Slide 4 of 27
Notes:
With the price of computers dropping, the thought of getting more than one home computer is within the grasp of an increasing percentage of the population. Indeed, many of us have a laptop/notebook computer at work that we frequently bring home. For work, printer and file sharing, and backup purposes, a home network would be very handy. And with the price of network interface cards (NICs) and small hub/switch devices, the desire has become reality. Today's microcomputer operating systems -- Linux, MacOS, and Windows 3.11 et seq. – also make networking easy so that one doesn't even need additional software.
Couple the demand and simplicity for home networking with the growth in Internet use from the home for both personal and professional reasons, and we see the reason that there are more and more long-time (if not permanent) connections to the Internet.
And once on the Internet, security becomes an issue.