Does anyone remember George Carlin, Woodstock and Hill Street Blues? – Then you have to refresh your vocabulary when you talk about the beloved computer. New technologies are being developed every day and, along with these new developments, new acronyms are appearing.
Recently, I learned that many technical terms and expressions are obsolete.
For example, do you remember Active Server Pages (ASP)? Well, they are becoming cloud computing, although both are pretty much the same thing. ASP or ASP Classic was the first server-wide Microsoft scripting engine designed for dynamically generated web pages.
Plus, the newly obsolete terms follow:
– INTRANET
In the 1990s, the term “intranet” meant private networks running the Internet Protocol (IP) and others, such as the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). Companies used internal websites that could only be used by their employees and were hosted behind firewalls. However, nowadays, private networks use IP, and a new term has been put in place. The Virtual Private Network (VPN) now describes private and individual IP networks.
– EXTRANET
The term “extranet” refers to private network connections based on Internet standards, such as IP and HTTP. These connections went out of the organization and could be used between companies. Often Point-to-Point Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) has been replaced by Extranets. But today, communications between trading partners can be accessed via the company’s VPN.
– SURFING
Today, the terms Internet and World Wide Web are identical to teenagers. If you make a mistake and mention that you surf the web, you will probably think of speaking a foreign language! So, if you want the younger audience to understand what you are saying, use “navigate” instead of “surf”.
– PUSH TECHNOLOGY
In 1996, PointCase Network was released. This is a web service that sends news feeds to their subscribers. This network required too much network bandwidth and Really Simple Syndication (RSS) flow technology was developed. RSS is the preferred method for publishing information for Internet subscribers.
– APPLICATION SERVICE PROVIDER (ASP)
The term “application service provider” has been changed to “software as a service” (SaaS). Although both terms refer to software applications hosted by the provider. This software is purchased by subscription instead of owning and operating the program. The term ASP was popular before the end of the term dot-com. The buzzword today is “cloud computing”.
– PERSONAL DIGITAL ASSISTANT (PDA)
In the early 1990s, John Sculley, the former CEO of Apple, had introduced the term “personal digital assistant” (PDA) Apple Newton, which referred to handhelds. This technology continued to be used in 1996. But, the Palm Pilot has become the big demand of the business world. Today, Blackberry and iPhone handhelds are called “smartphones.”
– INTERNET TELEPHONY
The term “Internet telephony” has been replaced by Voice over IP (VoIP). But, know that VoIP is also outdated, because very soon, phone calls will be routed over the Internet. Public switched telephone networks (PSTN) will be switched off. And the PSTN will soon be put into storage because all voice, video and data traffic will be transmitted over the Internet.
– WEBLOG
The well-known blog is really an abbreviated version of “Weblog”. This term appeared in the late 1990s and described the comments, opinions and statements published online by individuals. The Weblog gave birth to words such as “blogger” and “blogosphere”. Nowadays, people do not have the time to “blog” and are now “microblogging”. Twitter is becoming a generic term to produce 140 character comments or opinions, and the “blogosphere” will soon be gone.
– THIN CLIENT
The term “thin client”, popular in the early ’90s, referred to the alternative approach similar to an Oracle terminal. Larry Ellison has uncovered flaws in the client / server computing architecture and announced that “thin clients” were the way to improve network security and manageability. However, the “thin clients” have never replaced PCs, the concept is similar to that of “virtual office”.