[8776] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Imminent Death of the Net As We Know It (was Re: One-way Internet?...)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Dick St.Peters)
Sat Dec 4 17:17:24 1993
Date: Sat, 4 Dec 93 17:11:03 EST
From: stpeters@spare-parts.crd.ge.com (Dick St.Peters)
To: walkerl@med.ge.com
Cc: com-priv@psi.com
Reply-To: <stpeters@dawn.crd.ge.com>
> From: walkerl@med.ge.com (Larry Walker)
> This then segues back into the recent brief discussion about Sprint's
> Internet acccess service sans a home directory/mailbox/nntp-server and the
> Imminent Death of the Net As We Know It (which I suspect could be true in
> the short term; a lot of freely-provided net services _really_could_ get
> swamped out of existence...)
That brief discussion was, to my mind, all too brief (a single posting by
Karl ... or was there followup I didn't notice ?)
Anyway, Karl's posting got me thinking a bit, and I have a thesis to
put to the net about what's coming. It describes a change that I find
repellant in many ways, but I can also find reason to chastise myself
for thinking that way. However I (or you) feel about it, I suspect
it's going to happen whether or not we like it.
I think changes in the net are coming that are similar to what happens
to a town when it grows large enough that the discount stores move in.
For want of better terms, I'll call this a change from a community model
to a market model.
In a town small enough to think of itself as a community, local
businesses give something back to the community ... they sponsor
parades, boy scouts, volunteer fire dapartments, sports teams, parks,
and miscellaneous other local events, organizations, and such. The key
word in giving something back is "back"; what they give is not entirely
at their expense. Their prices are a little higher to support this
community-oriented behavior. Competition is on "soft" things,
convenience, personal attention, loyalty. Customers don't expect
bargains; they expect a price that's fair, and they want to do business
at a place that's part of the community.
Newcomers aren't part of the community themselves; they don't care
about the Rotary award plaque on your wall, if they think your prices
are too high, they'll go somewhere else. When a discount house opens
nearby, that's where the newcomers go. It's not long before the
long-time residents start going there too. With a lot more people in
town, the July 4th parade and barbecue get bigger and more expensive;
the fire department needs more trucks to cover everything. With their
customer bases eroding and their finances weakening, the old-time local
businesses can no longer afford these things. The fire department
becomes paid pros hired by the town. The park where Joe's Bar's
softball team won the county championship is dug up to build a stadium
for the new minor league professional team.
The community is gone, replaced by a market, and nobody gives anything
back to a market.
Some things are better though. The school is larger, meaning a lot
more books in the library and a lot more modern equipment, maybe even
a computer lab. The professional fire department has several EMT's,
enough for two on every shift. The town now has a modern medical
clinic with several doctors. Everything the town had before is still
available, and usually it's more professionally run. The businesses
that adapted are thriving and employ a lot of people. Our town has
made a lot of progress.
Are we in for something like this on the Internet ?
--
Dick St.Peters
GE Corporate R&D, Schenectady, NY stpeters@dawn.crd.ge.com
