June 2000 Technology Update: Computers 6/e

Transition to E-government Slow The United States government is slow to embrace the Internet's potential. The U.S. government has set as its goal to offer 500 essential services on the Internet by October 2000. According to a recent Andersen Consulting survey, the growth of e-government is slow, very slow. Contributing to this lack of growth of technology in government are concerns about privacy and a lack of understanding of electronic commerce by those who make the laws. The United States government remains the world's largest publisher of printed materials, but considerably less than half of these mostly public documents having been placed online. Those that are online are free and readily accessible to citizens, whereas those that are published are expensive and time-consuming to produce and distribute. Only 8.3 percent of the U.S. government's interactive services have been placed online. The October 2000 goal may be in jeopardy.

Internet Industry is Booming The Internet industry is defined by those companies, which are wholly online or have a significant presence online in tandem with traditional brick and mortars. According to a study at the University of Texas the industry grew 62 percent last year with revenues of over $500 billion. 650,000 new jobs were created. Internet businesses, however, are far from topping out as a similar increase in growth is expected for the coming year.

The Next Generation Internet The Internet is moving into a new phase as soon as the technology and the logistics of implementing universal high-speed Internet access to residences and businesses will permit. The next generation Internet will significantly change the way we work, live, and play. It will have universal broadband access at speeds up to 50 Mbps, over 1000 times the speed of the typical access via analog modems. This will enable truly high-resolution real-time video with interactivity for multiple users. In the next generation of Internet, data and information will become more readily accessible and of a higher quality. The government-financed Internet2 project is enabling researchers to better conceptualize and plan for the potential of the next generation Internet. For example, it is not at all unrealistic to think that between people speaking different languages from different countries can participate in teleconferencing via real-time language translations.

Online Shopping in the Year 2005 A report from Jupiter Communications is forecasting that those people who use the Internet for shopping will account for three fourths of all retail dollars spent in five years. About $200 billion, or per cent of the estimated retail sales will be online purchases. More and more shoppers do research online before they buy. Currently 68 percent of all online shoppers say they researched products before going to a traditional retailer for the purchase. Studies like this are warnings to retailers who might be reluctant to invest in Internet opportunities that now might be a good time to make the plunge.

E-mail Benefit Cost Analysis What is e-mail worth? A study by Ferris Research has revealed that judicious use of e-mail can result in a savings of $9000 per employee. The focus of the study was tangible benefits only. For example, e-mail eliminates the costs associated with preparing and sending traditional mail and communicating via fax. The study showed an estimated savings of 326 hours and approximately $13,000 per employee with the use of e-mail. E-mail, though, has its costs. On average employees waste 115 hours interacting via e-mail on non-job-related communications, resulting in annual losses of about $4000 per employee. Actually, productivity improvements can be much higher when employees are encouraged to focus on job related tasks and intangibles, such as improved and timelier decision-making.

Teenage Netizens One of the largest population segments on the Internet is the teenager. A Grunwald Associates survey shows us that 70 percent of teenagers regularly surf the Internet. The girls have caught up with the boys and there is now gender equity on the Internet among teenagers. Girls have moved from 15 percent to 50 percent in five years.

APPENDIX: The Windows Environment

Microsoft Ordered to Split After one of the longest, most costly antitrust suits in history, U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson has decided that Microsoft was "untrustworthy" and should be split into two separate companies. Moreover, the judge has ordered that the resulting companies cannot enter into any joint venture with one another. Also, they cannot develop, sell, license, or distribute one another's products or services. They can't even share technical information without doing so with all other companies. Nor can they offer each other favorable treatment. If the judge's ruling stands after Microsoft's inevitable appeal, the face of the software industry will change. Whether the change is for the better or worse, only time will tell.

Linux on IBM Notebooks The Linux operating system continues to gain momentum in the consumer PC market. The "open source" operating system was developed over the last decade via a worldwide consortium of developers, all working on the same code. Linux will be made available on IBM's popular ThinkPad notebook computers. The company has made a major effort to push Linux as an alternative to the Windows operating system options by providing versions of its popular applications software for use with Linux and by making some of its major hardware platforms capable of running Linux. IBM is investing millions of dollars to training software developers and IBM dealers to work with Linux.

Microsoft Announces a "Bet the Company" Initiative Microsoft became the dominant force in the technology industries by creating products for the personal computer environment. However, there is an apparent shift away from stand-alone PCs to thin client computers, Internet appliances, and other alternative devices that can be linked to the Internet. The announcement of Microsoft.net means a significant shift in the company's strategic vision. A major component of this vision will be online versions of Windows and Microsoft Office along with an online business software service, called office.net. Within a year or so the company hopes to settle on a browser-based user interface. Microsoft hopes Microsoft Network Web will evolve as the major portal for Internet access.