For most of its existence the Internet was primarily a research and academic network. More recently, commercial enterprises and a vast number of consumers have come to recognize the Internet's potential. Today people and businesses around the world can use the Internet to retrieve information, communicate and conduct business globally, and access a vast array of services and resources on-line.

Initially, primary use of the Internet was electronic mail (commonly called "e-mail"). Millions of people still use the Internet for electronic mail capabilities. Electronic mail however, is only a small part of what the Internet offers. There's also - search engines, chat groups, e-commerce, news, mailing lists, bulletin boards, remote computer access (telnet) - file transfer or FTP (file transfer protocol)

Later developments made possible book and magazine publishing (e-books), video conferencing and web broadcasting or webcasting. New applications like blog have become extremely popular. Amateur radio, cable television wires, spread spectrum radio, satellite and fibre optics are all being used to deliver Internet services.

Users can join any of the thousands of Internet discussion groups, search for specific information in search engines or transfer/exchange a variety of files. Over last few years Internet-based resources and services have grown exponentially. Based on current projections this rapid growth will continue into the next decade as more businesses and consumers make the decision to move onto the Internet.