What direction do you see the net going in?Written by William Suboski
This last year, ecommerce has been all rage. Going back a year or so, Java applets were hot. That is, public perception of websites was that "good" websites had ecommerce, or Java applets on them.If we go back before applets, say three years ago, streaming video, vivo, was "hot" topic. There is not a lot of talk of streaming video anymore. It has been incorporated into universe of web design, and has cooled considerably as a "hot" topic. This is mostly because people have realized that streaming video has huge bandwidth. That even 30 minutes of quality programming is quite expensive to produce, and that we already a very effective streaming video technology filled with desultory content. There seems to be a laypersons metric of website quality, but this metric is froth on sea, and changes with time. The issues involved in truly measuring website quality are subtler and more long-term. A website's quality or effectiveness cannot be assessed by simply pointing to presence or absence of a particular feature. This past year, media have focussed heavily on ecommerce, as a buzzword, but this buzzword is almost never defined. If we take ecommerce as current laypersons metric, hmmm, well, what is it? Do we mean capacity to process purchases online, secure server and closed sales? This is great, but only part of picture, many businesses want and need to create interest without needing to close a sale online. If we take a wider definition of ecommerce, we might come up with something like: websites designed for easy use, whose primary purpose is commercial. Such websites frequently also allow online purchasing, but their first and foremost function is to provide product information. Some sales will close online, but many will not. For example, several years ago, I used Web to find a hotel near where our family reunion would be held. I saw that they had an indoor pool, and so I knew to take swim shorts in February. No money was transferred across net, but all arrangements were made in advance of our arrival. I never did actually use pool, but my options were more open.
| | When trade and community freedom starts to cost, click on! Written by M6.net
Ecommerce is product, and 'dotcom' greed, waste; and in it's wake is strewn a vibrant internet community, oozing a strong passionate flow of community and trade presence. Fear from dotcom 'crash', due to over priced and underachieving Internet ventures, has pushed many businesses, in panic mode, to close down their Net products, and re-open them at a cost. This blinkered attitude, stoked by a need to make Net pay, has these companies trying to turn Internet into a closed trading arena, charging people on entry. It is a fanciful idea to think that Internet can be a closed medium, left to authoritarianism of a few greedy misguided entities, hell bent on creating closed money farms. The Internet is still a place in which to find freedom to trade, get involved in community activities, and push oneself in a pioneering way. To observe true Internet success, one must meet internet savvy people. With their new global passion, they encourage 'visitors' to share their ideas and thoughts through written content, dotted around Net on their own websites or free content sites. Unfortunately Internet was exploited early on by 'get-rich-quick' opportunists, financed by 'investment return' hungry backers, who very quickly saw potential for so little cost; and hijacked them to be used as tools in next consumer revolution. Fortunately though, what opportunists chose to ignore, to their peril, was that THESE consumer types were not consumers in-confirmation, they were only 'potential' consumers, and still very private people being 'home-invaded'. These were real people in a private environment, being themselves. This was vital picture they missed, signpost they missed while cruising at dangerous high speeds. When people use internet they are in an environment where THEY are 'in control', able to defend them selves against obtrusive 'opportunists'. They would now have to be 'wooed'. People seek communities offline, so why should it be different online. Local, global, real time, interactive, informative and social, traits of 'community'. These people do not come together on internet only to buy, this is generally last thing on their minds, stats show that people come online, in majority, to socialise. These social outlets have been targeted by Opportunist and Co. as next entry fee based Ecommerce centres. Internet users must be shown it's easy to keep web free for all to use. One only has to think about a subject and go searching for information on it. The moment an opportunist tries to make money by selling you information, just continue your search for community that wants to share your passion, for free.
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