WWW: Beyond the Basics

23. Internet for the Masses

23.4 Conclusion

What started off as a personal computer-based ideology has now evolved into a Web of services and content that is being accessed by customers via desktop browsers. In effect, the PC workstation has moved from a primary role as a content processor and application-specific workstation, to a secondary role as a content access mechanism. The Web servers and Internets/Intranets (INET) networks are now dominant. They provide access to vast amounts of content and services. The limited set of applications that can run on a single PC is overwhelmed by the content of INET-based networks and a tremendous richness of functionality.

Yet, this was to be expected since, in a sense, Network Computers mirror our world and our lives. NCs are designed and optimized for sharing knowledge. No person is a community unto herself/himself, and NCs do not expect or require every participant in the network community to be an isolated survivalist. People in every-day life do not maintain their own electric, water, and gas supply. As a world -- and computing -- community we have learned to share specialties and information because that is what makes most economic sense. Sharing allows us to save time and energy and obtain the benefits of economies of scale.

The NC, however, will not "exterminate" the PC, but it will complement it. Power users such as engineers and scientists will not be satisfied with the performance of most NCs. Issues like privacy and security will scare other users away from the NCs and towards the most centralized architecture of the PC. For the vast majority of the general public some form of the Network Computer will be more than enough.

Performance on INETs and NCs is very much dependent upon available bandwidth. Organizations will have to manage their Intranet networks just like they have to manage their current WANs and LANs. Increased bandwidth may not even be necessary initially if usage levels remain at current levels. Clearly, as the market for NCs gains momentum, bandwidth infrastructure will have to grow to accommodate the potential explosion of users.

That's where the broadband telecommunication technologies being developed by the Telephone and Cable companies over their existing networks will come to the rescue. Telephones were useless before the telcos began stringing wires. Cable TV was only a backwater business before the big cablecos went national. Automobiles weren't very practical before governments began paving roads. Indeed, ADSL and Cable modems give to the hungry-for-bandwidth "masses" an all-you-can-eat access to the WWW and to the Internet in general.

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Copyright © 1996 Theodoros P. David, All Rights Reserved

Theodoros P. David <tdavid@vt.edu>
Last modified: Mon Dec 16 13:52:09 1996