). Today, it's a global network of computers at the heart of the 20th century's communications revolution, affecting how we gather information, conduct business and go about our everyday affairs. The Net's basic technology rests with the common addressing system and communications protocol called TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) which essentially allows computers to talk to each other. Now, millions of computers throughout the world send e-mail, transfer files and connect to the World Wide Web, the most popular aspect of the Internet, created in 1989. The Web has spawned some of the most cutting-edge software, such as Netscape's browser and Sun's Java programming language. Still in its infancy, Internet commerce has already generated millions of dollars in annual transactions.

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