Web vs. web?

[Susan Kocher <sukoch -at- CATHER -dot- UNX -dot- SAS -dot- COM>]

At the risk of annoying all the habituals on this newsgroup, I am
asking another question that has been hashed out here before. But
I *did* check the archives; there was some discussion, but nothing
close to a consensus, and that was a year and a half ago. To make
amends from the start, I will promise to publish a summary if it has
not been done already!

So here goes:

Has a consensus been reached in our profession regarding the way to
use "web" or "Web" to refer to the World Wide Web, to webs in general?
Or how about internet/Internet?

My general feelings: First, it is not a cut and dried issue!
Of course there are many webs besides the WWW. But if your doco IS
referring to the WWW repeatedly, and you want to use a short form,
do you say "Web", "web", or "the Web"??

Of course, whether it's "Web" or "the Web" also brings up the issue of
using it as a noun vs as an adjective.

It seems to me that if WWW means World Wide Web in initial caps, then
in short form would have to be "the Web". As an editor, it is often,
but not always, clear from the context whether the writer means THE Web
or just any web. So far, here at SAS most references to the Web get
capitalized, but there is apparently no policy, and some gray areas.

Here are some examples to consider:
===================================================
1.  This software is designed to help you
    -- build interactive Web applications
    -- publish reports to the Web
    -- create dynamic Web reports
    -- extend SAS Software to the Web

2. Experience with HTML, Web servers, and general Web technology is
helpful. For additional details about SAS Web technology, check
out our Web page at http://www....html
====================================================

So, what say you, fellow whirlers? We want to come up with a policy that
is simple to implement for writers and editors. Leaving ALL of the
references to "Web" as they are above seems unsatisfactory; and yet
changing them all to "web" seems equally wrong.
 And while we're at it, does there seem
to be general agreement that "internet" is now such a generic term that
it should be treated as such, i.e. not be capitalized?

Cheers, and thanks,

Sue