WWW: Beyond the Basics

Chapter 8. Commerce

8.1 Introduction

When the World Wide Web was in its infancy, commercial use of the Internet was limited. As restrictions were lifted, commercial use of the Web exploded. Instead of periodically printing new catalogs, companies could update online catalogs for a fraction of the cost. Instead of shipping computer diskettes across the country, companies could allow software to be downloaded from the company's web page. Company policies, product descriptions, career opportunities, and financial sheets all became immediately available through the Web. In less than half a decade, the World Wide Web has brought innumerable changes to the ways companies do business.

The major issue restraining the commercial use of the World Wide Web is the lack of a trusted, secure system of paying for products or services. Many payment systems are in use, but no system has gained widespread acceptance. This chapter discusses the major systems and the prospects for future payment systems.

Currently the World Wide Web follows a model of advertising borrowed from television: The user only pays to connect to the network -- companies and advertisers foot the bill for developing the content and making it available. Soon this may change to a pay-per-view model, where the user pays a per-access fee to view content. One idea for this per-access fee is microcent transactions -- transactions on the order of $0.0001. Prospects for the future of microcent transactions will also be discussed.

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Copyright © 1996 Patrick N. Brooks
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Patrick N. Brooks <pbrooks@vt.edu>