[9325] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: The annointed
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Peter Deutsch)
Wed Dec 29 11:09:42 1993
From: Peter Deutsch <peterd@bunyip.com>
Date: Wed, 29 Dec 1993 11:00:29 -0500
In-Reply-To: David Piscitello (Core Competence)'s message as of Dec 29, 9:41
To: David Piscitello (Core Competence) <wk04464@worldlink.com>,
Cc: com-priv@psi.com
[ Dave Piscitello wrote: ]
> Those that are proposing to sell Internet in a box are *not* bringing
> anything to the net. All the stuff we now take for granted as free -datbases
> from universities, gophers, Wais, etc., were built by people who reap no
> financial return of any consequence - unless there are some Internet
> millionaires out there that I don't know about
I certainly agree with the general view that those
attempting to "do commerce" on the net should feel
obligated to participate in and return something to the
community, that strikes me as good manners and common
sense, as well as good business practice. I also have some
concerns about what such trends as "Internet in a box"
mean, although I expect the net to respond in its usual
manner and develop a suitable response to this shift
quickly and as needed. And the people doing this kind of
thing _are_ actually bringing something to the net - a
significant increase in the size of the market, which will
motivate commercial service companies to offer their wares
where before the economies of scale didn't justify it. In
the long run that can lead to better services for
everybody.
Having said that, I'm actually writing because I have to
take some exception with Dave's remark that "All the
stuff...were built by people who reap no financial return
of any consequence".
Although we certainly don't claim to have become
millionaires (yet! ;-), as the creators of archie we first
commercialized our efforts just over two years ago; the
creators of WAIS followed us I believe about 12 months
later. I expect this trend in commercialization of Internet
services to continue as we all seek out viable funding
mechanisms in a world of exponential growth in demand for
our services. I also believe that this trend mirrors what
happened at the connectivity layer a few years ago as
building connection hardware for the Internet became a
significant market once the Internet escaped from its
campus roots.
Now, I can't speak for Brewster Khale (the president of
WAIS Inc.) but I wouldn't describe our success to date as
of "no financial return of any consequence". My partner
and I now have four full-time employees in addition to
ourselves, plus a couple of part-timers and we will
hopefully be issuing press releases in the New Year
announcing several significant new contracts. Money _is_
starting to change hands at the services layer, and I
expect this to accelerate quickly in the next few months
as we all bring new products to market and other players
find their way into the arena.
> I can't speak for all the folks who built databases or
> the protocols they operate over, but I think some of
> us did it as much for the fun, stimulation, and
> satisfaction as the money. We all reaped something,
> and I don't begrudge millionaires be they of the
> Internet or other "culture"
Certainly the fun, stimulation and satisfaction were the
major motivating factors when we got started, and much (if
not most) of the initial push to commercialize in our case
was driven by a desire to preserve what we'd created in
the face of unsupportable growth in a volunteer
environment, but the profit motive is certainly there now
and helps motivate us on days like today, when it -25
Centigrade outside and we have to get in the car to drive
to work. For what it's worth there's also tremendous
pleasure in the knowlege that you're providing a service
people want, jobs to people you respect and are helping
build a whole new industry.
I certainly agree with Dave's general thrust that the
builders of the net seem motivated as much by pleasure in
their work as the desire for profits, but I think that's
probably true for most, if not all, successful
entrepreneurs. Some days there wouldn't be enough money to
pay me to do what I do! The point I'm trying to make (in my
usual long-winded fashion) is that there _is_ a
significant move to commercialize Internet services, which
I think it healthy and will bring us better information
services in the not too distance future. I expect this
trend to start showing major results quite soon and it
shouldn't be overlooked just because today the market is
relatively miniscule and the companies involved not
terribly well-known.
Consider that when we incorporated two years ago there
were an estimated 500,000 hosts on the net, and today that
number is probably well over two million. The number of
commercial and individual accounts is sky-rocketing and
the original restrictions to commerce are pretty much gone
in most areas. I think the opportunities for rapid change
in this area are now all in place and I'm happy to predict
that 1994 will be the year commercial Internet services
became firmly established as a viable market. As they say
"watch this space".
- peterd
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