Glossaire
- ADSL: technical process which allows to use a
phone line as a high transfer rate connection line towards Internet, together with phone and possibly TV
transmission. There are several Internet
Service Providers (ISP) that provide ADSL, together with various
services.
- application: contrarily to an operating system, an application software is not
necessary to the computer proper working. It is generally
specialized for a precise job.
- blog: a Web site which allows to write every
day a short paper, which can be read by anybody. Readers are often
allowed to answer or to comment. The papers appear in reverse order
or redaction.
- browser: application which allows to
look at the Web sites and to browse their contents.
- free software: contrarily to
commercial or proprietary software, which is sold by software
vendors, and whose internal working is a trade secret, free software
can be obtained free of charge, and copying it is explicitly
allowed. Its internal working is always known and well described, in
particular because the text of all its constituent programs can be
looked at and changed by anybody.
- graphical interface: all the images,
menus, windows and icons displayed on the screen, which provide you
with communication means to the operating
system and the various applications.
- Internet: network of all networks, i.e.
the whole set of communication means between all the computers in
the world. By extension, set of all the services provided by these
computers, and specifically by all the Web sites.
- Internet Service Provider (ISP): a
business which offers an Internet access of good quality, generally
through your phone line. It also offers other services, for example
free and unlimited phone communications, access to many TV channels,
etc.
- operating system: basic software needed
for the computer to work. There exist almost ubiquitous proprietary
operating systems, with well-known defects. The GNU/Linux operating
system is free software. It is more
and more widely used, because of its very numerous qualities.
- software: contrarily to the hardware,
i.e. the material part of the computer and its peripheral parts
(screen, keyboard, mouse), software is the immaterial part, made of
all the programs needed for the computer working.
- update: set of all the changes that must
be done to the operating system and the
various applications in order to pass to
new version or to fix security problems.
- Wifi: a technical process which allows to
make two computers or devices to communicate without any physical
connection. One of the devices may be an ADSL
box. This is especially useful for laptops.
Last change: 05/12/2007