Posted on 07/27/2002 8:03:44 AM PDT by SamBees
I think it overreached a little, like the stock market. Internet users are becoming more sophisticated and demanding more. You have some nice things on there, but a web site listing 20 cars in a local market is tough to attract people to.
Just an idea,...If you could get 20 other local used car dealers to commit to listing their inventory, I think it would be very attractive. Someone like myself could probably build you a simple application for a few hundred dollars that each of them could run on their PCs to keep their listings current on a site such as yours.
What the Internet truly is is simply a way to connect separate networks and systems using a universal standard. That way you don't have to uniquely figure out how to connect to individual networks and systems. Plug into the Internet, and you can get to them all. That is certainly not a fad, and it is certainly not going away. The way it is used will undoubtedly evolve over time, but that's quite different than a passing fad.
SamBees, don't rely on anecdotal evidence. Look at the statistics:http://www.glreach.com/globstats/
American and worldwide Internet usage is growing every year.
The Internet is evolving - and one day, it will be ubiquitous, as common in the home and elsewhere as electric motors are common in the home and eleswhere.
Indeed, the electric motor is a good model for the evolution of the Internet. Originally, the electric motor replaced the steam engine in manufacturing, and it was big, bulky and turned a rotating shaft often positioned vertically, upon which pulleys and levers were fastened to do multiple tasks. When electric motors became small enough to fit into tools themselves, the need to manufacture vertically (a factory of several stories) was eliminated, and people like Henry Ford started manufacturing horizontally - the assembly line.
Today, the average home has 30 plus motors of varing sizes in it, each performing separate tasks, all running off the electrictity brought to the house.
The Internet will blossom into a multiple decentralized functions - use will not depend upon sitting at one central computer and logging in everyday. For most people, it will be on and stay on, and accessible from any location. The content will be both free and by subscription.
Moreover, content follows form, not vice-versa. Obviously, cheap broadband - sufficient to show digital movies well - is a key. But also, I think, there must be a revolution in the display itself. We need cheap, large flat screens.
For example, digital photos are wonderful and more 'alive' than merely printed copies, and yet for most of us, digital photos can only be displayed on computer monitor. Why couldn't there be cheap wall or desk "picture frames" which could display digitial photos well - and sequence them on command? We need a wall to ceiling display - at a reasonable price - like the wall in the kitchen in the movie "True Lies".
Patience, SamBees. All this is coming. And the real Internet fortunes, which will come about through realization of these obvious progressions, are yet to be made.
We are evolving into a world in which we will be able to be in instant communication visually, in sound and in print with all others on the planet and with most sources of information. Whether we have anything meaningful to communicate is a different matter, of course.
Up and running. Thank you for the info!!!
a.cricket
ATTENTION: Al Gore is lurking here.
Reminds me of the Monty Python Spanish Inquisition sketch.
I agree. If I did not have a cable modem I would not do anything on the 'net except email.
My primary reason to go cable was that Ebay was taking FOREVER to load via my 56k modem. It was taking too long to upload auctions so I made the switch.
sorry for the blast. since you asked, the internet is interactive. content is not there and bandwith is such that it is difficult to get bandwidth. cable and tv is where most people are still comfortable after a hard day at the (ahem) office. it has content and bandwith to support it. further, it requires next to no thinking -- it is passive.
i do not see the two merging anytime soon. i do see the internet as an untapped tool, but to enhance interactive communication, not to replace passivity.
3G is an aspect that could foster more interactive usage. phones that access the internet are technically feasible and their is some interest by the general public -- europe is far ahead the united states in this area. unfortunately network providers have paid outrageous fees for licenses and have little left to build their infrastructure.
and to prove it, i cite exhibit a -- the wankel engine -- that great invention by the japanese and mazda.
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