Net’s Next Phase Will Weave Through Your Life

I chose my article from the March 2nd edition of the USA Today. It is entitled “Net’s Next Phase Will Weave Through Your Life.” This article discusses the changes in the near future of the Internet. Since its invention less than a decade ago, the Internet has become part of our everyday life. Businesses and consumers alike have used it for different several reasons to accomplish many different tasks.

But some believe that the growth in the usefulness of the Internet is coming to a halt. Many people consider the Internet a bit worn-out. Investors have seemed to abandon it. Analysts worry that nothing is coming to it. To many users, what was radical just years ago may be becoming monotonous.

But the computer industry is looking to change all that. On the horizon, there’s a new wave of the Internet beginning to break. For most users, the Internet experience will change dramatically over the next year or two. The hope for these changes is that the developments will reunite the industry.

Up to this point, the Net has been almost entirely about viewing content or buying products over the Web through a browser and a personal computer. In the next wave, the browser will no longer be a solo act. It will be part of a much larger system that combines hardware and software together to produce much more than was ever before possible. Craig Mundie, the executive vice president of Microsoft, quotes: “Browsing isn’t bad, and it won’t go away. But the browser will become part of a larger context.”

The Internet will be less about going to big sites like Yahoo and Amazon.com and more about using specialized pieces of software that connect to the Net. Current examples of these types of software include Real Player, Napster, and the Miller Lite Beer Pager. Once one of these programs is loaded onto your PC, they work independently of the browser to do their task very well.

Web sites themselves will also work harder and together. For example, a travel site will coordinate your plans online on your computer and then automatically trigger the e-mail software on your PC to notify friends and family of the upcoming trip. More complex software will also work together with web sites to bring services that go far beyond our current shopping, electronic calendars, or travel arrangements. Such sites will help run companies, home office, and personal finance.

Information on the Web, which is becoming much more accessible by cell phones and handhelds, will be available anywhere and everywhere. In order to contact you, Web sites will now call your phone or page you. You will be able to use your cell phone as a remote control to access your PC. For instance, while you are away from home, you will be able to listen to your own music stored on your home PC on another computer. The Net’s connections will no longer go from just PC’s to servers, but every which way. The resulting possibilities from these types of connections are endless.

The next wave of the Net will also cost more. All the things we’ve been getting for free won’t be that way for much longer. As the Net gets bigger, Internet companies will look at the early days of the television as a business model. TV started out free. Once cable and satellite TV services came around, the model evolved into several layers. Free TV still exists, but now you can pay to get a bigger selection of channels, or you can pay more to get special packages such as HBO or pay-per-view sporting events.

As MP3 services become increasingly popular, many believe that they will carve out layers like the TV industry has done. Possibly they will create a free layer where you can get free music from lesser-known artists, up to a premium layer for immediate releases from superstars. It might get disorderly for a while as companies test how much people are willing to pay. But nearly everyone in the industry agrees that it will create a healthier Internet and business experience.

Also, lots of companies will jump on to the trend to make better computer products. Computer-game maker Electronic Arts is the first company to test the capabilities of the new connectivity. Its new game, Majestic, is tagged “the game that plays you.” Instead of being something that you play on the PC, this mystery game leaves clues and sucks you into situations by contacting you every which way – e-mail, instant message, faxes and even phone calls. Every communication device becomes part of the game. Says Electronic Arts’ Joe Keene, “It will invade your life.” Much as the Internet soon will.

I chose this article because of the economic significance the Internet will have on the future of the world’s economy. The Internet was a large reason for the boost of the United States’ economy in the last decade, and there is no reason to think that an improvement in the Internet won’t help the economy grow on an even larger scale.

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