[weikel]

Not for me but I am a nerd.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

The internal combustion engine is just a fad.

[TomGuy]

Before becoming public, the net existed as a data and information vehicle.

It went public and big business thought they could invade it and make fortunes, taking over through advertising, etc. That didn't work very well. Partly due to excessive eagerness to jump in, ignorance about the "make up" of the net, and too many other competitors doing the same thing--jumping in.

It took several years for the net to weed out the money-grubbers. Now, the net is returning more to its original design--data and information. People seeking data and information will always be net users. As with public libraries, they exist but not everyone uses them. As with public play grounds/parks, they exist but not everyone uses them. That doesn't mean they are any less important or are "dying" out.

[rond]

That there newfangled radio with pictures will never last.

[Focault's Pendulum]

But, aside from that, there are two absolutely huge problems with the Net: 1. Content 2. Access speed. 3. Price of access.

Ah! The mathematically challenged.

[freebilly]

dit dit dit...dot dot dot...dit dot dit....

[WFTR]

Content is very lacking on the net. Yes, there are many reference materials here, and if you're doing homework, this is the place to hang, but real, serious content that has broad appeal is not here.

First, there's no place in America where anything of "real, serious content" has much appeal. We are a society that watches Oprah and Friends and thinks that Dan Rather is telling the truth. These are not good signs.

Many among us who are wise enough not to be watching this kind of garbage are the types who want to be doing something more action-based during their spare time. Many sit at a desk all day at work and don't want to do it at home. This is a good sign for society but not for the net.

Beyond these comments, I think the net is going to grow, but it simply won't grow at the breakneck speed that it did in the 90's. E-mail has become a great way for many people to communicate, and e-mail will continue to be popular. Most of the web will continue to serve niche interests, and those interests will grow slowly but steadily. The "fad" aspect will die, but the net will grow behind it.

WFTR
Bill

[adversarial]

Content is very lacking on the net. Yes, there are many reference materials here, and if you're doing homework, this is the place to hang, but real, serious content that has broad appeal is not here. And, what is here is dying by the day.

I disagree with this part.
How can you say the net is only good for homework and research...and post that opinion on Free Republic? What are you doing here? Homework? research?

[Willie Green]

The Internet serves an important fundamental purpose that is more enduring than a "fad".
However, it was also over-hyped to "fad" proportions, resulting in the bursting of the dotbomb bubble.
It has now changed status to a "mature" technology.
The gold rush days of "The Information Age" and "The New Economy" are over.
As with any technology, we can still expect continuous improvement in the future.
But we've reached the point of diminishing returns on investment,
the market is strictly slow growth/replacement.

[Joe Bonforte]

The Internet is embedded into American commerce, and is far more than a passing fad. It just has to go through evolution, as all techologies do.

Up to now the main use of the Internet has been furnishing web pages to users. The next phase is now in the early stages, in which computers use the Internet to talk to each other, with no user necessarily being involved.

The broadband issue will eventually sort itself out. The virtual monopoly of local phone companies is slowing that process down, but not stopping it. We'll eventually have cheap, ubiquitous broadband connections, though it may take five to ten years.

The content issue is key, in particular finding the content that one wants. The ability of computers to talk to each other is the key to resolving this issue. Today, you have to manually do your searches for what you want. In the future, this will evolve as intelligent agents on your computer do that searching for you and present you with the results. We're seeing the beginnings of that with Google, which consistenly surprises me with the job it does of finding what I want.

The Internet has only been important to business and consumers since roughly 1995 - only seven years. Give it another seven, and you won't even recognize it.

[mo]

The net as a real force in business will not grown until it deals with the time factor of transaction. All the security, identity issues involved in completeing a credit card transaction @56k are laborious. It has to be faster and easier than a 1-800 call and should as facile and anonymous as walking down a Main Street and stepping into a store for a cash purchase.

[Bobalu]

No the internet is not just a fad

It is in its infancy right now though..and is exeriencing a few 'teething' pains, but this will pass.

I see wireless access as the next really big thing... in 2-5 yrs nearly everyone living in a non.3rd.world nation will carry devices 24/7 that connect them to the net wirelessly.

I think that in a few years the cost of high speed net access will begin to go down.... mostly due to innovative last-mile solutions and grass roots wireless network access.

Also the business sector will do all in its power to reduce or remove the cost of using wireless access devices... they want us all available online 24/7 so they can deliver instant spam.

The low-cost wireless web access devices will totally spoil the current business models for cell phones... they will mostly go into bankruptcy as people decide they can get by with the free 2-way audio features on their web devices.

As the costs of web access go down we will see almost everything get connected to the web.... TV's, ovens, garage doors, hats, glasses, toasters, u.name.it and someone will put it on the net :-)... we will have to go to an expanded IP address scheme otherwise we will run out of available numbers.

20+ years or so down the road the net will begin to expand into areas that many will not be comfortable with... nano-tech will likely enable easy direct connection with the human body. The beginnings of a virtual reality type connection between people and machines... and direct body to body connections over a high speed network.

[eclectic]

One thing is sure. Interenet is not a means for fast enrichment anymore. And this is great!

[glorgau]

But, if you're willing to PAY big bucks, you can get high speed access from your cable provider, or DSl from your phone company, and there are a few wireless alternatives out there, but be ready to pay through the nose for mere Net access.

Big bucks?!?!?

Cable access here is $50 bucks a month. Far superior to dial up access. I'd even go so far as to say that I wouldn't live anywhere without high-speed access.

[socal_parrot]

It's all over.

[CIB-173RDABN]

The company the employees me is about 80 miles away. I have been to the office once in the past eight months. I work out of my home.

I could do this with out the Internet, but the internet makes it easier, and cheaper (for my company).

I have a high speed modem with service from my cable tv company.

Besides my computer, I have a business keyset (mulitibutton) telephone that is an extension off my company's phone system. I have all the features that a person inside the office has.

All my work is faxed to a number that rings into my company's phone system, which converts the fax to an attachment to an email, and emails it to me.

When I complete my work, I email it back to the office.

I could work anywhere in the world (as long as I had a high speed connection to the internet).

Not every job can be done away from the office, but many office jobs can. As I see it, the Internet is here to stay.

[Snuffington]

I don't think you understand what the Internet is. None of the "huge problems with the net" you list are actually problems with the Internet. They're problems with the paradigm of "Internet as all things to all people."

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.

[Bounceback]

"The thing that I am seeing is that people are tired of the Internet, and they are ignoring it. It blew up a huge bubble early on, but as with most things that are highly inflated, it has had too much exposure, and people have grown tired of it, or so it seems."

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.

[mlocher]

i gotta point out that you are asking this question to a bunch of people who probably spend half their day on the internet doing stuff (hopefully) useful and monitoring the free republic. i hope you did not have in mind being a statistician in a future life...unless you want to work for the democrats.

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.