VIA Interaction

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

The Internet is becoming what the visionaries said it could be

At conferences I attend and in publications I read, the shorthand for what's happening today is "Internet 2." They aren't referring to the technical architecture of the Web, but the way the Internet is turning into a distributed environment where people push, pull and share content in dynamic ways.

Some examples of this are del.icio.us, a "social bookmarks manager," and Technorati, a search engine for blogs and syndicated news that enables content providers to create a metadata structure that classifies results.

Of course, Google is a leader in all of this. The New York Times wrote Sunday about how businesses across the spectrum are both impressed by and afraid of the path that Google is forging:

Just Googling It Is Striking Fear Into Companies - New York Times:

"In Google, Wal-Mart sees both a technology pioneer and the seed of a threat, said Mr. Breyer, who is also a partner in a venture capital firm. The worry is that by making information available everywhere, Google might soon be able to tell Wal-Mart shoppers if better bargains are available nearby.

Wal-Mart is scarcely alone in its concern. As Google increasingly becomes the starting point for finding information and buying products and services, companies that even a year ago did not see themselves as competing with Google are beginning to view the company with some angst - mixed with admiration.

Google's recent moves have stirred concern in industries from book publishing to telecommunications. Businesses already feeling the Google effect include advertising, software and the news media. Apart from retailing, Google's disruptive presence may soon be felt in real estate and auto sales.

Google, the reigning giant of Web search, could extend its economic reach in the next few years as more people get high-speed Internet service and cellphones become full-fledged search tools, according to analysts. And ever-smarter software, they say, will cull and organize larger and larger digital storehouses of news, images, real estate listings and traffic reports, delivering results that are more like the advice of a trusted human expert.

Such advances, predicts Esther Dyson, a technology consultant, will bring "a huge reduction in inefficiency everywhere." That, in turn, would be an unsettling force for all sorts of industries and workers. But it would also reward consumers with lower prices and open up opportunities for new companies.

Google, then, may turn out to have a more far-reaching impact than earlier Web winners like Amazon and eBay. "Google is the realization of everything that we thought the Internet was going to be about but really wasn't until Google," said David B. Yoffie, a professor at Harvard Business School."

posted by Tim Beidel at 11/08/2005 01:50:00 PM

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