[10660] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Internet is dead!!! (fwd)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Marty Salo)
Fri Mar 4 10:52:03 1994
Date: Thu, 3 Mar 1994 12:43:15 +22311151 (EST)
From: Marty Salo <msalo@garnet.acns.fsu.edu>
To: com-priv@psi.com
A commercialization issue.
Marty Salo msalo@garnet.acns.fse.edu
"The future belongs to neither the conduit or content players, but
those who control the filtering, searching and sense-making tools
we will rely on to navigate through the expanses of cyberspace."
- Paul Saffo, (_Wired_: March,1994)
[Quote borrowed from Peterd@bunyip.com]
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 3 Mar 1994 09:04:57 EST
>From: JAMSHID BEHESHTI <INJZ%MCGILLB.BITNET@VM1.MCGILL.CA>
To: Multiple recipients of list MCLIS-L <MCLIS-L@VM1.MCGILL.CA>
Subject: Internet is dead!!!
This is a very interesting article about the Net. I think all LIS students
should read it.
Jamshid Beheshti
============================================================================
Date: Wed, 2 Mar 1994 11:07:12 GMT
>From: Thierry Lehoux <LEHOUX@VAX.LSE.AC.UK>
Subject: ineternet cs Minitel : the next generation big fight ? a futuristic
view
Here is the result on my research on a very contreversial point, the possible
death of Internet. Here, I analysed the risks for Internet in front of the
French Minitel. I know that it is very risky to put on Internet such article.
Some could argue that I only took in account only the element favorable to my
thesis. It is very true, that this article doesn't provide an impartial
analysis, but I believe that there is matter of interest for all Internauts.
I am awaiting for all your comments and critics.
THIERRY LEHOUX
LEHOUX@LSE.AC.UK
Copyright (c) 1994, London School of Economics and Political Sciences Working
papers series, Information System Department , Thierry Lehoux.
ABSTRACT
In the world, there are two networks which have the same characteristics of
growth and of aim : Internet and Minitel. Everybody is looking at the 21st
century as the Age of Communication and of Cyberstate, and prepared the future.
But the cyberspace is not big enough for two competitors. There will be a big
fight and I have seen the winner : France Telecom and the Minitel Network. The
object of this article is to explain the possible strategy of one company,
France Telecom for the purchase of the Internet network. The arguments are
based on the elements which were the cause of the Internet success, but which
are now the source of its future death. For each century there are a David and
a Goliath : the 21st century will be the one of Information and Cyberstate,
will Minitel-David this time kill the Internet-Goliath ?
Comparing Minitel to Internet is a blaspheme for number, thus it is important
to understand why I put on the same plan Internet and the Minitel.
Historically, those two networks arose in the last ten years, and nowadays have
a real influence on the way of working and of living of millions people,
Internet in the English world and the Minitel in France. The growth of both
systems has been motivated by different objectives, however it is easy to see
that the will to reach a critic size to influence their environment.
The last figure of use of both networks gives us an impression of similarities.
According the last France Telecom report, there are 6.5 million Minitel
terminals and half a million computers with Minitel emulation, which create one
billion connections for 90 million connected hours per year. For Internet the
precise figures are difficult to find, because there is no central organization
to deal with, but it is evaluated that there are between 10 and 20 million
users who transfer 10 to 20 terabytes of information each months.
The power of each network is based on the ability for a given user to connect
to the network and find the information he is looking for.
The main difference between the Minitel and Internet is to be found in the way
the two different networks arose. There was a Minitel champion, France Telecom,
to manage the success, but nothing comparable has existed for Internet.
The Growth of the Minitel. A. Minc and S. Nora created the neologism
"telematics." This word implies an increasing interconnection between
telecommunication and the computer field. France could have missed this new
field of opportunities, if she had not developed on time her own strategy.
Furthermore, those emerging technologies would have been threats to the French
high-tech industry.
It was also seen as a chance to take to develop a high-tech national commitment
to create a new product, the Minitel, but also to improve the French telephone
network. It is obvious that the Minitel was born from two not prestigious
parents. The father was the outdated telephone network and the mother the
British threat. Despite this, the reaction was strong and the plan to carry out
the French Videotext was quite efficient.
France Telecom played in the Minitel story the role of a project leader, and
tried to obtain the commitment of the whole industry. In these "big project"
often launched by the state, each actor has to find an interest (le colbertisme
high techp20). "The introduction of Videotext was considered to be part of an
industrial policy" (Relaunching videotex p10). France Telecom's control has
insured that the Minitel success. When some criticism arose, France Telecom set
up an experiment in a favourable area to stimulate the French high-tech
industry. The Minitel success has been built on a good marketing strategy, free
distribution, attractive billing policy and electronic directory. However, this
strategy turned out to a success, because of the strong support of the state to
this strategy, not only because the government wanted the Minitel to be a
success, but because the Minitel was in the centre of an industrial policy.
The Growth of Internet.
Internet is no born from a single will, but people wanted to communicate and to
exchange information through a new media : the information system network.
Because nothing was administrated by a large organization, it is difficult to
say where the first matrice of Internet appeared. This lack of administration
also is the richness of this network. But what is Internet.
An internet is a connected set of networks, such as those using transmission
Control Protocol (TCP) and Internet Protocol (IP). Ofen this definition is
extended to all this other networks which have a connections to the Internet,
such as Bitnet, Janet and Usenet. Henry Edward Hardy. Anonymous FTP
umcc.umich.edu pub/user/seraphim/doc/nethist8.txt
Once the first link between two different university networks, it was quite
easy to connect both network and share the information for the benefit of
everybody. Establishing such a link between two networks has only been
initiated, because one day somebody needed a particular piece of information,
and because this was only available on a given university network. This idea of
shared information, and creation of a distributed network was initiated by the
cold war period.
The report proposes a communication system where there would be no obvious
central command and control point. Paul Baran, 1962 Rand Corporation report "On
distributed Communication"
The first pre-internet network is the Arpanet Network. This network was
designed for four different sites. The first Arpanet information message
processor (IMP) was installed at UCLA on September 1, 1969. Additional nodes
were soon added at Standford Research Institute, the University of California
at Santa Barbara, and the University of Utah.
Arpane was very important in the development of the Net. Its initial structure
was influenced by the fact that it was intended to form part of the central
command and control structure for the US armed forces during the height of the
Cold War. At such it was designed to be able to survive a nuclear attack. This
in turn influenced the decentralized and peer-to-peer structure. Henry Edward
Hardy. Anonymous FTP umcc.umich.edu pub/user/seraphim/doc/nethist8.txt
In the early days of Internet, this network was only used by an elite
population made of students and university researchers. The Internet network
became steadily the means of communication of a particular elite sharing a new
ethic value based on the availability of the information, breaking by the same
way the imperialism of money.
The Sterling's view of the network is the example of this way of thinking :
Its users made the Internet that way, because they had the courage to use the
network to support their own values, to bend the technology to their own
purposes. To serve their own liberty. Their own convenience, their own
amusement, even their own idle pleasure. When we read this sentence, we
understand why the "Internauts" wanted and want to keep the control on the Net.
Internet seems to be a world reachable by everybody, but it is a very close
world as we will see later.
The influence of the Cold War is indeniable, but it is quite wierd to note how
easily the academic world take the network for its own toys.
Conclusion on this difference.
This deeper analysis of the history stresses the differences between the early
days of the Minitel and Internet. Furthermore, two opposite logics seem to take
place : money versus free information. Thus, for almost ten years, Internet has
cohabited with another network based on totally different values and objective.
Recent events seem to suggest that this relatively quite period be over. The
fight is being prepared.
The Minitel drive to internationalization.
The Minitel has been built for and around the French phone system. Due to the
French characteristic, France Telecom monopoly situation, France Telecom and
its export branch Intelmatique failed to export the whole system : service and
the Minitel device itself. France Telecom lost the standard fight : Nippon
Telegraph & telephone Corp told France Telecom that it won't be joining in a
project to adapt the Minitel for the Japanese market (Computergram, issue 2087,
18 Jan 93 : NTT will no participate in adapting Minitel).
France Telecom abandoned the idea of a direct exportation of Minitel. Instead,
they worked towards an internationalization of the use of the French system.
Nowadays, the Minitel can be reached from nearly anywhere in the globe with
dial-up.(Kessler). The international traffic started from nothing in 1987,
reached 30 000 hours in 1990 and the expectation for 1993 were of 350 000 hours
(France Telecom 92).
The rumors of Prestel purchase by France Telecom (The Independent 17 December
1993), the plan for a merger of the state-owned telecommunication companies of
France and Germany (Times 18 Nov 1993), to form a strategic alliance to provide
future-oriented services for business in a global environment, (Times 9 Dec
93), all point at France Telecom's Europeanization strategy. This long term
strategy of takeover and alliance seems only possible, because France Telecom
earned so much from the Minitel : o720 million (Financial Times 04 Mars 1993:
telecom Markets : News).
It is impossible to say what will be the future of Minitel, but the increased
interconnection with other networks will show the functionalities to worldwide
users. In 1990, 250 000 terminal have been installed outside France and there
have been 150 000 further orders (Computergram, issue 1529, 10 oct 90, France's
Minitel begins to make waves in Italy, and in other foreign countries).
In Great-Britain, this strategy of implementation has been well-managed :
The Minitel software for PCs supplied by France Telecom for o 90.48 is in
English. It cost o25 to become a Minitel subscriber. Cost for the services
range from pounds 9 to 68.30 an hour, depending on the information provider.
While France Telecom is initially offering access to its French system, it is
likely to develop a UK network. ( Independent 17 dec 93).
France Telecom chose Great-Britain for its English experiment, as they did with
Velizy to test the concept of Minitel in the early 80's. This English
experiment is the beginning of a long social trial to understand the reaction
of English people in front of the French services' organization. France
Telecom, one more time, focused its attention on a population which reflects
the people of the 21st century. These customers are attracted by services where
the information is well organized, even if the cost is expensive compared to
other means of information.
The clays foot of the giant Internet.
France Telecom with its system points out on the main weaknesses of Internet :
the lack of control and of clarity. In a certain way, they reflect the
population of the people of the 21st century. The entire network, with its 1
million host computers, whose 30% are outside the US, distributes terabytes and
terabytes of information, but are they relevant.
Millions of institutions and agencies provide all day long data, but the user
interface proposed is awful. Finding your way through the FTP, Telnet,
Anonymous protocol transfer is very long and quite impossible. Some people
tried to create some users' guide for the people like me, but they are so
complicated that after one or two hours of unsucced trial to connect an on-line
news service, the user switches off its computer.
The flexibility of the Internet also makes it far more complex. There is, for
example, no catalogue of resources on the Internet. The Internet is therefore
difficult to use unless you know exactly what you are looking for and where to
find it. Similarly, the Internet lacks the equivalent of a telephone directory.
The Financial Time, 30 Nov 93: Casting the net worldwide-The Internet global
network is leading the way down the information superhighway. For the
networking neophyte, entering the Internet feels like arriving in a foreign
city where you don't know a soul and can't speak or read the language. The
Financial Time, 30 Nov 93: A challenging skill to master.
Succeeding in finding the way in Internet is maybe a test for new "Internet
user", but too many failed, and the real Internet champions don't want to
exchange or share their knowledge.
The set up of the Gopher interface has been an answer to propose a
user-friendly interface and an easy access to information through top-down
menus. This interface appears to be the solution to Internet problems, but one
more time the decentralized organization is producing some aberrations : it is
quite common to find some files and some messages displayed by Gopher that have
been written two years ago. What is the value of this information ?
Searching Gopher can be quite fun, but time-consuming. Gopher menus are
constantly changing as new choices are added. The menus are reorganized so the*
the menu choices leading to a database one day may be completely different the
next. Database, dec 93, Vol 16 No 6, page 62-67, by Eagan, Ann, Charts. Order
out of chaos : Science database on the Internet
This lack of user friendliness is a major drawback for Gopher. Supposing we
found a very interesting menu in one of the numerous arborescence of Gopher. To
use it again, we mark it with the bookmark facility. Next day, we call again
the bookmark and we have something different. A pen and a old fashioned piece
of paper are the accessories to remember the path to the information in Gopher.
Gopher was the last chance of Internet to propose a user-interface to resist to
the 21st century. Negroponte from the MIT said in Emerging Technology 94, that
the 21st century will be the information age century, but that does not mean
more information, but less information. People only want the information they
are interesting in and nothing more. This critic view can be addressed to
Internet.
Conclusion on this point
Two different logics are face to face, the academic one, and the business and
commercial one. In the next part, we will show how advantages of the commercial
view of the Minitel and how people will subscribe very quickly to this network.
How the Minitel will take over Internet.
The Minitel strategy will use three different tools to kill Internet : the
services directory, the billing policy and the Troyan horse.
The acces cost.
In France, the premium to pay for access to the Minitel is very cheap. A
Minitel set, or a PC with a Minitel emulation has to be connected to a normal
phone line. Firms could rent Minitel set for less than o5 per month, or
purchase an emulation for o50. Once the installation is done, there is no
constraint for the access to all Minitel resources. The bill is based on the
connection time. Furthermore, it is quite easy for a company to estimate the
cost of connection to the Minitel because of years of experience of other
companies. France Telecom also provides some set where there are logical or
physical keys to restrict the access to the services required for the core
business of the company. In the same way, it also is easy for a particular to
have a Minitel at home and have access to the network and there is no
distinction of privilege between a big consumer and a particular, except the
bill at the end of the month of course.
Switching from the Minitel to Internet. The things are not so easy :
If you are associated in any way with a government agency or university,
chances are you can get an Internet connection easily and in some cases for
little or no cost. Infoworld, Vol 15 No. 23, page 66, Weighing all the Internet
options proves highly complex.
The premium investment is higher for the people who are not part of this elite
group, because of the material, special phone line and software and hardware.
There is no equality for accessing Internet.
Try to go to a phone company and say you need a 56 Kbit/sec line into the high
school in rural Minnesota, South Dakota or Utah. You will usually get one of
two answer - either they will do it for an unaffordable amount of money or they
will flat out tell you it can't be done. Network World, 8 Nov 93, Vol 10 No 45,
page 14, by Krol, Commercializing the Internet.
Supposing that now we have a gateway to Internet. Does the equality exist
inside the Internet user community ? Some would expect so, but number of
complains about the daily utilization of Internet deals with the non existence
of an equal foot between users.
Try to persuade stock brokers to use the Internet when their quotes may be
delayed an arbitrary amount of time by someone at a university doing a file
transfer. Network World, 8 Nov 93, Vol 10 No 45, page 14, by Krol,
Commercializing the Internet.
Now supposing that there is no problem of this nature in our area. What will be
the cost of use of Internet. A number of papers gives us advice about the right
configuration for accessing Internet, e-mail alone, third-party gateway, Gopher
and Veronica or WWW, but they all agreed on one point :
The service for a full-time Internet connection can cost anywhere from $400 to
$500 to several thousand dollars per months. In addition, there will be
recurring cost, such as the phone service or line and network/system
administration, and fixed costs, such as modem and/or routers...Many
organizations underestimate the cost of system administration. LAN Times, 6 Sep
93, Vol 10 No 18, page 34 : Internetworking : So you want to join yhe Internet.
Here is what to do, whom to call - everything you ever wanted to know about it.
Attaching a value to a non productive but needed resource & central directory.
In France, there is today something like 24 000 service providers. A
'Miniteler' uses mainly four or five services regularly, but he connects
occasionally to 35 services. The richness of Minitel is not to facilitate the
access to the main services, but to the very occasionally used service. This
help is only possible because there is an extensive and comprehensive service
directory set up and maintaind by France Telecom.
It was obvious that, for a great part, the Minitel would be used occasionally
to solve a particular problem. For example, the keywords "Mountain" would
display all the services that are related to mountain activities : meteorology
services, road status to and from mountainous areas, ski holidays booking, etc.
This interface was very powerful as it provided easy access to services the
customer did not know of. Simultaneously, it provided free advertising for
service providers.
The billing policy will attract more and more people and service providers.
Taking the example of the LSE library : through Libertas system, the library
displays free of charge the database of all the books available. What is the
advantage of this practise for the BLPES ? However, if we look at one of the
French big libraries, La Vilette, there is an other strategy. La Vilette
created a Minitel service, 36-15 code Lavillette. The cost of implementation is
very low, because the library needed anyway a computerized catalogue.
Furthermore, the Minitel service was a way to generate money through the
connection of thousands of users. The equation is simple : attaching to a
resource, in our case a database, a value. Profits generated are used to buy
new books and provide a better service to the user of the library.
Number of services were set up, because companies realised that they already
have needed database for their own business. Some of this information is
available in the public domain. The creation of such database is expensive, but
the Minitel proposes a way to rentabilize this by creating a service.
Moreover, because the primary objective of a library is not to become an
information dealer, France Telecom decided to deal with all the money circuit.
The billing policy was attractive for the customers, but also for the service
providers. The idea was simple, for each call, the cost was divided between
France Telecom and the service provider. The system was a black box for the
user, since he did not notice anything, the distribution being automatically
done by France Telecom. The customer himself has only one bill to pay.
Furthermore, the billing policy provided a great flexibility for the service
providers because of different charge per minute, from free consultation to
35.5 FFr. per minute, according to the value of the information displayed.
If we, as a library, decide to install a service not free of charge in the
Internet network, the procedure is quite simple. Firstly, it is necessary to
advertise that there is a new service, the same thing is also relevant for
Minitel. Secondly, some users send an e-mail message to have a password, and as
a service provider, we have to collect the money. How we will manage it ? What
will be the base of our billing policy, the time of connection or an outright
sale system ? Because of this problem, there is a major risk of losing
occasional customers. The idea of France Telecom was simple : set up a billing
policy easily understandable by the user, base on the connection time.
Furthermore, because the job of a service provider is not the money collection,
France Telecom offers this service.
The ultimate tools set up by the Minitel organization, we will explain later
this term, is a "Troyan horse". Now it is possible to reach Internet via a
Minitel. This way of doing is a way to attract the customers and lock them into
the Minitel world, because they notice how easy it is to find information on
Internet with Minitel. Furthermore, because the consumer pays for the data he
wants, he has the right to ask for reliable and relevant information. In a
non-commercial environment like Internet, the user has no right because he does
not pay for the information he collects. "There is rarely a guarantee the
database found is accurate, reliable or understandable" (Database, dec 93, Vol
16 No 6, page 62-67, by Eagan, Ann, Charts. Order out of chaos : Science
database on the Internet.)
Another particular issue is arising with the anonymous of Internet. It is quite
difficult to know who is behind a database. The only information often
available is an E-mail address, and if the service does not fulfil the
expectations, the user could send a E-mail, but answer is not guaranteed.
MINITEL ORGANIZATION IS CHANGING.
France Telecom is no longer the leader of this strategy, because now the
service providers, because of the money involved, are promoting their services
and the Minitel itself. This commitment between France Telecom and the service
providers has been created since the beginning of Minitel era, and now the
services are the best advertisement for the Minitel system itself.
>From a centralized network, the Minitel is becoming a network which maintains
itself and influences its environment. Today, it is very difficult to say that
this agency is in charge of the Minitel development. This mutation is the most
important for the future, because this type of organisation generates some
innovations to tackle arising problems.
COMMERCIALIZATION OF INTERNET
In a future, some Minitel service will be implemented to display the great
amount of free information around Internet network. The information consumer
will pay for this well organized information display, because of an easy
access. The money logic is creating its spider's web. Finding and exploiting
free information sources will become a well-paid job. In the last 10 years,
some French companies have been develop their own know-how to manage, organize
and sell large information database through the Minitel. This experience has
been a great plus, because these companies have been confronted since the
beginning to a new market with a great competition between the actors. Under
the control of France Telecom, an ethics of service providers has been set up
for the advantage of the customers. The Minitel was, is and will be customer
oriented, only because of the amount of money involved in this market.
The fear of commercializing Internet is real :
Every time I talk about commercializing the Internet, I get waves of outraged
E-mail from various tax-supported enclaves across America. Infoworld, 20 Dec 93
Commercializing the Internet with Netware.
We could understand the fear of these "elite" who use for their own advantage
the network. Considering the group list which discuss of a particular subject.
For the purpose of this easy, I joined one month ago, a number of these group.
The result of this experiment is quite interesting. Firstly, I noticed that
there are only a few number of active people in these groups. Secondly, the
amount of data unrelevant to the subject of the list is incredible. Thirdly,
these groups enable the member of the group to retrieve one, two or even four
years of discussion. Junk information is invading the Internet.
Veteran Internet navigators fear commercialisation and regulation will doom the
free-wheeling spirit that has enables the Internet to thrive. The Financial
Time, 30 Nov 93: Casting the net worldwide-The Internet global network is
leading the way down the information superhighway.
Some readers (survey of 35 Network World readers) think the Internet should
continue to favor nonprofit work. 'Educational uses should have priority over
commercial uses' one reader says. Network World, 19 Jul 93, Commercial Internet
traffic.
In fact, their fear is to lose their privileges in the existing network.
According to them, education is not possible in a commercial environment. But
the critical question is not here, the power of such veterans is negligible in
front of the claims for a broader clarity. Their real fear is to know if
Internet could resist a commercialisation wave.
Many Internauts say commercializing the Internet would destroy it. That it's
too fragile to endure free markets. Infoworld, 01 Nov 93. On surfing the
Internet, and other kid stuff.
While the 'Internauts' are dealing with philosophical questions about the
future of Internet, some organizations are beginning to create the conditions
of a very quick revolution in commercialising the Internet. This revolution is
based on a legal lack of clarity.
On the Internet, anybody can copy any material, whether it be a newspaper
article or a graduate thesis , without charge. Essentially, this means an
individual who post information on the Internet forfeits rights of ownership.
The Financial Time, 30 Nov 93: Casting the net worldwide-The Internet global
network is leading the way down the information superhighway. Moreover what is
the power of such sentence in an Internet file :
Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with
American Cybercasting Corporation.
If tomorrow I decide to download all their files, it will take me a long time,
but after that I could trade all the information in another place, especially
in a Minitel service. The process of transformation and added value to free
resources is on the way. Nothing, especially not a sentence like the one above
could avoid the arising of business in Internet.
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