NetAttitudeWHATITIS,HOWTOGETIT,ANDWHY

YOUNEEDITMORETHANEVERNetAttitude:WhatItIs,HowtoGetIt,andWhyYourCompanyCan’tSurviveWithoutItwaspublishedin2001byPerseusPublishing.NetAttitude:Whatitis,HowtoGetit,andWhyitisMoreImportantThanEverisa2016republicationofthe2001bookwithanewprefaceanda

synopsisprecedingeachchapter.

JohnR.Patrick

ForewordbyStewartAlsop

Copyright©2016JohnR.Patrick

Allrightsreserved.

ISBN:0692417311

ISBN13:9780692417317

LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2015913873

AttitudeLLC,PalmCoast,FL

NewPraiseforNetAttitude2016

“JohnPatrickisoneofmyfavoritethinkers.JohnisoneoftheWeb’soriginalwisemen,abrightspiritandintellectwhoshareshisrareunderstandingoftechnologyandtheweb,itsmany dimensions and limitless potential. In Net Attitude he lays out a clear path foranyonewhoisdeterminedtosucceedontheInternetand,ashedemonstrates,itallbeginswithattitude.”

LouDobbs,Host,LouDobbsTonight,FoxBusinessNetwork

“John Patrick remained optimistic about the Internet during and after bursting of theInternetBubble in2001.Nowyouget to readhowJohnwasright then,howhewillberightagain,andhowyoucanprosperwiththeright‘netattitude’.”

BobMetcalfe,ProfessorofInnovation,TheUniversityofTexasatAustin

“NetAttitudeisacreativeandusefulmixaboutInternettechnology,everydayliving,andavisionofthefuture.Itwastruein2001,anditistruetoday.JohnPatrickcoversthefullspectrum of communications and information in a highly pragmatic and very readableway.Patrick’srecurringthemethatattitudeistheultimatedifferentiatorbetweensuccessandfailuregiveslifetothetechnologies, tiesthemtogether,andmakesthebookamustread.”

James D. Robinson III, General Partner and co-Founder, RRE Ventures,FormerChairmanandCEO,AmericanExpressCompany

“JohnisarenownedInternetseerandadvisor.Hisfirstbookwasrequiredreadingatmyfirstweb-techcompany.Muchofwhathepredictedhascometopassandhisinsightsandoutlookforthewebarevalidmorethan10yearslater.HisnewNetAttitudeisamustreadforanyoneseekingtounderstandwherethewebisgoing.”

ChrisForbes,CEOofHireArt,formerCEOorKnovelCorporation

2001

“Intelligenceismostlypointofviewandtherestisattitude.Johnprovidesacharmingandeasy-to-readculturalprimerandtravelguideforcitizensoftheworldofatomswhoplantovisitoremigratetothelandofbits.”

NicholasNegroponte,ChairmanandCo-founderofMITMediaLaboratory

AlsobyJohnR.Patrick

HealthAttitude:UnravelingandSolvingtheComplexitiesofHealthcare(2015)

NetAttitude:WhatItIs,HowtoGetIt,andWhyYourCompanyCan’tSurviveWithoutIt(2001)

DedicationThisbookisdedicatedtomylovingwife,Joanne.Herpatienceenablesmetofindtimetoworkonbooks.

IPreface

wroteNetAttitude1 during the summer of 2001. Facebook,Google Plus, Instagram,LinkedIn, MySpace, Pinterest, SnapChat, Twitter, YouTube, and almost all of the

nearly200sitesinWikipedia’s“ListofSocialNetworkingWebsites”didnotexist.2Totale-commercesalesfor2001werejustonepercentoftotalretailsales.3AmazonandeBaywereemergingbutquitesmallcomparedtotoday.

As of June 2001, therewere 479million Internet users in theworld representing7.9% of the population.4 At the end of 2014, there were 3.1 billion users representing42.4% of the world’s population.5 When I wroteNet Attitude, Internet use was in itsinfancy.DespitegrowingusageofAmazonandeBay,mostwebsitesweredysfunctional.Youcould “Clickhere tobuy” andbepresentedwith a pagedisplaying, “Clickhere todownloadaform.Fillitoutandfaxittous”.Othersiteshadpagesdisplaying,“Clickheretogetalistofretailerscarryingourproduct”.Slightlymoreadvancedwebsitesdisplayed,“Enteryourzipcodetogetalistoftheretailersnearesttoyou”.Some“Clickheretobuy”linksevendisplayed,“PleasevisitourretaillocationMondaytoFridaybetween9AMand5 PM”. Such website messages are hard to imagine today, but manywebsites still aredifficulttouse.

Airline, hotel, and restaurant websites can facilitate your reservations, but oftenprovide no way to copy the reservation to your smartphone calendar. Some websitesprovidealinktoaddthereservationtoyourOutlookcalendarbutdon’tseemtorecognizemillionsofpeopleuseApple,Yahoo,orGooglecalendars.Someairlinesallowyoutoputthe reservation on your device, but they create a continuous appointment starting fromtakeoff time and ending at landing time, like one bigmeeting. These sites provide theconfirmationcodebutnot theairlinenameor flightnumber.Theyapparently thinkyouonlyusetheirairline.

Mostwebpagesacceptinginputfromauserhavedatafieldssuchasname,address,phone number, and dates. If you enter 203-648-9026, an error message may tell youdashes are not allowed. If you enter 2036489026 at another site, youmay get an errormessage telling you dashes are required. Likewise, the same thing would happen withdates,socialsecuritynumbers,andaccountnumbers.Thesefrustrationsarenotcausedbyunavailabilityoftechnology.Ifthewebsitedatabaseneedsdashes,technologycaneasilyaddthedashesinanintelligentmanner.Similarly,ifthedatabasedoesnotallowdashes,technologycanremovethem.Thelackofsuchsolutionsisnotatechnicalproblem.Allittakesisanattitudewhichgiveshighprioritytotheuserexperience,anetattitude.

Anetattitudeisadifferentwayofthinking.Itinvolvesmovingoutabitclosertotheedge–where thingsare somewhatuncertain;whereyoudon’thave thecontrolyouwouldliketohave,butwhereinnovationishappeningcontinuously.Ontheedgeisnotaplace to live, but a place to visit often to get a sample of the culture integral to a netattitude.Intoday’sworldofrapidlyevolvingtechnology,itisessentialtogetandmaintainanetattitude.Allofusneeditmorethanever.

Manyof the 2001user interface challenges still exist inwebsites today, 14years

later. The premise behind my book, Net Attitude, was usability problems were nottechnical, they were attitudinal. I described the Internet as being about “Power to thePeople”.Anetattitudeadvocatedanoutside-inpointofviewasopposedtoaninside-outpointofview.Thepeople,Iwrote,areoutthereandwebsitedevelopersneedtowalkintheir shoes. Many websites of multi-billion-dollar organizations had websites built forthem,notfortheusers.

Anotherexampleofnotadoptinganetattitudeisthefollowing.Whenyouclicktoget more information on a site, you are presented with a form requiring your contactinformationandoftenmuchmore–almost likea survey.The formdoesnot includeanemail address and doesn’t copy yours. In otherwords, the priority of the site is to getinformation,nottogiveinformation.Somewebsitesofmajorcompanieshave,“Chatwithus”.You click and are asked to enter information such as your name, account number,emailaddress.Youarethenrequiredtoenteradescriptionofyourproblemorthereasonforyourrequestforthechatsession.Then,thesiteresponds,“Thankyouforyourinquiry.Wewillgetback toyou in2-3businessdays”.This isachatwithoutnetattitude.And,whatisabusinessday?AmazonandtheU.S.PostalServicedeliverpackagesonSunday.Anetattituderecognizese-businessisglobal,ninetofiveismeaningless,andeverydayisabusinessday.

In2001, Iperceiveda significantvoid–aneed tohelporganizationsofall typeslearnthecultureofnetattitude,howtodevelopit,andmaintain it.Fourteenyears later,theneedisasgreatasever.In2001,Isaidwewerejusttwopercentofthewayalongthejourney to a net attitudewhich could simplify our lives andmake things easier. As ofsummer 2015, Iwould saywe are only at 10-15%. Some sites are quite advanced, butmany,especiallyinhealthcare,areataveryearlystage.

Theoriginalbook,NetAttitude:WhatItIs,HowtoGetIt,andWhyYourCompanyCan’tSurviveWithoutIt,had14chapters.NetAttitude:Whatitis,HowtoGetit,andWhyitisMoreImportantThanEverpresentsthosesamechapters,eachprefacedwithashortsynopsis.IsummarizewhatIthoughtin2001,whereIwasrightandwheremypredictionsmay have missed the mark. While technology has changed dramatically in 14 years,readingNetAttitudewilllikelyconvinceyouthephilosophyofnetattitudeisneededmorethan ever. Net Attitude also provides numerous lessons from stories about the earlydevelopmentoftheweb.

Allbusinesseshavewebsitesandasocialmediapresence.Theoneswithastrongnetattitudearesuccessfulandgrowing.ThegoalsofNetAttitude:WhatItIs,HowToGetIt,AndWhyItIsMoreImportantThanEveraretosharethe2001perspective,providethekeystodevelopinganetattitude,andprovideideasonhowtobuildanorganizationthatachievesunparalleledresults.

I2001Preface

n late 1993,while Iwaspart of the IBMcorporateplanningdepartment, I began toexperimentwith the Internet. I heard that a group of engineers in the company had

builta“gateway”thatenabledaccesstotheNetusinganofficePC.Igotconnectedandbecamecaptivatedbythe“gopher”,aprogramthatallowedyoutobrowsethroughfilesincomputers outside of IBM that were also connected to the Internet. Most of thesecomputerswereatuniversitiesandgovernmentlaboratories.Beingabletotypethe“dir”commandonyourPCandseewhatdirectories(folders)andfileswereonyourPCwasnobigdealbuttobeabletodothatonacomputerthousandsofmilesawaywasamazingtome. A fewmonths later I installed a program calledMosaic that enableme to see theworldwidewebforthefirsttime;notjustseeingthefilesonanothercomputerbutseeingcolorful and graphical documents that had links in them that allowed you to click and“hyperlink”toadocumentinanothercomputersomewherethousandsofmilesawayItishard to describe how amazing this was. I got very excited about it. I saw it asrevolutionary; something thatwouldchangeeverything forever. Ihadbeenusingonlinebankingandproprietaryonlineservicessincesometimeinthe1980sandIsawthewebassomethingthateveryonewoulduseinstead.

Then along came Dave Grossman, a young IBM computer scientist at CornellUniversity’sTheoryCenter,whowaspartofateamhelpingtheuniversitytoexploittheirIBM supercomputer. The web intrigued Grossman also and he was following itsdevelopment intensively. One day during the Lillehammer Winter Olympic Games hediscovered that Sun Microsystems was creating webpages showing game results onwebpages. The data came from systems that IBM was maintaining as part of itssponsorshipoftheGames!GrossmanfoundoutthatIrvingWladawsky-Berger,thenheadof IBM’s supercomputer business, Abby Kohnstamm, new head of marketing, and I,amongotherswereengagedinacorporatestrategyreviewinArmonk.Hefurtherfoundout thatanIBMResearch teamhadsetupahigh-speedconnection to theInternet in thesame building where the meeting was being held. He drove to Armonk from Cornell,hookedupalargecomputerdisplay,andgaveallofusademonstrationoftheweb.Itwasaneyeopener.

Icouldn’tspendenoughtimewithDave,learningmoreabouttheweb.ThemoreIlearned,themoreexcitedIgot.Whilemanypeoplesawthewebasentertaining,Davesawitasmakingdatauniversallyaccessible through thebrowser.Heconvincedme that thiswould turn the world upside down – that the web was going to redefine informationtechnology.IsoonfoundtherewasanundergroundcommunityofengineersandscientistsinIBMengagedinmanyproductandresearcheffortsbasedontheInternet.Togetherweformed a grass roots effort and launched ibm.com in May 1994. In June two of mycolleagues, JerryWaldbaumandJaneHarper,and Iwent to InternetWorld inSanJose,California.Mostof technologydemonstrationswerefromlittleknowncompanies. IBM,Microsoft,Oracleandothermajorcompanieshadnothing toshow.ImetAlanMeckler,thenchairmanofMecklermedia,whohadorganizedtheeventandwithJaneandJerry’surging,IsignedupforthelargestboothAlanhadforthenextInternetWorldconferencetobeheldinWashington,D.C.thatcomingDecember,1994.Alaninvitedmetogiveatalk

duringabreakoutsessionattheconferenceandIsharedmyenthusiasmfor“TheFutureoftheInternet”publiclyforthefirsttime.ThatbecamemythemeforthenextsixyearsasIgavedozensofkeynotespeechesaroundtheworld.

After my talk in December 1994 a lot of people called and wrote and emailedaskingforcopiesofmypresentationsoIdecided tobuildawebsite tosharemyviews.Over 150,000 visitors have since stopped by at ibm.com/patrick and asked questions,offeredsuggestions,orsimplysaidthanksforsharing.IwasinspiredbythesevisitorsandtheirmessagesandeachtimeIreceivedanemailIsaidtomyself,oneofthesedaysIamgoingtowriteabook.IthoughtitwouldbeabookaboutthemanypersonalexperiencesIhadwithmywebsite,thepeoplewhovisited,andthethingstheysaid,butovertheyearsIcametorealizethetremendousimpactthattheInternetwasgoingtohaveonourbusinessand personal lives. I also began to see that the technology would be tremendouslyimportantbutthattherewasanattitudefactorthatwouldbeatleastasimportant.IntheearlydaysIgottheattitudefromDaveGrossmanandDavidSingerandothercolleaguesbutastimewentonIbegantodevelopalotoftheattitudeonmyown.Ibegantowitness,firsthand,thedifferencesbetweenorganizationsthatseemedtohavethisnetattitudeandthosethatdidn’t.Ihopethat thisbookwillhelpmoreorganizationsgetanetattitudesotheycanbehighlysuccessful(atwhatevertheydo)ontheInternet.

IForeword

ByStewartAlsop

was right! Sowas JohnPatrick. I re-readmy foreword tohis originalbook,writtenback in the dinosaur days of 2001, after the Internet Bubble burst and before the

economy collapsed and before the demand economy arrived, leading to multi-billiondollarprivatevaluationsfornew-agecompanies.HisthesiswasyouhavetohaveattitudeabouthowtheInternetcanbeusedinordertouseitwellandeffectively.Itturnsouthewasright.Andmyforewordstillstandsprettygood,14yearsafterpublication.SoIaskedJohntoletitstand.Ihopeyouagree.

Tude. Attitude. Attitude is everything! At some level, I believe, attitude iseverything anywhere in life. But, for sure, attitude is everything when it comes to theInternet.Andthat’swhatthisbookisabout.InternetAttitude.

I’veknownJohnPatrickforalongtime,sincebeforetheInternetcamealong,backwhen he was just an IBM executive. I remember that even back then he was good at“businessdevelopment”—thatmeanthegotoutoftheofficeandtalkedtootherpeopleincludingbothcustomersandpeoplewhoworkedforothercomputercompanies.Perhapsbecausehewas agood schmoozeartist anda smartguy,he saw thepossibilitiesof theInternetearlyon.(Ifhehasn’ttoldyousomewhereelseinthebook,govisithiswebsiteatIBM:http://www.ibm.com/patrick,where you can find out a lotmore.)Anyway legendhas it that he got involved in the Internet so early that he ended up having the IBMwebserverunderhisdesk.HewasamongtheprimemoversinsideIBMwhorecognizedthatthecompanyshouldbevisiblyinvolvedwiththeInternetandevangelizedtheuseofthe Internet to the rest of the company. IBM, of course, had been involved in thedevelopmentof theInternet itself,mostly in its research labs.But its research labswereoften isolated from themainstream of the company’s real business: serving customers.PatrickwastheguywhogottheInternettobecomepartofthecompany’sbusiness.(HeendedupasVicePresidentofInternetTechnologyforthewholecorporation.)

All of that was attitude. Patrick has a lot of it himself. Odd, since IBM wasn’talwaysknownasaplacewherepeoplewithalotofattitudesurviveandprosper.Butgoodforthecompany,becauseattitudeiseverythingontheInternet.AndtotallyappropriatetohaveaguywithalotofattitudewriteabookaboutInternetAttitude.

Here’s the attitude.The Internet changes everything. It changes theway businessgetsdonewithcustomersandbetweenbusinesspartnersandsuppliers.Itchangesthewaywe live and enjoy our personal lives. It changes thewaywe get educated,manage ourgovernmentsandpublicpolicies,entertainourselves,producecreativestuff,everything.Itchangeseverything.

Mypersonalexperience:Igrewupinthemagazinebusiness,mostlyasaneditor.Ilove magazines. Magazines are toast in the Internet era, mainly because of attitudeproblems.Peoplewhopublishandeditmagazinesthinkofmagazinereadersintermsofverylargegroups,demographicgroupsorpsychographicgroupsorspecialinterestgroups.Thatmagazinesaretoastisironicbecausetheywerefirstmediumthatcouldbetargeted.

Before cable television, before radio networks, before any other medium, magazinesfigured out how to create a targeted environment thatwas designed for just sailors, forinstance,insteadofeveryonewhohadaboat,regardlessofwhetheritwasasailboatorapowerboat.

Nowmagazinesaretoastbecausethere’sabetterwaytotargetevenmorespecificgroupsofpeople.There’sevenawaytotargetindividualsasagroup.Infact,itreallyisn’tappropriatetothinkof“targeting”becausetheverynotionisfoundedinsidethecontextoflargemassmarkets,onewheremarketersneedtohoneintotargets.Butmagazinepeoplethinktargeting,andcan’tconceiveofadifferentwayofdoingit.Theyjustcan’tgettheirminds around the idea that you couldwrite for oneperson at a time, or that computerscouldhandlemanagingtheinteractionwithanindividualoneatatime.Theydon’thavetheattitude.

Tohavetheattitude,youhavetoembracetheInternetandallofthenewabilitiesitgivesyou,eveniftheychallengethemostfundamentalprinciplesyoulearnedathome,inschool,atwork,orevenon thestreet.Hereare thefewbasic, immutableprinciples thatI’vebeenabletodiscernthatarerelevanttotheInternet:

Personalization: The idea that you can target media to an individual is nowembodiedinthephrase“onetoonemarketing”,popularizedbyconsultantsDonPeppersandMarthRogersinabookbythatnameseveralyearsago.Beforethatitwasknownasnarrowcasting,asopposed tobroadcasting.But it’snot justmediaormarketing.On theInternet, the fundamental promise is that you can be the single most important entitywheneveryouareinteractingwithit.Computerscanrememberinformationaboutanyone.Computers can use that information to present only the most relevant data to anyindividual automatically. The networks that connect computers into the Internet candeliverthatinformationtoyouwhereveryouhappentobe.Thisispersonalization:Itisastill a very difficult thing to accomplish. The technology is still primitive.We haven’tdone very much personalization yet so we still don’t really know how to do it. Truepersonalizationrequiresintegration,whichisthehardestthingofalltodowithcomputers– togetvarious computer systems to cooperate even if theyweren’t designed todo so.You’ll get example after example fromPatrick as you read InternetAttitude about howpersonalizationcouldworkifwehadthetechnologyandknewhowtoapplyit.It’sjustamatteroftime–andattitude.

Interaction:BeforecomputerscamealongandgothookeduptotheInternet,mediawere static or passive. In other words, media people – writers, producers, editors,musicians, actors, etc. – made something that you consumed. A movie might involveseveralsenses,butyougottoconsumeitwithouttalkingback.TheInternetisinteractive.Thatmeans consumers can talk back. This is a very, very difficult part of the InternetAttitude for almost everyone to adopt.Whetheryou are abusinesspersonor a creativepersonorboth,you’vebeentrainedtocontrolyourenvironment.Havingeverybodytalkbacktoyouallthetimeseemsbothoverwhelmingandchaoticandpreciselytheoppositeofwhatyouweretrainedtodo.

Forinstance,oneofthemostcentraleffectsthattheInternethashadinbusinessistogiveindividualstheabilitytolookinsidecompaniesinawaytheywereneverabletopreviously.So,whenacompanyputupasiteontheWorldWideWebforthefirsttime,

theseniormanagementhadtodecidewhocontrolledtheinformationaboutthecompany:was it the marketing department? Or customer service? Or sales? Or informationtechnology, which traditionally controlled everything about computers? This led tointernecinewarfareinsidealotofcompaniesbecauseeachdepartmentvieweditascrucialtotheirparticularmissionanddidn’twanttogiveupcontroltoanotherdepartment.Eachhada legitimateneed.Manycompaniesstillhaven’t resolved thisconflict,haven’tevenunderstoodthatitgetsresolvedbyunderstandingthattheissueisinteractionandthatthecustomerhastherighttointeract.Haveyoutriedlookinguptheemailaddressforanyrealhumanbeingonanycorporatewebsite?Inmyexperience,90%ofcompaniesstillwon’ttell you how to send an email to one of their executives. Companies act like they arescaredoftheircustomers.That’snotInternetAttitude.

Realtimeliness:TheInternethappensinrealtime.Thiswasabigchallengeformycolleagues in the publishing business, where life is defined by how long it takes toproduceanddistributeyourpublication:dailynewspapers,weeklyormonthlymagazines,orevenbooks,whichtakeatleastayear.Unlikeoldermedia,thereisnologisticalreason–other than the time spent thinkingaboutor creating the communication– for Internetcommunicationstotaketimetoproduceanddistribute.Realtimelinesstakestheconceptof interactivity andcranks it upanotch.Notonlydoes InternetAttitudecall for lettingcustomers look inside your company, but it sets an expectation that you will actuallyrespondtocustomercommunicationrightaway,inrealtime.IboughtapairofshoesfromRockport. com and they didn’t fit. I sent an email to the address shown on theRockport.comwebsite forauthorizing returns. Inevergota response.Mywife took theshoes to theshippingstore, so Igotacreditonmycreditcard.But I’llneverbuy fromRockport.comagain, since theydon’tapparently reador respond toemail toanaddresstheypublishon theirwebsite.They shouldnothavecreatedawebsiteunless theywerepreparedtorespondtocustomersinrealtime.Theydon’thaveInternetAttitude.

The technology of the internet – computers and communications integrated andbroadly available – can lead to threats as well as opportunity: invasion of privacy,widespreadspamming,computerviruses.PartofInternetAttitudeistorecognizethatweare in a major transition as a society and to embrace the threats as equally as theopportunities, tounderstand thatwewillultimately figureouthowtohandle the impactthattheInternetwillhaveonoursocietyandnottorunawayfromitortrytostoporslowdownthechangebecauseofthethreats.

Enoughalready.PatrickknowsInternetAttitude.He’swrittenabookaboutit.Readthebookandgettheattitude.

TableofContentsPreface

2001Preface

Foreword

TableofContents

PartOneRisingExpectations

Chapter1WeHaven’tSeenAnythingYet

2:30AndCounting

TheHeartOfTheProblem

WhoAccommodatesWhom?

MillionsOfE-Businesses

E-Backlash

TheNextGenerationOfTheInternet

NextGenerationAttitude

Goals

WhatToExpect

Chapter2PowerToThePeople

WeAreAtTheVeryBeginning

CustomerChoiceIsPower

TheIntelStory

PeoplePowerInMidland,Malaysia,AndKosovo

ThePowerToVote

ThePeopleAndTheirMoney

PowerToThePeopleHappeningEverywhere

WhatIsNapsterAllAbout?

Chapter3TheCustomerIsAlwaysRight

SystemsThatDon’tTalkToEachOther

ClickHereToSendAFax,FillOutAForm,OrGetOurPhoneNumberAndHours

DownForMaintenance

GuitarsAndChickens

ListenCarefully;OurMenusHaveChanged

ForYourOwnProtection

PeanutsAndPotatoChips

ItIsNotAllGloomAndDoom

AndNowToTheFuture

PartTwoTheNextGenerationoftheInternet

Chapter4Fast

ThePacketsDon’tCare

AdamSmith’sInvisibleHand

SoWhoIsTheWinner?

FromWiredToWirelessToOptical

WhereDoesTheBottleneckMoveTo?

SoWhatDoWeDoWithTheSpeed?

Chapter5AlwaysOn

Chapter6Everywhere

AOLInYourKitchen?

BecomingMainstream?

Chapter7Natural

ItIsn’tJustForKidsAnymore

LearningOn-Line

UniversitiesGoOnlineToo

SprechenSieDeutsch

AnAgentAtYourService

MusicMakesTheWorldGo‘Round

RadioGoesDigitalToo

PicturesToo!

AndOfCourseThereWillBeVideo

SpeechSaysItAll

TheNextGenerationOfSpeechRecognition

AccessibleToAll

ABrowserThatTalksToYou

LimitationsInToday’sComputingInteraction

ConvergenceAtLast

Chapter8Intelligent

ABoldNewStandard

HowIsYourVocabulary?

ContractsTalkingToEachOther

TakingTheHighRoad

E-MarketplacesWillChangeHowBusinessIsConducted

PortalsForOurEveryNeed

SpecializedPortals

CommunityPortals–HangingOut

KnowingWhatYouKnow

ContentIsn’tWhatItUsedToBe

LifeSciences–TheNextFrontier

AutonomicComputing

Chapter9Easy

WhoBuildsWebsites,Anyway?

TheHighPriestsEtAl

BrowsersAreGreatForBrowsing

FreedomFromTheBrowser

TheNextGenerationOfE-Business

TheEarlyDays

TheWeb

TheApplicationWeb

AnEvenFasterEvolutionOfE-Business

PenguinToTheRescue

ThreeShifts

WhoNeedsIt?

TheCommunity

IsItReal?

TheUltimateTest

EmbeddedComputing

MakingThingsEasier

Chapter10Trusted

Privacy

AWorldWhereEverythingIsConnected

Privacy,Confidence,AndTrustAllGoTogether

TheCookieMonster

PlatformForPrivacyPreferences

InternetSecurity–TheGlassIsHalfFullNotHalfEmpty

It’sNotTheTechnology

WhoAreYou–Really?

DigitalIdsToTheRescue

Authentication(YouAreWhoYouSayYouAre)

Authorization(WhoCanDoWhat)

Confidentiality(OnlyTheIntendedRecipientCanReadYourMessages)

Integrity(YouBothKnowNothingGotChanged)

Non-Repudiation(NoOneCanDenyAConversationOrTransaction)

BackToTheGEWireTransfer

OpenStandardsNeedToContinueToRule

SoManyIssues;SoLittleTime

PartThreeAttitudesforsuccess

Chapter11GettingAnAttitude

ANewVocabularyIsNeeded

JustSayNOToALLCAPS

Communicate,Communicate,AndCommunicate

StayingConnectedToTheRealWorld

“Outside-In”

NameThatProduct

TheCallCentersWeLove

Groovin’WithPeer-To-Peer

ThinkGloballyAndActLocally

Chapter12OrganizingToGetThingsDone

TheSkunkWorks

SmallTeamsWithMaximumFreedomOfAction

ImpedanceMatching

FailAndFailOften

alphaWorks

WeAreAllInThisTogether

PlanningAdNausea

JustEnoughIsGoodEnough

AvoidTheOne-Size-Fits-AllApproach

TrialByFire

Kasparov1,DeepBlue0,WebsiteInTheDitch

MakeEasyThingsEasy!

ThinkIntegration

BuildOnAFramework

WhereIsTheLeadership?

YouAreNotNormal

EntrepreneursDon’tKnowItCan’tBeDone

Chapter13GetATasteOfTheCulture

Dad,YouShouldKnowMore

WhatIsNormal?

ExtremeBlue

TalkToTheKids

ThirdAgers

Chapter14WhatToDoNext

FirstAndForemost,Communicate,Communicate,Communicate

Outside-In

ThinkBigButStartSimpleAndGrowFast

InformationTechnologyInfrastructure

InternetCulture

Epilogue

Acknowledgements

References(2001)

Notes(2015)

PartOne

RisingExpectationsNetAttitudedescribesawayofthinkingwhichcanhelpanorganizationtakemaximumadvantageoftheInternet’scapabilities.Ifyouhaveanetattitude,you can exceed the expectations of your customers or constituents. Thechallenge is people have continuously rising expectations. The bandwidthavailable today is 100 times what was available in 2001, but people wantevenmore.ThenewAppleWatchhasamazingcapabilitiesnotdreamedofin2001,butpeoplearealreadyaskingittohaveadditionalfunctions..ThefirstthreechaptersofNetAttitudediscussthenatureofpeople’sexpectationsandtwo key elements of an effective net attitude: “Power to The People” and“TheCustomer Is AlwaysRight”.Having a net attitude is as relevant andimportanttodayasitwasin2001.

I

CHAPTER1

WeHaven’tSeenAnythingYetThefirstchapterofNetAttitudedescribedtheneedfortheInternet.Itopenedwith an example of my experience closing a financial transaction whichalmostwas derailed because of a quagmire of paperworkand faxes. Thereweregoodtechnicalreasonswhythefaxmachineshouldbehistoryby2015,but unfortunately, the example describing an antiquated process forcompleting a simple real estate transaction still gets repeated everyday.Asdiscussed in my 2014 book, Health Attitude,6 the only consistent way totransfer information from a patient folder from one physician to anotherphysicianistofaxit.

Doctorsareburiedinfaxes–asmanyas1,000permonth.Dr.P.J.Parmar,afamilydoctor,said,“Faxisatechnologythatshouldhavedisappearedalongwith beepers.Ohwait”, he said, “Medicine is the only field that still usesbeepers.”7Faxmachinesremainthelinguafrancaofhealthcare.

Chapter1describedthesevencharacteristicsIidentifiedasemergingintheNextGenerationInternet:Fast,Alwayson,Everywhere,Natural,Intelligent,Easy,andTrusted.Inolongerusetheterm“NextGenerationInternet”,butthesevencharacteristicscontinueasausefulframeworkforexaminingpast,present,andfuturecapabilitiesoftheInternet.

Thefocusofanetattitudethenandnowisonthecustomer.NetAttitudehelpsyouunderstandhowtogetconnected tobringyourconstituencies toyouattheleastcostandsustaintherelationship.Thesocialmediatoolstodaydwarfwhatwasavailablein2001,butthecommunicationsphilosophyremainsthesame.IsaidinNetAttitudethattheonlyprerequisiteforreadingthebookisastrong desire to meet the rising expectations of people growing up on theWeb.Thisprerequisiteisthesametoday.

t was a hot summer afternoon about 2:00 PM and I had a problem. I was at 590MadisonAvenueinaconferenceroomontheninthfloordiscussingthefutureofthe

Internetwith some IBMcustomers. I glanced atmywatch and realized that I haduntil3:00PMtowiresomemoneytomyattorneyforapersonaltransaction.ThemoneywasinamoneymarketfundatGECapital.Icalledtheretoseeiftheycouldgetthefundswiredbeforemydeadline.ThefolksatGEwereverycordialandsaiditwasnoproblemtowiremoneybecauseIalreadyhadstandinginstructionsthatcouldenablemetowirefundstomybank at any time. I told them this transactionwasnot tomybankbut rather tomyattorney. In that case, they said they would have to fax me a form to set up newinstructions.IsaidIhadalltheinformationandcouldgiveittothemoverthephone.Theyinsisted theyneeded to faxmea form. I said that I could tell that theconversationwasbeing recorded and because they already asked me my social security number, homeaddress,mother’smaidenname,dateofbirththatsurelytheyknewthatIwaswhoIsaidI

was.IaskedifIcouldjustgivethemtheinformation.“Whatisyourfaxnumber?”wastheonlyresponseIwasgoingtoget.590MadisonAvenueisnotwheremyofficeislocated.IwasborrowinganofficeforthismeetinginNewYorkCityandIhadnoideawherethefaxmachinewasletalonethefaxmachinenumber.So,IscurriedaroundtheninthfloorlookingforafaxmachinewhereIcouldreceivetheform.Iwasfortunatetofindahelpfuladministrativepersonwhotoldmewhichmachine touseandhegavemethenumber. IcalledGEbackandshortlyIhadtheform.IexcusedmyselftothecustomerstellingthemIwould be just a fewmoreminutes.Wishful thinking as it turned out. Filling out therequireddataformyattorneywaseasybutfillingoutaformwithmypersonaldatathattheyalreadyhad in theirsystemwasannoying.ThenIgot to thebottomof theform. Itwaslabeled“SignatureGuarantee”.

2:30AndCounting….AlumpformsinmystomachandIamgettingnervous.Itis2:30andIhaveonly

until3:00.EventhoughIknewwhat“SignatureGuarantee”meantIhadthisnaïvefeelingthatmaybeIcouldtalkGEoutofit.Afterall,someonehadalreadyaskedformypersonaldata on a recorded line and confirmed allmy security information. I called to confirmwhatIfeared.Iwouldhavetogotoabankandgetmysignatureguaranteed.Horrors!Abank!Notmyfavoriteplacetovisit.IcalledinformationandaskedforthenearestChaseManhattanBank.TheaddressIgotwasjustablockaway.Relief.Iracedfortheelevatorandrandownthestreet.Onthebigglassdoorwaspostedasign:“Wehavemovedtoanew location”. I raced around the corner and down the street to the new location.Beginningtosweat.Iwentintothebankandgotinlinebehindquiteafewotherpeople.Attheheadofthelinewasapersonwhowastalkingtotheteller.NotsurewhattheyweretalkingaboutbutthetellerwasthumbingthroughaRolodex!ARolodex?HereweareinthenewmillenniumandIamstandinginanofficeofoneofthelargestbanksintheworldand the teller is using aRolodex? This does not bodewell formy signature guaranteemuch less for electronic signatures! Finally I got to the head of the line andmademysimplerequestforasignatureguarantee.

“Thatwon’tbepossible”saidtheteller.“Thebranchmanagerisouttolunch”.Itisnow2:45.“Youdon’tunderstand”Isaid,Ineedthisinahurry”.“Youdon’tunderstand”thetellersaid,“thebranchmanagerisouttolunch”.NowIamgettingverynervous.“Getinthelinetoyourfarleftandyouwillbefirstinlinewhenshegetsback”.ItmusthavebeenmyluckydayforassoonasIgotinthenewlinethebranchmanagerreturned.Shelookedatmydriver’slicenseandputtheofficialbankstamponmywiretransferrequestform. I rushed out the door back to 590MadisonAvenue, up the elevator to the ninthfloor,backtotheconferenceroomsweatingprofuselytoapologizetothecustomersagainandtellthemthatforsureIwillonlybeafewmoreminutes.IplacedajubilantcalltoGECapital.It is2:55.“Oneother thing,Mr.Patrick”,assheexplainedthat theywouldalsoneedafaxofaFederalExpressorAirborneshippinglabeltoverifythatIhadpurchasedanovernight fare to send themmywire transfer request form.GEwanted tomakeonehundredpercentsurethattheyweregoingtogetapieceofpaperwithrealinkonit.Isaidthatwasridiculousandtheysaid“maybesobutwewon’twirethemoneyuntilweseethisadditional fax”.“Thenyouwillwire themoney?” Iasked.“Yes,as soonaswesee thatsecondfax”.“HowaboutifIdon’tactuallysendyoutheovernightpackage?”Iasked.The

woman explained that if Iwas dumb enough to purchase an overnight FederalExpressshippinglabelandthennotshipitthatitwouldbemyproblem.Irandownthehall,gotablank(free)Airborneshippinglabel, filled itout, faxedit toGECapitalandthencalledthemyetagain.Itisnow2:59.Stillsweating.GEwashappyandwiredthemoney.Iwasexhausted.IthrewtheAirborneshippinglabelaway.Ifiguredifawiretransactionisthishardtodoitshouldbenexttoimpossibletoundo.Thisfiascowasnote-business.

The story is not aboutGE. In factGE is amodel company inmanyways and ismaking a rapid, focused and effective move to become a highly advanced Internettechnology-enabledbusiness from top tobottom. I amsure theywill be successful.Mysad tale of woe could have been through a similar experience at almost any financialservicescompanyintheworld.Manywouldhavebeenmuchmoredifficult.

TheHeartOfTheProblemWhycouldn’tmywiretransactionhavebeenafewmouseclicksonawebpage?Is

itatechnologyproblem?Definitelynot.Itwouldnotbemuchmorecomplexthanclickingtobuyabookorreservingahotelroom.EncryptiontechnologyanddigitalIDtechnologyare available from numerous companies that could have secured the transaction. Is it alegalproblem?SomewouldsaysobutifGEwaswillingtoacceptafaxthentheyhavealready agreed to accept an image of my signature. That same image could easily becreatedfrommylaptoporfromawebserver.No,theproblemisnottechnicalorlegal;itisanattitudeproblem.NetAttitude–orlackthereof.NetAttitudeisaboutpreparingyourorganization, the people that are part of it, and all its systems and processes, to takeadvantageofeverythingtheInternethastooffer.TheInternethaschangednotonlyhowpeoplecommunicatebutalsohaschanged their expectationsofwhat ispossibleon-lineand at the same time created a strong distaste for many of the old-fashioned businessprocessesthatexisttoday.Whetheraconsumeroracorporatepurchasingagent,people’sexpectations forwhatane-businessshouldbeable todo for themareexpandingby theday. Currently,most websites don’t even come close tomeeting those expectations. Inmany cases people leave websites without buying anything or signing up for anythingbecausetheycouldn’tfindwhattheywantedortheservercrashedortheyclickedformoreinformationandweretold,“CallusMondaytoFridayduringournormalbusinesshoursofninetofive!”Insomecasestheyareeventold“Printoutthisformandfaxittous”.

WhoAccommodatesWhom?Theissuestartswithhowyoudefinee-business.Somewouldsayane-businessis

anelectronicbusinesswhereyoucan“clickheretobuy”;i.e.e-commerce.E-commerceisa key part of being an e-business but it is just one part.An e-business is an electronicbusiness that reaches all constituencies of a business – not just thosewhowant to buysomething. It includesbuyers, suppliers, stockholders, employees,businesspartners, thepressandfinancialanalystswhofollowthecompany.Ane-businessnotonlyreachesthisbroad constituency but it provides all transactions and interactions that any constituentmayneed.Buyingsomething,sellingsomething,gettingaprice,checkingthestatusofanorder,signingupforthelocalblooddrive,changingemployeehealthcarebenefitchoices,listening to a quarterly analysts briefing, participating in an electronic meeting, orcollaboratingonanewproductdesigninavirtuallaboratory.

The bottom line is about Accommodation. Organizations of all kinds have afundamental decision tomake.Choice number one is to accommodate the Internet, butcontinuetodobusinessthewaytheyhavebeendoingbusiness.“Yes,wearereallyintotheInternet.Wehaveane-commercewebsite.”While“accommodating”theInternet,theytacitly embrace their old vocabularies, old attitudes, and old ways of doing business.Choicenumber twois tobecomeane-businessandembrace theInternetas theprimaryrelationshipmechanism—notanalternatemechanism—withallconstituencies;whileaccommodatingthewaytheyhavebeendoingbusinessuntiltheyareabletomorphthoseold attitudes and processes intomoreNet based ones. Primary relationshipmechanism.That isaverybigcommitment.Itmeansthat theInternet isnotanalternatedistributionmechanismoranadditionalchannelforcustomersupportorasupplementaryapproachforsimulating a newproduct design collaborativelywith engineers on another continent. Itmeans the Internet is recognized as the newmedium for all communications and is theprimarywayinwhichtheorganizationrelatestoallofitsconstituencies.Itdoesn’tmeanitistheonlywaybutitmeansthatthestrategiesoftheorganizationareallbuiltaroundtheNet. Customerswill be judging organizations based on their on-line presence; they arealreadybeginningtomakedecisionsaboutwhetherornottodobusinesswithcompaniesbasedontheiron-lineexperiencewiththem,whetherornottheyhaveaphysicalpresence.There isn’t time for a six-month corporate task force to study this. Nor for multi-yearbusiness process reengineering projects. Consumers and business customers are gettingimpatient.Theyknowwhatispossibleandtheyexpectit.Timeisoftheessence.

MillionsOfE-BusinessesThenextevolutionarystageoftheInternetwillallowforthecreationofmillionsof

new e-businesses. They will include consumers selling directly to other consumers—consumer-to-consumere-businessorc-to-c.Theywillalsoincludebusinessesthatprovideinformationandproductstoconsumers—business-to-consumerorb-to-c.Theyareoftencallede-tailersandtheirprocesse-tailing.Theb-to-ce-businesseswillbeofallsizes.Verysmall businesses like the Italian jeweler in Verona, whose family has probably beenmaking fountain pens for decades, who is now operating an e-business selling pens tobuyersaround theworld. (Theyprobablydidn’tdoan IPOtobring theirwebsitepublicand theirmarket cap is probablymodest, but every single day they are selling fountainpensandlikelymakingahandsomeprofit.)Thehandfulofgiantb-to-ccompanies,suchasAmazon and eBay,will likely succeedbut therewill be amuch larger numberof e-businesses that are extensions to existing businesses. The extensions will give thoseexistingcompaniesnewreach.Theywillallbecomeglobaland,iftheysettherightpriceandhavegreatcustomerservice,theywillbesuccessfulbyanymeasure.E-tailingisverymuchaliveandwellaroundtheworld

While I am very optimistic about the future for these business-to-consumer e-businesses, thebiggestpartofe-businesswillbee-businesses thatprovideproductsandservices to other e-businesses – business-to-business (b-to-b). However successfulbusiness-to-consumere-businessmaybecome,business-to-businesse-businessisgoingtobefive to ten timesbigger.Meanwhile,behind thescenes there issomethingevenmoreprofound beginning to develop — a vibrant, multidimensional agora, enabled byelectronic connections that include consumers, public sector and industrial buyers,

suppliers, designers, customer service representatives, and specialists of all kinds.Theywill all be participants in electronic marketplaces (e-marketplaces) that facilitateinformationsharing,standardscreation,collaboration,andcommercialtransactions.

The e-marketplaces will be a form of trading hub and they will exist in everyindustryasthemajorplayersgettogetherandformrelationships.Itwon’tjustbethetopXcompaniesinanindustrybutperhapswillincludegeographicorevenethnicclusteringofcompanies,formingtheirowne-marketplaceasawaytosharetheirbuyingpower.Theywill expect other e-marketplaces to be responsive to their needs. E-marketplaces willbecome an important and fundamental aspect of most industries; some will becomecompanies themselvesandcompetewithothers in the industry.Companieswhoarenotpartofane-marketplaceandwhochoose tostandbyandwatch thephenomenaemergemayfindthemselvespayingfeestoane-marketplaceandbeingdisadvantaged.

E-BacklashDuringthelastmonthsoftheyear2000webegantoseemanyfailuresof“Internet”

companies.Infact,webmergers.comreportedthatatleast210Internetcompaniesfoldedintheyear2000.TheWallStreetJournalranaheadlineaboutthefailureofaEuropeane-tailercalledboo.comthatsaid,“Boo.com’sCollapseFurtherDarkensE-TailingPicture”.The implication is gloom and doom. Actually, business failures are not a new thing.AccordingtodatafromTheAmericanBankruptcyInstitute,therehavebeenanaverageofmorethan60,000businessbankruptcyfilingsintheU.S.peryearsince1980.Thefailureshave nothing to do with the Internet. Business failures are caused by not properlysegmentingyourmarket,notsettingtherightprice,nothavingagreatfulfillmentsystemforwhateverit isyoudeliver,ornothavingworldclasscustomerservice.Thosewillbethefactorsthatalwaysseparatethewinnersfromthelosers.

Itsurelyisn’ttheInternetthatcausedthebusinessfailures.AbusinessnotusingtheInternetislikeabusinessinthe1990’sthatdidn’thaveafaxmachine.Thelastmonthsof2000 and continuing into 2001 have seen an e-backlash not seen before with Internetstartupslayingoffthousands,someclosingupshopcompletely,andmarketcapitalizationofmany dropping from hundreds of dollars per share to pennies. The layoff of twentypeople,theacquisition,merger,ortherestatementofgoalsbyanInternetstartupcompanymakesfront-pagenews.Someoftheheadlinesmakeitsoundasthoughtherehaveneverbeenanybusiness failuresbefore. If thereweren’tbusiness failuresweshould reallybealarmed because that would mean that perhaps not enough innovative ideas are beingtried.TheInternetprovidesawaytotrybusinessideasatamuchlowercostandwithamuchgreaterspeedthanhaseverbeenpossiblebefore,soweshouldexpectthatnotallthenewideaswillturnouttobegoodones.

Wemayseesomeexisting“brickandmortar”companiesfail too—becausetheystudiedtheInternettoolong.Somemaynotbeabletocometogripswiththereach,therange, and the disruption to traditional businessmodelsmade possible by the Internet.Some may not be able to face the gut-wrenching changes needed in their distributionchannelsorinthewaytheywouldhavetoprovidecustomerserviceandsupport.Inothercases itmay be the decades long dependence on agents such as securities or insurancebrokers,thatbecamesacred.SomeoftheCEOsusedtobesuchagentsfortheircompanyand they may not be able to bear seeing their former colleagues be eliminated or

redeployed.

Thegoodnewsisthatthebold(someofthemtoobold)ideasthatgotlaunchedinthe formof large numbers of Internet startup companies or “dot coms”have shownallcompanies the tremendous reach, range, and potential of the Internet. The result is thatexistingorganizationsofallkindshavegottenthewake-upcallandhaveleapttoaction.Some of theworld’s largest retailers, banks, airlines, and electric utility companies arebecoming the pace setters.Many from the throng of people who left these establishedcompaniestojoinstartupsarenowreturningtotheirformeremployersandsharingwhattheylearnedoutonthe“frontier”.

Inlate2000wesawabacklashwiththebusinessmodelsandprofitabilityofpure Internet companies. It may last awhile. In fact, it is possible that theInternethassopenetratedeverybusinessandinstitutionthattheremaynotbemuch room for a pure Internet company. Every company is, or should be,usingtheInternetinwhattheydo.TheoriginalpureInternetcompanieswerethepioneersandshowedtheway;hencethehugeinitialvaluationsinspiteofnoprofits.But,onceeveryoneelsestartedfollowing,andstartedtoleveragetheInternet,thosesamecompaniesnolongerlookedsopioneering;theyjustlooked like bad businesseswith no profit. This iswhy the bubble burst.Acloseexaminationof the statisticswill show thate-businessesarealiveandwell even though the pure Internet business segment may not be. OnceeveryoneisusingtheInternet,youneedamuchbetterbusinessmodelandalotbetterexecutiontosurviveinthemarketplace.IrvingWladawsky-Berger,co-chairman of the Presidential Information Technology AdvisoryCommittee,says,“Wearestillintheearlystagesoftherevolution,andmuchmore needs to be done tomake the technology highly usable and reliable.Somehowthehighvaluationscausedpeopletoforgethowmuchmorethereistobedone.”

TheNextGenerationOfTheInternetTheInternetweusetodayisundergoingamassiveevolution—bringingaboutfar

more change in the next few years than in the last ten. The Next Generation of theInternet, orNGi,willmake today’s Internet seemprimitive!Manypartsof theNGiarehere already.Everyone doesn’t have it yet butmillions do.There is no arrival date buteach daywe get a step closer.Not onlywill theNextGeneration Internet be orders ofmagnitudefasterbutitwillalsobeAlwayson,Everywhere,Natural,Intelligent,Easy,andTrusted.Theimpactofthesecharacteristicsonorganizationsofallkindswillbedramatic.ManypeopleexpectorhopethattheNGiisgoingtobringusincrediblespeedforsurfingtheweb.SpeedisinfactoneofthecharacteristicsoftheNGibutallsevencharacteristicsareprofoundlyimportant.

I abbreviate the Next Generation of the Internet as NGi for a reason. Thecapital letters of next generation are to signify that the focus is onwhat iscoming next because it is so profound. The word Internet is generallycapitalized to signify the collection and interconnection of many networksaroundtheworldintoasingleInternet.IusethesmalliinNGitosignifythattheInternetwillbecomesuchanaturalpartofourlivesthatwewilltakeitfor

granted.

Fast: Adam Smith’s invisible hand is at work on bandwidth (the speed of theInternet).Competitionamongcable,telecom,satellite,andothermediatoprovideInternetaccess,aswellastechnologyadvancementswillassuretherapidexpansioninbandwidth.UsingtheNGiwillbeadramaticallydifferentexperiencecomparedtousingtheInternetoftoday.Highqualityfull-screenjitter-freevideowillenableexpertstoappearonvideowallsinhospitalsandclassroomsfromthousandsofmilesaway.

Alwayson:nomoreloggingon;youwilljustbeon.Youdon’tlogontothepowergridtouseyourtoaster;youwon’tlongontotheInternettotapthevastresourcesthatitoffers. They will just be there. We will begin to think of the Internet as a powerfulcommunicationsnetworkthatisnotjustforsurfingtheweb,butsinceitwillbeAlwayson,wewilluseittomonitorrealtimedatafromweatherstations,industrialprocesses,andevenmedicalmonitoringequipmentattachedtorealpeople.

Everywhere: the Era of the PC as the center of the webis over. Mobile phones,kiosks,PDA’s,pagers,andnewwirelessdeviceswillenabletheInternettobeeverywhere;not just where our PC is. Digital signatures will enable us to wire money, transfersecurities, and sign contracts electronically fromwhereverwe are: at home, on a train,walkingdownthestreet,orfromanairplanemovingat500milesperhour.WhenwewalkdowntheChamps-ElyseesinParisourmobilephonewillvibrateandremindusthatwearewalkingbyastorethathappenstohavethatrarewinewehavebeenlookingfor.

Natural:envisionareal-timemultilingualintercomforcustomerservice.Integratedtelephony and voice recognition within webpages will enable us to ask a question ofcustomer service in the language of our choice and have that question be routed to themostknowledgeableexpertwhowillanswerthequestionintheirnativelanguageandthenenableustoheartheanswerinourownlanguage.Allformsofmedia,infactourentirecollectionofpictures,sound,andmovies,willbeabletobecarriedaroundinourpocket

Intelligent:AnewwebstandardcalledXML(extensiblemarkuplanguage)willaddcontext to webpages that will enable people to find things and will enable applicationsoftwareprogramstobeseamlesslyintegratedwitheachother.Findingthingsonthewebwillnolongerbeanexerciseinfrustration.Insteadofmillionsofmatches,wewillgetafewrelevantones.Anewdesignforcomputerscalledautonomiccomputingwillenablesystemsandnetworkstobecomeself-healingmuchlikethehumanbody.

Easy: A software system developed by a student in Finland, called Linux, ischanging how computers will operate. From Beijing University to Taiwaneseentrepreneurs,LinuxistakingAsiaandtherestoftheworldbystorm.AsmoreandmorecomputersuseLinuxandmoreandmorestudentscomefromschoolwithLinuxskills,itwillmake e-businessesmuch easier to build andmaintain.A new approach to creatingsoftware applications, called “web services”,will allowwebsites todomuchmore than“clickheretobuy”.Theresultwillbethatwebsiteswilldomuchmoreforusandwewillstandinfewerlinesinthephysicalworldandhavetoendurefewertelephonecallcentersthatwanttocontrolus.Fulfillmentmodelsatourfavoriteretailer’swebsitewillresultinthestaplegoodsweneedjustshowingupoutsidethegaragedoorwhenweneedthem.

Trusted:Securityisnotgoingtobethebiggestissue.Authenticationis.Whoisthat

web server you are dealing with? How do they know it is really you they are doingbusinesswith?TheNGiwilluseDigital ID’sso thatwecanhaveauthentication; i.e.beabletoestablishthatwearewhowesayweareandwithouthavingtogotoaNotaryorabank.Wewillalsoknowthatwebsiteswevisitreallyarewhotheysaytheyare.Wewillbeabletosendmessagestofriendsandbusinessesthatonlytheycanread,beassuredthatnomessageswerechanged,andallowourfinancialtransactionsonthewebtostandupinacourtoflaw.Onceweestablishwhowearewewillalsobeabletoestablishthelevelofprivacywewouldliketohave.

The potential of the Internet ismuch greater thanmeets the eye.As the InternetevolvestotheNGi,itwillbesopervasive,reliableandtransparentthatwewilltakeitforgranted.Itwillbepartofourlife—likeelectricityorplumbing.WeknowthattheInternetis already transforming business, education and entertainment. Even larger changes arecomingastheInternetbecomesmorereliableandrobust.NetAttitudewillhelpyougetcomfortablewiththesevencharacteristicsoftheNGiandallowyoutostartplanningforhowtotakeadvantageofthem.

NextGenerationAttitudeTo build a successful e-business requires insight aboutwhat theNextGeneration

Internetwillmakepossible andane-business strategy that is deeply embedded into thefabric, the culture, and all the operational systems of the company.Also required are asolidbusinessplan,arobusttechnologyplan,andin-houseoroutsourcedhumanresourceswithallthelatestskills.Butevenhavingallofthesethingsatyourdisposalisnotenoughtobuildasuccessfule-business.Infact,allthetechnologyandmoneyontheplanetwon’tenableyoutomeetpeople’sexpectationsifyoudon’thavetherightattitude.Itisessentialto have a “next generation” attitude imbued in management at all levels of theorganization—company, university, hospital or government – so they are prepared tothink and act in new ways that meet the rising expectations of customers andconstituencies.

Part of net attitude is looking to the future, following the Internet standards, andanticipating new technology— but a bigger part of it emanates from the grass rootsthinkingthatwaspartoftheevolutionoftheInternetitself.Itisawayofthinkingthatisextrovertedinnature–verypeople-oriented.Anetattitudeishardtodescribebutyouwillknowitwhenyouseeit.Youngpeopletendtohaveitbutitisnotreallyanagething.Anincreasingnumber of seniors have it too.Themasses of people in themiddle layers oflargeorganizationsoftendon’thaveit.Itisnotthatthereisanythingwrongwiththemaspeople;itisjustthatthebureaucraciesoflargeorganizationshaveshieldedthemfromthenewwayofthinkingandinsomecasesDarwinianinstinctshavecausedthemtobringuptheirownshields.Anet attitude includes theability to thinkgloballybut act locally, tothinkbigbutstartsimple,tothinkoutside-ininsteadofinside-out,beabletoaccept“justenough is good enough”, engage in “trial by fire”, transform to amodel of “sense andrespond” instead of the traditionalmodel of “plan, build, deliver”. These newways ofthinkingwillallbediscussedinmoredepth.

GoalsThisbookwill giveyou thebackgroundand insight to enableyou to adopt anet

attitude. It provides the cultural insight that the author has gained from years ofparticipation in thecenterof theevolutionof theInternet.NetAttitudeexplains thenewattitudes of your future customers. It provides commonsense examples and personalvignettesexecutivesandmanagerscanrelate to. Itexplains the importanceof talking toteenagersandseniors,thetwosegmentsofthepopulationthat“totallygetit”evenifthemiddle management layers in companies and universities and government agenciessometimesdon’t.Itdescribestheroleofthe“Skunkworks”andhowtosetoneupinyourorganizationwithoutbreakingtoomuchglass.Bottomline,NetAttitudetriestohelpyouthinklikeanInternetstartupwhilecapitalizingonyourexistingstrengths.

WhatToExpectNet Attitude will provide you with a view of each of the seven emerging

characteristics of the Next Generation Internet: Fast, Always on, Everywhere, Natural,Intelligent,Easy,andTrusted.Eachof thesecharacteristics isprofoundandNetAttitudeprovidesthepracticalexamplesthatwillhelpyouunderstand,applyandcapitalizeontheincrediblecapabilitiesthatarejustahead.ThefocusofNetAttitudeisthecustomer;beitaconsumeroracorporatepurchasingagent.NetAttitudetellsyouhowto“getconnected”in a way that will bring your constituencies to you at the least cost and form lastingrelationships. Net Attitude focuses on the human and management aspects that areimportanttogetane-businessstartedandlinksthemtohowtheevolutionoftheInternetischangingthegame.Itwillalsohelpyougettherightmindsetfore-business.Theonlyprerequisite for reading this book is a strong desire to meet the rising expectations ofpeoplegrowingupon theWeb.Theeconomiesof theworldarerapidly transforming toInternet digital economies causing a major shift of power from institutions to people.Thinkoutsidein.Outsideiswherethepeopleare.Theyhavethepower.NetAttitudewillhelpyouwalkintheirshoes.

CHAPTER2

PowerToThePeopleI was passionate about the concept “Power to the People” in 2001 andremain passionate today.My vision on this topicwas accurate.When IntelintroduceditsnewPentiumcomputerchipin1994anerrorwasdiscoveredinhowthechipperformedcertainkindsofarithmeticcalculations.Intelcoveredupthefacts.Whensomeonelearnedthedetailsandpostedthemonline,Inteladmittedtheflawanddisclosedmoredetails.Thecompanysubsequentlyhadanother product defect and immediately announced it publically. Theyadoptedanetattitude.Mostcompaniestodayknowbetterthantohideissuesfrom the public. I described in 2001 how “Power to the People” had anonlineinfluenceinMidland,Pennsylvania,Malaysia,andKosovo.Isaidaslong as there is information available the Internetwould provide away toshare it. It is so obvious todaywith socialmedia, but the conceptwas notwidelyunderstoodbeforeIwroteaboutit

Oneareawheremy2001predictionswereespeciallyaccuratewasinthefieldofmusic.Ipredictedpeoplewouldbewillingtopayforacustom“playlist”of their favoritemusic. I said themusic industry could expand by offeringmorechoicesthanithadpreviously.Isaidthemusicindustryhadthepowerto create brilliant new businessmodels andmarketing relationships and, iftheydid so, they could take themusic industry tonew levels. I saidpeoplewouldgladlypay for thevaluecreated.This forecast turnedout tobe true.Cable TV and Hollywood executives would be well served to read NetAttitude and the principles espoused about “Power to the People”. Theycurrentlyarefacingexactlywhatthemusicindustryfacedin2001.

In the original book, I mentioned future capabilities such as accident-avoidingcars,universalaccesstoinformationandknowledge,entertainmenton demand, learning on demand, telemedicine and geriatric robotics. IdiscussedthelattertwoindetailinHealthAttitude:UnravelingandSolvingthe Complexities of Healthcare.8 The others have been manifested by theGoogle Car, BMW haptic feedback in the steering wheel, ubiquitousWiFi,voice search on mobile devices, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCS),andApple’sMusicservice.

I acknowledged a dark side to “Power to the People” where the Internetallowed terrorists the potential to create “cyber wars” by unleashingcripplingcomputervirusesand jammingmilitarycomputersystems throughelectronic radio-frequency interference. I said this ability could potentiallyenable terrorists to disrupt anything that functions electronically.Unfortunately,thisturnedouttobetrue.

nsomerespectsitseemslikeeverythinghashappened,thateverybodyisconnected,thatwearealmostfinishedwithwhatisgoingonwiththeInternetandthatnearlyeveryoneis

Iusing it. The truth is we’ve only just begun. The number of people actually doingsomething on the Internet right this very second, as a percentage of the world’spopulation, rounds off to a very small number. There is almost nobody connected!

Let’s take a look at the numbers. By the time this book reaches your hands theremaypossiblybeahalfbillionpeopleusingtheInternet.Ifyouassumethatonaveragehalfofthemareactuallydoingsomethingatanypointintime(whiletheotherhalfissleeping)then thatwouldbe twohundred fiftymillionpeople.Theworld’spopulation isoversixbillion.Thetwohundredfiftymillionpeoplewouldroundofftoaboutfourpercent.Youmight argue that for some segment of theworld’s population that iswell educated andlivesinawell-connectedpartoftheworldthatthepercentageofthatsegmentusingtheInternetisverydifferentthanfourpercent.Letstaketwentysomethingyearoldgraduatestudents living inPaloAlto,California for example. Perhaps ninety percent ormore ofthem are using the Internet. However, even for this demographic, if you look at whatthingsthatcouldbedoneontheInternetthattheyareactuallyabletodoontheInternet,youfindthatitisaverysmallpercentage.

WeAreAtTheVeryBeginningAccording toMikeNelson, formerWhiteHouse technology advisor, the Internet

Revolutionislessthan3percentcomplete.Nomatterwhichmetricyouuse,hesays,itisclearthatweareattheverybeginning.Nelson’snumbersfollow….

1. NumberofpeopleusingtheInternet:3-5%oftheworld’spopulation

2. AmountoftimepeoplespendconnectedtotheInternet:lessthan3%formostnormalpeople

3. Speed of the Internet connection being used by most peoplecomparedtowhatisavailablefromnewtechnologiessuchascablemodems:about 3%. In 3-5 years, broadband Internet connections one hundred timefaster than today’s dial-up connections will be commonplace and nomoreexpensivethanatelephonelineistoday.

4. AmountofdataontheInternetcomparedtowhatwillbethere:tinypercentage. According to IBMResearch, the amount of data stored on theInternetwill increase amillion-foldbetween2001 and2010, tomillionsoftimestheamountofinformationintheentireLibraryofCongress.

5. Number of computer applications on the Internet that people findveryuseful:hardtomeasurebutlikelyaverysmallpercentage.

6. NumberofdevicestheaveragepersonhasconnectedtotheInternetcompared to the number theywill havewithin the next fewyears: about 3percent.Todaymostpeopleuse1-3devicestoaccesstheNet,usuallyaPCoracellphone. In thenot toodistant future,eachofusmighthave50 to100devicesthatsomehowconnecttotheInternet.

Tryyourownmath.Whatpercentageofwebsitesreallymeetyourneeds?Forthosewebsitesthatyoureallylove,whatpercentageofthethingsthatsitecoulddoforyouisitactuallydoingforyou?Whatpercentageofthebanneradsthatyouseearecompellingandvaluableenoughtoyoutoclickonthem?Nomatterhowyoulookatit,wearethevery

early stage of the impact that the Internet will have on our business, professional, andpersonallives.

Infivetotenyearswewilllikelysee:

10timesasmanypeopleusingtheInternet

100timesasmuchspeedwhenweusetheInternet

1000timesasmanydevicesconnectedtotheInternet

1,000,000timesmoredataontheInternet

Therearesomerelatedthingsgoingonthatareatthebeginningtoo.Everydaywepickupapaperormagazineorsurfourfavoritewebsiteandwereadaboutsomeaspectofthetransformationfromaneconomytoane-conomy.Infact,manyCEO’sthatI’vetalkedtoaroundtheworldsay“John,Ihavehearde-noughaboutthis.Butthefactisweareatthe very beginning of that evolution too. It is not a “new” economy but rather anincredibletransformationoftheexistingone.Ithasjustbegun.

Inthetechnologyarea,weareclearlyat thebeginningcomparedtowhereweareheaded.The fundamental laws of physics have not been exhausted and continued rapidprogresswillbemadeinthesize,functionality,andcostofallformsofelectronicdevices.Today’sPCmonitorsdisplayapproximatelyahalfmillion“pixels”.Eachonecandisplayacombinationofred,green,andbluecolorsandthehumaneyeseesthewholescreenasasingle high quality image. Soon we won’t think it is so high quality anymore. IBMCorporation recently introduced a new displaymeasuring twenty-two inches diagonallythat displays nine million pixels. A picture shown on it looks like the quality of amagazinecover.Doctorswillbeabletodetectthesmallestofimperfectionsinanx-rayormammogram using these displays. Continued dramatic increases in the capacity ofmagnetic storage devices will make it possible to have these high quality images onpersonalcomputersandthehighspeednetworksthatareemergingwillmakeitpossibletotransfer the images as easily as we send emails today. The functionality and power ofhandhelddeviceswillsoonapproachwhatwererecentlyconsideredtobeverypowerfulcomputers. The story goes on. Everythingwill be smaller, faster, cheaper and larger incapacity.

Wiresandcablesconnect today’sworldofcomputers.Startingwith thewiresandcablessurroundingourPCathome to thebriefcaseorbackpack fullofcableswecarrywithus to theInternet itself therearewiresandcableseverywhere.That ischanging.AnewtechnologycalledBluetoothwillsoonallowdevicesthatarewithinroughlytwenty-fivefeetofeachothertorecognizeeachotherandtransferdatabackandforthusingradiosignals. No wires. Walk in the house with your notebook computer and music youdownloaded from the Internet automaticallygets transferred toyourhomedigital soundsystem.WirelessInternetantennaswillsoonbebuiltintothecaseofnotebookcomputersand“connectivity”willbeavailable toyouinvirtuallyallhotels,airports, trainstations,andpublicareas.

Changes are also happening in the software arena. A new form of computersoftware is beginning to change theway computerswill be programmed andwhowillwrite the programs. The best example of this is Linux, software written by a young

Scandinavianstudent,whichwillhaveadramaticimpactintheyearsahead.Forsoftware,likehardware,wehaven’tseenanythingyetcomparedtowhatwearegoingtosee.

If you look further out, say fifty years, the possibilities aremind-boggling.RajReddy,aprofessoratCarnegieMellonUniversityinPittsburgh,discussedtheimpactofinfinitememoryandbandwidthatapresentationinlate2000.Hetalkedaboutcapabilitiessuchasaccident-avoidingcars,universalaccessto information and knowledge, entertainment on demand, learning ondemand,telemedicineandgeriatricrobotics.Heevendiscussedmoreesotericcapabilities such as teleportation (“BeamMe up Scotty”), time travel andimmortalitybecomingpossible.Obviouslytheseraiseanumberofsocialandethical questions. Professor Reddy says that as we find ways to transformatoms tobits, that is, substitute information for space, timeandmatter, thatmanyoftheconstantsofouruniverse“willassumeanewmeaningandwillchange thewaywe live,work andgovernourselves.Someofuswill havesuperhumancapabilities,likegettingamonth’sworthofworkdoneinaday.”

CustomerChoiceIsPowerWhatdoestheincrediblerushofnewtechnologymeanforusaspeople?Inmany

waystheInternetisaboutthemassivetransferofpowerfrominstitutionstopeople.Iamnot talking about anarchy, peoplemarching in the streets, or Tiananmen Square in anyway.IamtalkingabouttheempowermentofpeoplewhonowhavetheabilitytoclickamousebuttonormobilephonebuttonorPDAbuttontoexpresstheirdesiretoengageinentertainment,e-commerceoreducationortocommunicateandcollaborateglobally.Itisthepowerofaclick.Manyorganizationsaremissingthepoint that theynolongerhavethe power they once had, that the simplicity and the ease of a clickmake it easier forcustomerstosimplyclicksomewhereelse.

Recently,oneofthemajorstockexchangesannouncedthattheyweregoingtoholdameetingatwhichtheywouldtakeavoteonwhetherornottoextendthehoursofthedayduring which people can trade securities. Meanwhile, every computer in the world isvirtually connected to every other computer in theworld in a real time global networkwithmanymillionsofusers.Howcantherebeanydoubtthatitisimminentthatpeoplewillbeabletotradestockswhenevertheywant?

After hoursmarkets are starting to springup andnew formsof trading are beingintroducedontheInternet.InahighlyconnectedworlddoesitmakesensethatifyouareinEuropeorAsiaandyourstockbroker is sleeping inAmerica thatyoucan’t tradeanysecurities?TheInternetmakesitpossibleandmanytradingsystemsareonlineandhaveproventhemselvesoverthepastfewyears.Whycan’tthetradingbedoneanywhere,byanyone,atanytime?Rules.Rulessetinaworldwherethepowerhasbeenconcentratedinlargeorganizations.AsmallgroupofpeopleonaboardinNewYorkCitythinktheyhavethepowertodecidewhattheircustomerscandoandwhentheycandoit.Iftherulesdon’tchange then peoplewill switch to another exchange or financial services provider, or anewcompetitorwillarisethatwilldeliverwhatthepeoplewantwhentheywantit.Thereisnostoppingit.“PowertothePeople”.

Thisisjustoneofthemanyexamplesofwhereorganizationswillsoonrealizethat

thattheyhavelostpower.Fromapeopleperspective,itusedtobethatyoucouldn’thavemuchofanimpactindividually.Youhadtorelyonpoliticiansorlobbyingorganizationstoinfluencealargecompany,agovernmentoramovement.TheInternetchangedthat.Thereare many examples of where individuals using the Internet have been able to have adramaticimpactinhelpingchangetherules.

TheIntelStoryWhen Intel introduced its new Pentium computer chip in 1994 an error was

discoveredinhowthechipperformedcertainkindsofarithmeticcalculations.Ithadtodowithhowthechipconverted“floatingpoint”numbers(e.g.123.876423)foruseincertaincalculations. The result was that the Pentium chip made a math error on certaincalculations.Mostpeoplewouldneverseetheerrorandinfactsomeengineerssaidthatthe errorwould likelyoccuronlyonce every27,000years.However, the companywaslessthanforthcomingabouttheproblem—theyreasonedthatnotmanypeoplewouldbeaffected since the problem occurred so rarely and only during sophisticated numbercrunching,

ReportsbegantoappearonthewebandInternetnewsgroupsbegantoalertpeopleabout themath bug. Intel seemed indifferent, and did not come forth quicklywith anyplanstorecallthechips.Thefloodofnegativereactionfromcustomers,whovoicedtheirdissatisfactionviatheInternet,quicklychangedIntel’smind.Infact,thedisseminationofinformationandopendiscussionsoftheproblemontheInternetchangedIntel’scourseofaction; theyapologized to theircustomers,andspenta lotofmoney to fix theproblem.AdamMayersof theTorontoStarwroteacolumncalled“Peoplepower rules in Intel’shard,expensivelesson”.Hesaid,“Amongthemanyoutcomesistoaffirmapowermanypeople think they’ve lost.” Intel’s humbling was about people power, the power ofindividuals,notlobbygroups.”

In the year 2000 Intel began shipments of its Pentium4 chip. Personal computermakers received an improper piece of software for usewith the new chip.None of thePentium4chipswiththeincorrectsoftwarereachedconsumersandarguablytheerrorwasinconsequential. But being sensitive to their previous experience with the Internet andknowingtheincrediblepowerofthepeople,Intelwasquicktomakeafulldisclosureofwhathadhappened.Lessonlearned!NetAttitudeadopted!

PeoplePowerInMidland,Malaysia,AndKosovoWhen the financially distressed district of Midland, Pennsylvania was forced to

close itshighschool, localpeople tookcontrolandcreatedacyberschool.StudentsarelearningandtakingtestsovertheInternet.Eachstudentisassignedtoacyberschoolstaffmemberwhokeeps trackof thestudent’sprogressandgradeshisorherexamsover theInternet.AsparentsinmanypartsofAmericaconsidercreationof“charter”schoolsbasedon local priorities, the Internet becomes an incredibly powerful tool to implement theirvision.

Manycountries around theworldhave strict rulesover thepublishingof content.Forexample, inMalaysia,newspapersandbroadcastershavetoabidebytheprohibitiveinterpretationsof the lawofdefamation,or theyriskhaving their licenses forfeited.But

theMalaysianPrimeMinisterpledged tohavenocensorshipon the Internet inorder tomake Malaysia the center of the cyber world. As a result, the Internet is providing achannelforthepeopletovoicetheirviewswithouthavingtofearpunishment.

In 1999 there was considerable strife in Kosovo. Part of the strategy by thegovernmentwas tocontrol informationso that thepeoplewouldnotknowexactlywhatwasgoingon.Journalistswereexpelledfromthecountry.Theindependentradiostation,B92, inBelgradewascloseddown.Localmediawaseithershutdownorcensored.Butthe radio station set up a website and began to publish text, audio and video. Theyreportedwhenairraidsirensweregoingoff.Uptotheminutenewswasprovidedtothepopulation. There was no way to shut down the Internet site because the governmentdidn’t knowwhere the serverwas. If they had known and shut it down another servercouldhavebeenputbackonline.Aslongasthereis informationtheInternetprovidesawaytoshareit.“PowertothePeople”.

ThePowerToVoteTheYear2000presidentialelectioninAmericashowsthepotential,ifnottheneed,

to enable “Power to the People” via the Internet. In prior years therewas considerableonlinecampaigningandonlinefundraising.Thishasbeensupplementedwithdiscussionsabout theelectionsbeingexchanged inchat roomsande-mails.Therewereeven“vote-swapping”siteswhichenabledsupportersofRalphNaderinbattlegroundstatestoagreetovoteforAlGoreinexchangeforaNadervoteinanotherstate!Thepracticewasupheldinthecourts.TheNetallowedpeopletoparticipateinnewandinterestingwaysprovidingtheminformationwhentheywanteditandhowtheywantedit.Thisincludedearlyexit-polldatathathastraditionallyonlybeenavailabletothemediaelite.ThePewResearchCenterforthePeopleandthePressandthePewInternetandAmericanLifeProject,inareport released in December 2000, said that four times as many Americans used theInternet tokeepupwithpoliticalnewsduringthe2000presidential raceasdid in1996,andalmosthalfofthosevoterssaidtheinformationtheyfoundonlineaffectedtheirchoiceofcandidates.Thelogicalextensionofthisistoutilizethenewmedium(theInternet)fortheactualvote.

It is certainly possible to envision online voting becoming a reality in the nearfuture.Peopleexpectthattheyarecastingavoteforthecandidatetheywantandthattheirvotewillbeaccuratelycounted.Althoughrecountsshouldnotbeneededinanelectronicelection, if needed they will be done in seconds not weeks. The issues will not betechnical.Thereisnoquestionthatelectronickioskscoulddothejob.Forthosenotableto go to a kiosk the Internet can provide the security and privacy that people expect.StrongencryptionanddigitalID’sfarsurpasstheintegrityofthemanualmethodsoftodaythat include the subjective counting and recountingwe sawduring the 2000 election inFlorida.

How would this work? One example is that Voters might have their signaturematchedwith a voter registration card and then receive a PIN thatwould activate theirdigitalsignature.Thiswouldenablevoterstocasttheirvoteonline.Hopefully,electronicvoting standards will evolve soon to allow for consistency that people will trust.America’sexperiencewiththeyear2000electionisalreadyspurringthistohappensoonerratherthanlater.

Themoredifficultquestionswillbewhetherthepoliticalleadersofthecountrycanagreeonanational setof standards forhow thevoteswill be countedand recounted ifnecessary.Therewillbemanydebatesaboutthecostofbuildinganationalonlineelectionapproach.Itwillnotbeinexpensive.But,howmuchdiditcostforthelegionsoflawyersandweeksofdelaythatwewitnessedinFlorida?Clearpresentationoftheballotwillbecritical.Aconfusinge-commerceshoppingcartisonethingbuttheelectronicequivalentof theFlorida“butterfly”ballot isanother.Surely,aclearway todisplayballotscanbedevisedwhichpeoplecouldtrust.

Wewon’thavetowaitlongtoseethingsunfold.Companiessuchaselection.comandvotehere.net are already conducting electronic elections.The early implementationshave been for voting by corporate shareholders, unions, and large organizations of allkinds.TheSierraClub,theBoeingunion,andCornellUniversityhavealreadyusedonlineelections. The International Corporation for the Assignment of Names and Numbers(ICANN)isaglobalnon-profitorganizationthatprovidescertainadministrativecontrolsovertheoperationoftheInternet.In2000theypracticedwhattheypreachbyusingaverysophisticated Internet election to establish the “at large” directors for the board. Peoplevotedfromallovertheworld.

ThePeopleAndTheirMoneyPerhapsoneofthebestexamplesofpeoplegainingnewpowerfromtheInternetis

in the financial services sector. In effect the Net has allowed people to eliminate themiddleman.No longer is investmenta“hiddenart” that takesplacebeyond theviewofaverageinvestors.Peoplegettimelyandrelevantinformationabouttheirinvestments—andtheactualtradingprocess—ratherthanrelyingon“tips”frombrokerswhomayhaveafinancial interest in thestocks they tout to theircustomers.TheInternethas led to theemancipationoftheindividualinvestorandleveledtheplayingfieldforall.AnewU.K.companycalledThe InvestorsNoticeboard isplanning toconnect individualbuyersandsellersofsharesdirectlyontheNet,eliminatingthebrokercompletely!

Shoppingforcarshasseenpowerreturnedtothepeople.Buyingacarfromadealercanbeaveryunpleasantanduncomfortableexperienceformanypeople.Whenbeingtoldaboutthe“dealercost”theyoftenwonderiftheyaregettingthecompletestory.Ortheysometimes feel pressured to buy options, services or financing they don’t reallyunderstandorwant.Now,becauseoftheweb,thingshavechanged.Peoplecangetaccesstocomplete information.Theycanmakecomparisonsathomewhileundernopressure.Theycanbuydirectlyfromamanufacturer,fromacarbuyingservice,fromadealer,orbuy their car at an online auction. Instead of feeling powerless in the showroommanypeople now feel empowered. Sincemany dealersmakemuch of their profit from theirservice operations they are more than happy to provide the buyer with after the saleserviceandsupport.

NicholasNegroponteatMITtoldastoryduringtheearlydaysoftheNetthatreallymakesthepoint.HedescribedawomanwhowaslookingforaveryspecificmodelblackVolvo. She went to a dealer and got a price. Then she went to the Net and did someresearch and thenwent back to thedealer.Thedealer assuredher that shehad thebestpricepossible.Thenshepostedthedetailsaboutthecarandthepriceshehadobtainedinadiscussionforumandaskedifanyoneelsewouldbeinterestedinthesameexactcarat

the price she had negotiated.Then, according toNicholas’s story, shewent back to thedealer.“Areyousurethatisthebestpriceyoucangiveme?”.“Yesmadamitis”,saidthedealer. “Well, there is oneother piece of information I neglected to give you”, said thewoman,“Iwouldliketobuytenofthem.”Storyhasitthatshegotabetterprice.So,whohadthePower?Thecarmanufacturer?Thedealer?Or,thewomanbuyer?

PowerToThePeopleHappeningEverywhereTheemergenceofeBayandotherauctionsitesisyetanotherformofpeoplegetting

morecontrolbecauseoftheNet.Itstartedoutastheworld’sbiggestgaragesalebuthasevolved into enablingproprietorshipsof oneperson each. It is a formof “Power to thePeople”. Jobsearchesaremuchmore in thehandsof individualsnow thaneverbefore.Direct access to all of a company’s current job listings, plus recruiting services andemploymentmarketplacesareenablingpeople to take theircareers into theirownhandsinsteadofwaiting for theirmanager topromote them.Before theNetcompanieswouldmakeanannouncementaboutsomenewcorporatepolicyorhealthcareofferingandthensay,“Forinformation,seeyourmanager”.Thosedaysaregone.Peopledon’tneedtoasksomeoneelse.Theytakethematterintotheirownhands,gotothecompanyintranet,andbecomeinformedtothedegreetheychoose.

WhatIsNapsterAllAbout?Perhaps the biggest shiftwith regard to “Power to the People” since the Internet

itself isanewkindof technologycalled“Peer toPeer” (P2P).WhenSeanFanning, thenineteen-year-oldwizkidwhocreatedNapster,appearedonthecoverofTimeMagazine,itwasclearthatsomethingbigwashappening.OnthesurfaceitappearsthatNapsterisatoolforgettingdigitalmusicovertheInternetwithoutpayingforit.Therealityismuchdeeper.

“PeertoPeer”innotanewidea.TheInternethasalwaysenabledonecomputertocommunicatedirectlywithanyothercomputerbutnot typicallyasequalparticipantsor“peers”. The preponderance of communications on the Internet is more of a “client –server” model. The servers tend to be powerful computers with very large storagecapacity. The “clients” aremostly PC’s (although that is changing fast –more on thatlater).Theclientgoestotheserverandrequestsinformation.YouclickonalinkatyourPCandawebpagegetsdownloadedfromtheservertoyourPC.P2Pisadifferentmodel.WithP2PIconnectdirectlytoyourPCovertheInternetoryougodirectlytomyPCandweexchangeinformation.NapsterisaprogramthatwaswrittentofacilitateP2P.AusercangotoacentraldirectoryataserverontheInternetandfindoutthatacertainwebpageordocumentormusicfileisonsomeoneelse’sPCandthatpersonismakingitavailabletoanyonewhowantsit.Theusercanthenconnectdirectlytotheotherperson’sPCanddownload the file.AnotherP2Pprogram,Gnutella, hasno central directoryon a serverandinsteadallowsyoutosearchforafileyouarelookingforacross thewholeInternetandthendownloaditfromaperson’sPCthathasit.

P2Pisempoweringtopeopleforthesamereasonthatcarsdirect.comoreTradeare.Ittakesoutthemiddleman.Although,withP2Ptheredoesn’tneedtobeaserver,serverswillcontinuetoplaymanyrolesandtheycertainlyarenotgoingtogoaway.InfactwiththegrowingnumberofusersandcontentontheWeb,e-businessesarerequiringmoreand

morepowerfulandscalableserversthanever(theabilitytoscalemeansthattheseserverscanrampuptheirprocessingpowerwhentheyneedit).Atthesametime,however,PC’saregettingverypowerfulandverylargeinstoragecapacity.Today’sPCareonehundredtimesmorepowerfulandhaveone thousand timesmorestorage than theyhad less thantwenty years ago. This expanded capability plus the advent of very fast Internetconnections now being offered by telephone and cable companies means that largeamountsof informationcanbestored,searched,anddistributeddirectlyfromPCtoPC.Thisisanewandimportantmodel.Itwon’treplacetheexistingmodelbutitrepresentsabigcomplementtoit.Overtimeitssignificancewillgrowandpeoplewillbeincreasinglyempowered.

Now,backtoNapster.OneofthetypesoffilesthatcanbesharedfromPCtoPCover the Internet is anMP3 file. It is a formofdigitalmusic.What isdigitalmusic? Itstartswithanalogmusic.WhenyougotoAliceTullyHallinNewYorktohearastringquartetyouarelisteningtoanalogmusic.Ifyouwanttolistentoitlaterathomeyouneedtohaveaway tocapture it, store it,and replay it. In the“old”days thiswasdonewithvinyl records and later with acetate tape. Today it is mostly done with CDs (compactdiscs)butincreasinglymusicwillbestoredintheformofcomputerfilessuchasMP3.

Analogmusic iscapturedwith recordingequipmentand thenplacedon theCD in CD-DA or digital audio format. This is done by electronicallysampling the sound 44.1 thousand times per second and capturing twocharacters(bytes)ofinformationaboutthecharacteristicsofthatsecond.Thatresultsin88.2Kbytesofdataforasecondofmusic.MultiplyX2forstereoand you have 176.4K bytes of data per second.MultiplyX60 and you get10.584megabytesperminuteofmusic.ACDholdsabout660megabytesofdatasothatgivesyouapproximately62minutesofmusiconaCD.OK,sowhat isMP3?There isagroupofexperts(fromIBMandothercompanies)called the “movingpictures experts group”which created a standard calledMPEG.MPEGhasvarious“layers”whichspecifyhowaudioorvideocanbecompressed. Compression removes bits from the sampling process that arenotessentialorevenrecognizedby thehumanear.Abriefpause inasong,for example, canbe eliminatedor compressed and thendecompressed laterwhenitisplayed.Theresultofcompressionisthatamuchsmalleramountofdata needs to be stored.MPEG layer 3 describes a particular standard forachieving high quality soundwith compression. It results in a compressionratioof roughlyeleven. InotherwordswithMP3youcanstore roughly11hoursofmusiconaCD.ItalsomeansthatCDmusiccanbestoredonaPCin about one eleventh of the space required if it were not compressed. Itfurthermeansthatnowthatitiscompressedithasbecomepracticaltosenditover theInternet inareasonableamountof time.Theresult is thatNapster,whichwas designed to share PC files, instantly became a very convenientwaytoshareMP3musicfiles.

MP3ischanginghowpeoplethinkaboutdigitalmusicwhethertheyareconsumers,artists, producers, or broadcasters. The recording industry, understandably, has reactedverynegatively towardNapsterandothermusicsharingprogramson the Internet.Theyviewitasstealingandhavebeenaggressivelytryingtoshutdownwebsitestheyviewas

contributingtotheftinanyway.

Otherpeoplesaythatintellectualproperty“wantstobefree”.TherecertainlyisanargumentthatartistsmaychoosetogiveawaytheirmusicovertheInternet,generatealotofinterestinit,andthencharge$100perticketfortheirconcerts.Thatisavalidmodelbutnot theonlymodel. Ifanartistormusiccompanywants toprotect theirmusic theyshouldbeabletodothattoo.IBMrecentlyintroduceda“watermarking”technologythatenablesmusic tobeencodedwithadigital“watermark” that identifies theownerof themusic. Attempts to copy or distribute the music without proper payment are next toimpossible.But the real issue isn’t justwhether andhow toprotect themusic.The realissue is theevolutionofnewbusinessmodels for thedistributionofmusic.Napsterhascausedalotmorevisibilityofthisissue.

People are not fundamentally dishonest. There are exceptions of course butmostthings in theworld get bought not stolen.The Internet has provided a newdistributionchannelformusic.Musicisparticularlywellsuitedtodigitaldistributionbecauseitcanbeplayedimmediatelyafterbeingreceivedinessentiallyitsoriginalfidelity.ThePCcanbeeasily connected to good quality speakers or even connected as an input to your stereosystem just likea tapedeckwhere theplayback is asgoodorbetter thanFMStereoororiginalCDs.Someaudiophilesclaimtheycantellthedifferencebutmostofuscan’t.

The distribution model has evolved from record to tape to CD but the businessmodelof themusicbusinesshaschangedverylittle.IhaveacollectionofMozartCDs.Someonehasdecidedhowtopackagethem.OneCDhasSymphonies40and41.AnotherhasStringQuartets17and19.Whycan’tIbuyjustthe40thSymphonyandthe17thStringQuartet?ArockstarCDhastensongsonit.HowaboutifIonlywanttobuytwoofthosesongs?IfaCDcosts$15for10songswhycan’tIbuytwosongsfor$3?WithMP3musicapersoncandownloadmorethantenhoursoftheirfavoritetracksofmusicandthenuseaCD “burner” to copy that music onto a CD. The CD the person created is now theirpersonalselectionofafavoriteartistormaybetwentyartists.

Wouldpeoplebewilling topay for a customCDor a custom“play list”of theirfavoritemusic files? Is it possible themusic industrycouldactuallyexpandbyofferingmore choices than have previously been available?How about amodelwhere I get todownload tenofmy favorite tracks for free if I agree to send them to ten friends.Eachfriend receives an email frommewith link in it. They click on the link are taken to aserver that allows them todownload themusic.When they first try toplay themusicasmalldialogueboxappearsontheirPCthatsays“TheseselectionswererecommendedbyyourfriendJohn.Clickheretoenteryourcreditcardnumbertopurchasethem.Youwillreceiveatenpercentdiscountifyouagreetoforwardtheinvitationyoureceivedtotenofyourfriends”.Yes,peoplehavethepowertostealmusic.Butthemusicindustryhasthepower to create brilliant new business models, subscription services, music tips, andmarketingrelationshipsandif theydosotheycantakethemusicindustrytonewlevelsandpeoplewillgladlypayforthevaluecreated.

Peer-to-peerisnotjustaboutmusic.AnewcompanycalledGrooveNetworkswaslaunchedin2000.Theyofferafree(fornow)downloadofaPCprogramcalledGroove.ItallowsP2Pcommunicationsandincludesvarioustoolstofacilitatesharing.Forexample,thelocalsoccermomsmightsetupaGroove“conversationspace”.Eachsoccermomcan

seethisspaceonherPC.Whenonemompostsanewsoccerpracticedateorschedulesamom’smeetingonthecalendar,theinformationisdistributedtoalltheothermomswhocanthenseeitontheirPCs.TheAdamsFamilymightsetupafamilycalendar.Isetupaconversationspaceforcollaborationon thisbook.Myeditorsandother trustedadvisorshave secure access to the space to see any recent writing. There is also a space fordiscussionwherecommentsandcritiqueswere, andstill are, shared.The“Power to thePeople”aspectcomesasworkgroups incompanies find theycan setup secure spaces toshare discussions, files, presentations, calendars, and contact lists. Previously theymayhavewantedtosetupsomenewcollaborativeareabutmayhavefoundthattheyhadtoget approval from the corporate Information Systems department first. Central serversprovidemany valuable functions that will continue to be important but for some basicsharingtaskstheP2Papproachmaybecomequiteempowering.

“PowertothePeople”doesnotmeananarchy.Itdoesnotmeanpeoplemarchinginthe streets. It doesmean that people have the power to press amouse button or a cellphone button and expect to be heard and have their expectations met. Corporations,universities,governments,andotherlargeinstitutionshavepowertoo—buttheywillloseit unless theyuse it to satisfy the rapidly expandingexpectationsofpeople. Institutionsneed to listen very hard towhat people are saying and figure outwhat their needs andwants are. Those enlightened organizations that listen to the people will be greatlysuccessfulandthosewhodon’twillbeimperiledifnotextinct.

There is a dark side to “Power to the People”. The Internet has allowedterrorists the potential to create “cyber wars” by unleashing cripplingcomputervirusesandjammingmilitarycomputersystemsthroughelectronicradio-frequency interference. This could potentially enable terrorists todisrupt anything that functions electronically. In light of this, the UnitedStatesArmy is activelyparticipating in thecreationof a strategy toprotectagainstpotentialadversarieswhomightabusetheirpowerontheInternet.

A

CHAPTER3

TheCustomerIsAlwaysRightThethirdchapterwasaboutaconceptIlearnedfromStewLeonard,agrocerinConnecticut.Asignatthedoorofhisstoressays,“Rule#1,TheCustomerIsAlwaysRight;Rule#2,IfTheCustomerIsEverWrong,SeeRule#1”.9 Iexplained how a net attitude can be expanded on the Internet using Mr.Leonard’s concept. This chapter is replete with examples which can beappliedacrosstoday’scompetitivelandscape.

In2001,IsuggestedcallcentersandtheInternetshouldbeintegrated.“Clickhere”togetyourproblemsolvedandifthatdoesn’tsolvetheproblem,“Clickhere”totalktosomeone.Anumberofcompanieshaveadoptedtheprinciple.Amazon is the most advanced in completely adopting the principle. Manyother companies do not include a phone number anywhere on their site.Adoptionofthecustomerisalwaysrightisafundamentalofnetattitudeandessentialtobeawinnerintodayshighlycompetitivemarkets.

While therearesomenotableexceptionalwebsites, thebottom line ismanybusinessestodayarenotmeetingcustomerexpectations.Idescribedaninitialburstofexcitementabout surfing theweb in1995.Over thenext fiveyearsthe Internet became faster, more reliable, and reached larger numbers ofpeople.NewInternetstartupsor“dotcoms”emergedwithsomegreatideas(but not always great businessmodels).Companies in existence for a longtime“web enabled” internalmainframe processes. E-commerce flourished.However,by theendof themillennium Ibelievemanyusersof the Internetbegan to becomedisillusioned and frustrated. They couldn’t findwhat theywantedorwereletdownwhentheirexpectationswereontherise.

Fast forward to today and expectations continue to rise. Banks, airlines,hotels, andhealthcare providers are online but someare not exploiting theInternet to the degree they could. How does an organization address thewideninggapbetweenclient’sexpectationsandcompaniesservicedelivery?Theanswerstartswithachangeinattitude.

s peoplehavegainednewfoundpower from the Internet their expectationshavenincreasedsignificantly.Theyknowthepotentialexiststogreatlysimplifytheirlives

andtheyexpectthistohappen.Theirpatiencewillbeshortwhenitdoesn’t.Howgoodofa jobarecompanies,governments,universities,hospitals,andother institutionsdoingatmeetingpeople’sexpectations?Unfortunately,Iwouldhavetosay,onaverage,notverywellatall.Althoughtherearemanyreasonsforoptimismthatthewebcanandwillmeettherisingexpectationsofpeople,atthisstagemostwebsitesdon’tevencomeclose.

Let’s get specific. The American Customer Satisfaction Index for e-commercecompanieswaspublished in late2000. It resulted fromaquarterlysurveyconductedbytheNationalQualityResearchCenterattheUniversityofMichiganBusinessSchool,Ann

Arbor,inpartnershipwiththeMilwaukee-basedAmericanSocietyforQualityandtheCFIGroup, anAnnArbormanagement-consulting firm.The survey showed that consumersfound large disparities in quality of service and, although there were some standoutsuccesses,manywebsitesfellfarbehindinkeepingtheircustomershappy.

Patrick Barta of theWall Street Journal reported that satisfaction levels are lowenough “to cast doubt about many sites’ ability to survive.” He went on to say thatAmericanconsumers“appeartobeonlymarginallymoresatisfiedwithe-commercesitesthan theyarewith theU.S.PostalService.”The index’sdirector,ClaesFornell, saysE-commerce “companies that don’t provide a positive customer experiencewill getmuchless repeat business and therefore be forced out of the marketplace”. It is generallyaccepted that getting anewcustomer is at least five timesmore costly thankeepinganexistingone.Thesurveyshowed thatmore than twenty fivepercentofconsumerswerenotsatisfied.ThebrightspotwasAmazon.com,whichhadasatisfactionscoreof84,thehighestofanysite.Evenmorealarmingthanthesatisfactionscoreofthissurveyishowmany people leave websites without completing the transaction at all because theycouldn’tfindwhattheywerelookingfororthesitedidnotworkproperly.InhisJanuary2001issueoftheRelease1.0newsletter,KevinWerbachdescribedasurveydonebyuser-experienceconsultantsCreativeGood.Theconsultantsranatestwithover50consumersoneightleadingonlineretailsites.Forty-threepercentofthepurchasingattemptsendedinfailure,becausetheusersliterallycouldn’tfigureouthowtocompletethetransaction.Thesatisfaction,or lack thereof, alsogoesbeyond theweb.Peoplewhobecomedissatisfiedwithaparticularbrandonthewebwilltranslatetheirfeelingstothe“bricksandmortar”part of that brand.Theywill conclude that if the e-business part of a company doesn’tknowhowtosatisfypeoplethentheircompanydoesn’tknowhowtosatisfypeople.

SystemsThatDon’tTalkToEachOtherThereareseveralcategorieswherewebsitesletpeopledown.Oneofthemhastodo

withintegrationofsystems.Somerecentpersonalexperiencesmayservetoillustratewhatthisisaboutandwhypeoplearefrustratedasaresult.ItwasaFridaynightwhenmywifeand Idecided togo toNewYork the followingweekend for an impromptuopportunitythat arose. Iwent to thewebsiteof amajorhotel chain and checkedmy frequentguestpointsbalanceandlookedforanawardforaone-nightstay.Ihaveplentyofpointsand,sureenough,Ifoundanawardcodeforaone-nightstayataverynicepropertyinNewYorkCity.Icouldhavemadeanonlinereservationbutapriorexperienceconvincedmethattheydidn’thavetheprocessstreamlinedyetsoIcalledthe800numberandaskedthepersonifaroomwasavailableforthatfollowingFridaynight.“Yessir”,shesaid,“Icanconfirm that for you”. “Great” I said. “Is there anything else I can do for you, Mr.Patrick?”“Yes,IwouldliketopayfortheroomusingAwardcodeXYZ”.

“Oh”,shesaid,“Ican’tdothat”.IaskedifIwastalkingtoanansweringserviceorthe hotel chain itself. “This is the hotel chain”, she said, “but this is the reservationsdepartment and I don’t have access to any frequent guest data”. I explained that Iwaslookingatthecouponinmybrowserandaskediftherewasn’tsomewayshecouldhelpme use it. “Oh, no problem, Mr. Patrick”, she said. “Just call us back on Mondaymorning”.ShewentontoexplainthatIwouldneedtocallthembylongdistance,no800number,andthatIcouldcallanytimeduring theirnormalbusinesshoursofnine tofive

Monday through Friday. She said thatwhen I called I could just simply give themmycreditcardnumberandforjust$35theywouldsendmethecoupon(whichIwaslookingatinthebrowser!)viaovernightexpressmail.Nowisthata“stickintheeye”orwhat?The problem is lack of application integration. The frequent guest system and thereservationssystemdon’ttalktoeachother.Theyareapplicationsthatwerelikelybuiltindifferentdecadesandwhichoperateondifferentandincompatiblecomputersystems.Theexamplesabound.

I ordered three items fromanon-line catalog at cdw.com. Itwas actually a goodshoppingexperience.TheFedExshippingwasarelativebargainat$5.49.ThenextdayIreceived a phone message saying that one of the items I had ordered had beendiscontinuedbutthattheothertwoitemswereshipped.Thiswasquitedisappointingsincethediscontinued itemwas themost importantof the three things I ordered. I called thecustomer service department and askedwhy thewebsitewas offering an item that hadbeendiscontinued.Lackofrealtimeinventoryoroutofstockconditionsisonethingbutofferingdiscontinued items for sale seemed like a real process problem. “Oh”, said thecustomerservicerepresentative,“ourwebsiteis twotothreemonthsbehindonupdatingfordiscontinueditems.Weareworkingonthat”.TheresultwasIhadtoorderasubstituteitemandpayadditionalshipping.Problem:no integrationbetweenthe inventorysystemandthewebe-commercesystem.

RecentlyIwenttotheUnitedAirlineswebsitetoacceptaspecialoffer.Itwasverysmooth. A few clicks and I was finished. Then I got a message that said, “You haveselected10,000MileagePlusbonusmiles.Yourmileswill be credited toyourMileagePlus®accountinapproximately6weeks.Theyareyourstouseasyouplease.Thankyouagain for this opportunity to reward you for your exceptional loyalty. “Sixweeks?Theweb application that I interactedwithprobably can’t talk to (is not integratedwith) theapplication thatupdates themileagecredit.Ever landatanairportand thegatewasnotavailablefortheplanetopark?Happenstoallofus.TheGateSchedulingSystemisnotintegratedwiththeFlightArrivalSystem.

Ihadbeenthinkingaboutgettingacappuccinomakerandafriendhadonenotinusethatheofferedtoloantomeforatrial.ThemachineiscalledaNespressoandismadebyNestle.Itusespre-packaged“capsule”ofcoffee.Istoppedinalocalgourmetcookingstore that carries the Nespresso line and asked if I could buy some of the capsules ofcoffee.“Ohno”,saidtheproprietor.“Theycanonlybeboughtdirectlyfromthecompany.Didn’tyoufillouttheformtoregisterforthebuyingservice?”IexplainedmysituationandsaidIhadnoform.Iwastoldtocallthe800number.Iwenthomeemptyhandedandrather thancall, I decided tovisit thewebsite. Iwas in luck,or so I thought, because Iquicklyfounda“clickheretobuy”areaofthesite.UponlandingatthebuyingpageIwasaskedtoentermycustomernumber.Ihavenocustomernumberandcouldfindnoplaceonthesitetogetone.Iwasreallydeterminedtogetthese“capsules”soIbrokedownandcalled.Thegoodnewswasthatitwasnot9-5M-FandarealpersonansweredandIdidn’thave to wade through a complex call center menu. The person was very cordial andexplained that theonlyway Icouldgetacustomernumberwas tobuysomething fromthembyphoneandthenIwouldbesentacustomernumberinthemail!

Attitudeproblem:Theseproblemsareviewedasverycomplexwithfixesthat

takealotoftime.

Net attitude: The long-term fix will take time but in the meantimeapplicationscanbeenabledtosendmessagestoeachotherbehindthescenesand give the customer the effect of a completely integrated solution. Sometechnology investments will be involved but it is mostly an attitude ofwantingtomakesystemstalktoeachother.Chapter12willdescribehowthisisdone.

ClickHereToSendAFax,FillOutAForm,OrGetOurPhoneNumberAndHoursIwenttothewebsiteofaCaliforniasoftwarecompanyoneSundayafternoonandI

wasreadytobuysomesoftwaretheyhadforsale.InfactIwanteditreallybadlyandwasready to pay nearly any price. I clicked to buy and up came a form.No problem,Mr.Patrick.Stepone;printthisform.Steptwo;fillitoutandfaxittous!Thisdoesn’tsoundlikee-business.Unfortunatelytherearealargenumberofwebsitesthatsayclickheretobuy and thenpresent uswith a screenofwhere to call or a form tobeprintedout andfaxed.MorerecentlyIwaslookingforaveryuniquelightbulbforanoutdoorlamppost.Isearch around the web and discovered that I was not alone in having trouble findingunique light bulbs. My search turned up quite a few postings in the Philips LightingForumforHomeLighting.InreplytoacustomeraskingforthesamebulbIwaslookingfor,thefolksatPhilipspostedareplywhichsaid“Pleasecall8005550050forthenearestdistributorinyourarea.”

Many websites say they have information about their products and servicesavailablebutwhenyouclicktoseeit,upcomesawebpageformwhichyouareaskedtofilloutandsendtothecompanysotheycanmailyouacopyoftheinstructionmanualorother information that you are requesting. In other cases you can’t even get theinformationthroughthewebsiteatall.IboughtanewMotorolamobilephoneinAustraliaduringtheSydneyGames.Iwasreallypleasedwithitbuthadaquestionabouthowsomeparticularfeatureworked.IwenttotheMotorolasiteandlookedaround.Ifoundalinktoexactly what I wanted to know. When I clicked it I got, “Motorola can assist you inmatchingoneofitsnewerphoneswithyourexistingserviceplan.Pleasefollowtheseeasysteps: have the name of your service provider handy; call 1-888-647-9988 (Mon.-Fri.,7:00a.m.–7:00p.m.CST).Motorola’scustomerservicerepresentativecanhelpyouselecta phone that is supported by your service provider and discuss the options available toyou.”

ContrastthiswithavisittotheStateofConnecticutDepartmentofMotorVehicles.I was looking for a particular manual and to my delight I found the following on thewebpage: “The DMV provides driver’s manuals with all the graphics and illustrationsfeatured in the print edition. These versions are in portable document format (pdf) andmustbeviewedandprintedthroughAdobeAcrobat.ThesoftwareisavailablefreefromAdobe.Togetafreecopyofthesoftware,clickthe“GetAcrobat”imagebelow.”Adobe’sportabledocumentformat(pdf)isadefactopublishingstandardthatcanbeusedtocreateany kind of printed materials. Adobe Acrobat is free software program that enables apersontoreadthepdffile.Apdffilecanbeprintedoutanditlooksexactlylikethe“real”thing;completewithallthegraphics,formatting,andfontsthatyouwouldseeinprintedmaterials.TheUnitedStatesInternalRevenueServicewasoneofthefirsttousepdffiles

on the Internet. They offer virtually all IRS forms and booklets thatway.Radio Shackoffers owner’s manuals for nearly all their products as pdf files. Unfortunately, TheConnecticutDMV,IRS,andRadioShackexamplesareintheminority.

Faxmachinesarosetoubiquityfor tworeasons: theinformationtechnologyindustryhadnostandardfortheexchangeofdocumentsandtheInternethadnotyetbecomeubiquitous.Muchoftheuseoffaxmachinestodayisduetohabits.DocumentformatssuchasAdobepdffilescanenablethesharingofsophisticatedgraphicalinformationwithoutpaper.Webpagescanbeusedforbusinessformsofallkinds.Forthosewhowouldliketomaketheplungeandgetridoftheirfaxmachine(likeIhave)buthavefriendsandcolleagueswhostillhavethem(asIdo),thereisagoodanswer.eFax(http://www.eFax.com)offers a fast, free, and easyway to receive faxes—whether you’re on theroad,attheoffice,orworkingfromhome.WitheFaxyoureceiveyourfaxesand voice mail as attachments in your email account. No more standingaround the faxmachinewaiting foryour fax to arrive.Nomorewanderingeyeslookingatyourconfidentialdocuments.Foramonthlychargeof$9.95you can also have a convenient way to send faxes. No need to print andmanuallyfaxadocumentanymore.Noneedtobetiedtothelocationofyourfaxmachine.With eFax you can fax documents right from your computer.Thefaxmachinehasserveduswell.Letitrestinpeace.

IwashavingaproblemgettingmyHewlettPackardScanJetscannerworkingandvisited theirwebsite to lookforafix. I foundaverysophisticatedsupportstructureandsearchedformyparticularproblem.Iwassuccessful in finding theexactproblemandIclicked toget thefix.Upcameawebpage thatsaid tocallduring theirnormalbusinesshours and give themmy address so they could shipme a CD.Why not a download Iasked?Iwastoldthattoomanyusersweredownloadingthefileforthewrongreasonandthentheuserswerecomplainingthat thedownloaddidn’tfix theirproblem.Rather thanworkonabetterwayofexplainingwhoshoulddownloadthefileandforwhatpurpose,HPdecidedtotakethefileoffoftheirsiteandofferaCDsolutioninstead.

Thenextexampleillustrates thatemail isnotyetacceptedasanequal intermsofcommunications. Iwas inEuropeonabusiness tripand realized that therewasa smallmatterthatIneededtotakecareofwithamajorfinancialservicescompanywithwhomIdo business. Itwas a small but important administrativematter that had a deadline forcompletion thatday. Itdidnot involveany securities tradingormovementofmoney. ItwasearlymorninginEuropeandveryearlyinAmerica–customerservicewouldnotbeopen.Since Iwould be busy all day andwould not be able to callwhen theAmericanofficesopenedIdecidedtosendthemanemail.Iwaspleasedtofinda“mailto”linkontheirwebsiteandIsentmysimplerequest.Igotbacktothehotellatethatnightandfoundanemailreplyfromthefirm.Ihaveeditedthereplyslightlytoprotecttheguilty.

“DearMr.Patrickthanksforyourrecentinquiry.Unfortunatelywecan’tdothatbye-mail, you have to speak to a customer service representative at our customer servicedepartment.Call usMonday toFriday, nine to five at 800-999-1234duringour normalbusinesshours.Ofcourseifyouhaveanyotherquestions,sendusane-mail.”Duh.Bytheway, this response is more insensitive than it may seem on the surface. Call our 800

number?Youcan’tcall800numbersfromEurope.Ilatercalledamanagerofthefirmandaskedwhy theycouldn’t handlemy request by email.Heexplained tome that email isconsidered correspondence by their legal department and any correspondence has to bereviewed and approved by a manager before it can be sent. Therefore they prefer thetelephonewhere this extra step is not required. In otherwords, a representative on thephonecantellmeanythingbutiftheyhavetosendmeanemailthenithastobereviewedandapproved.Thisdoesn’tmakemuchinaworldofconvergingmediawheremoreandmorepeoplewouldsaythatemailistheirpreferredwayofcommunicating.

Isoldmyfive-year-oldcaroneBay.ThebuyerwasagentlemaninKentucky.Hehadapersonalproblemandwasnotabletocomegetthecarinatimelywaysoheofferedtoputthemoneyinanescrowaccountatmybankasashowofgoodfaiththathewoulddefinitelybe taking thecar. I said Iwouldcheckwith themonhow thismightbedone(this was before I knew about escrow.com).My “relationshipmanager” said hewouldhave to check with the legal department. He called back a few hours later and said itwouldbe“verydifficult”.“Thingsaretoughinabighierarchylikethis”.Itcouldpossiblybedonebutthe“bankhastoprotectitself”.“Youwouldhavetofilloutalotofpaperworkandthebankwilltakenoresponsibilityforthemoneyortomakesuretheescrowwouldactuallywork”.Thiswasmyownbank!

Hesaiditmaynotseemveryuserfriendlybut theyareaverybigbank.Thetwooptionshesaidwouldbepossibleweretoeitherusea“LetterofCredit”orgeta“CourtOrder”. He had no idea how either would work or howmuch theymight cost. It wasobviousthatneitherofthesewereappropriatetosellmycartothegentlemaninKentucky.(I later visited escrow.com and they said “No problem”. Just go to the website. Eitherpartycan fillout theonline form.Theotherpartywillbenotifiedbyemail.Whenbothagreetotheterms,themoneyisdeposited.Whenbothhavebeentothewebsitetoagreethetermswereactuallymet,themoneyisreleased.Fee:$100.Noproblem.Expectationsmet.)

Are these examples of e-business? I don’t think so. I am sure that Motorola’scustomerservicerepresentativecanhelpmeselectaphonethatissupportedbymyserviceprovider and tellme about the options available tome but Iwould think theirwebsitecoulddo this too–anddosowhenever Iwant tonot justduringsomeselectedCentralStandardTimehours. Iknowthefinancialservices firmcanhelpmebyphonebutwhycan’ttheyhelpmebyemail?Andonandon.

Attitude problem: Many organizations are clinging to the communicationsmethods of the past and not capitalizing on the tremendous power of theInternet.

Net attitude: The technology is here to give people the information andservices that theywant on the Internetwhenever theywant it. Informationdoesn’tneed tobe freebut itdoesneed tobe readilyavailableand24x7.Anyartificialinhibitorsthatarecreatedwilldrivecustomerstoacompetitor.Expectations are rising fast and when the Next Generation of the Internetarrivesexpectationswillbeevenhigher.

DownForMaintenance

Oneofthemostsignificantproblemscausinguserexpectationstonotbemetissiteavailability.“Sitedownformaintenance”atmidnightseemsreasonableforanAmericanhosted website except that it is lunch hour for their Asian customers. One late night,between midnight and 1 AM I visited American Airlines to check on a flight. Thehomepagesaid,“Duetoscheduledmaintenance,AA.comiscurrentlynotavailable”.Thiswas the homepage of one of the largest airlines in the world that in fact is an“international” leader. Websites need to be available all the time. Traditional thinkingwouldtellonethat1AMisagreattimetodomaintenanceofawebsite.Nobodyisusingthesite.Infact,a lotofpeopleusethewebontheir lunchbreak.It isalwayslunchtimesomewhere in theworld.Two in themorning inNewYork is three in the afternoon inTokyo.Theoldmodeldoesn’tworkanymore.

Ireceivedanemailonedaywhichsaid“DearJOHNRPATRICK,yourAmericanExpress Statement ofAccount forDecember, 2000 is now available for viewing at thefollowing secure site. Please review this statement at your earliest convenience as yourpaymentduedateisDecember19,2000.”AURLwasprovidedintheemailandIclickedon it. I got amessage that said “We’re Sorry…we are currently upgrading our site toimprove American Express Online Services. During this time you may experienceintermittent system delays. If youwish to review your account, please call 1-800-528-4800andaCustomerServiceRepresentativewillbeavailabletoassistyou.Ifyouwishtomake a payment, you can pay via telephone by calling 1-800-472-9297“. I knowAmericanExpresshasgreat customer servicebyphone,withno recordings saying theyareonlyopen9to5MondaytoFriday,andIknowIcouldhavepaidthebillbyphonebutIwasanxious touse thenewcapabilityofpaying itonline. Iwaitedand tried theURLagain the next day. Same message. After it persisted for more than a week I calledAmericanExpresstechnicalsupport.TheysaidtheproblemwasthatmybrowserhadtoomuchhistorysavedandthattousetheirsiteIwouldhavetodeleteallthesavedlocationsfrommyrecentbrowsing.Thesupporttechnicianwasabletostepmethroughcorrectingtheproblembutfrommypointofviewhewasaskingmetogiveupsomethingtomakethesiteworkforme.

Attitudeproblem:Someorganizationsaremanagingtheire-businesswebsitesthesamewaytheyhavemanagedtheirtraditionalsystems.

Netattitude:Manypeopletendtodotheirshopping,banking,andotherwebtransactionsat“unusual” times;certainlynotallduring thehoursofnine tofive,MondaytoFriday.Websitesneedtobeupandrunningaroundtheclock.

GuitarsAndChickensAnother dimension of the dissatisfaction is the difficulty in simply finding

somethingontheweb.Mymotherwasanxious togetan8 inchelectricfryingpan.Mywifelookedeverywhereandcouldn’tfineone.“Noproblem”,Isaid,“I’llfindoneontheInternet in no time”. I did some looking around and found a site that claimed to be allaboutelectricfryingpans.Therewerefourfeaturedlinks.Noneofthemhadanythingtodowith electric frying pans. Therewere twelve featuredmanufacturers of frying pans.Eightofthemweredeadlinks.Fourweregoodlinkstogreatlookingfryingpansbutnonewere the small size Iwanted.Undaunted I decided to use amore sophisticated search.Search=“Smallelectricfryingpan”.Igottwomatches.

Match#1

LemelsonCenterInventionFeatures:ElectricGuitars

This exhibit, presented by The National Museum of American History featuresinstrumentsthatillustratehowinnovativemakersandplayerscombinedtheguitarwithapickup(sensor)andamplifierto…

Match#2

FRIEDCHICKEN

Startwithawholefryerwashwithwatercutbreastsandwingsintwoshakechickenandflourinpaperorplasticbaginelectricfryingpan,brownchickenathighheat

Attitudeproblem:Theweb is agreatnewway topublish information. It iseasytoputverylargeamountsofinformationonyourwebsite.

Netattitude:Havingmore informationon awebsite doesn’tmean that it iseasier forpeople to find that information. Informationneeds tobecarefullyorganizedandstructuredsothatitcanbemaintainedandsoitcanbeeasilysearchedandretrieved.

ListenCarefully;OurMenusHaveChanged“Surfing” theweb has become a very natural thing to do formillions of people.

They have also mastered “click here” to buy something or to make a choice. Thesimplicityofthishasraisedexpectations,andfrustrations,withtheCallCenter.Therearemany fancy technical terms that are used to describe Call Center technology but thebottom line is that they provide an automatedway to interact with people. Seems likeevery organization of any kind has one. The reduction in staff made possible bysubstitutingarecordedvoiceresponseforrealpeopleiscompellingtotheorganization.Topeople,wellthatisadifferentstory.Simplemenusdidn’tseemsobadandinfactreducedyour timeon thephone.Pressoneforsales;press twoforservice;press threeforparts.Nice.Getsyoutotherightplaceinahurry.Butthenthesuccessofthesesimplemenusmotivatedorganizationstogetmoresophisticated.Dotheystillsaveustimeandincreaseoursatisfaction?Let’slisteninonatypical“dialogue”.

I want to change mymailing address on a service contract I have on my homevacuumsystem.Icallthecompany’s800number.“WelcometoAjax.Ajaxistheworld’sleadingproviderofhomevacuumcleaningsystems.Press1ifyouareusingatouch-tonephone. I press 1. Press 1 for English, 2 for Spanish. Presione 1 para el inglés, 2 paraespañol.“Ipress1.“Pleaselistencarefullybecauseourmenushavechanged”.DoIreallyneedtohearabout thestatusof theirmenus?.Icareaboutwhat it isIamcallingabout.Whendowegettosomethingrelevanttomyproblem?“Press1tolearnmoreaboutourexcitingnewhomevacuumsystemthatiscurrentlybeingofferedataspecialintroductoryprice.Press2toorderoneofourproducts.Press3tolearnhowtouseoneofourproducts.Press4fordetailedinstructionsonhowtoreturnoneofourproducts”.AllIwanttodoischangemyaddress!“Press5torequestshippingmaterialstoreturnoneofourproducts.“Press6forthelocationsofournearestretailcenters.”Iamreadytoscream.“Press7forthelocationsofournearestrepaircenters”.Iwonderifcustomerserviceisgoingtobe8,

9, or zero? I’ll try 0. “Sorry, that option is not available”. “Press 8 to repeat themenuoptions.”8.“Press1tolearnaboutourexcitingnewhomevacuumsystemthatiscurrentlybeingofferedataspecialintroductoryprice.“Press2toorderoneofourproducts”.“Press3tolearnhowuseoneofourproducts”.“Press4fordetailedinstructionsonhowtoreturnoneofourproducts”.“Press5torequestshippingmaterialstoreturnoneofourproducts”.“Press6for the locationsofournearestretailcenters.”“Press7for the locationsofournearest repaircenters”. I’mgettingclose. Idon’tdarepressanything.“Press8 to repeatthemenuoptions”.“Press9tospeaktoacustomerservicerepresentative”.Atlast.9.“Weare sorry but our customer service representatives are only availableMonday to Fridayfrom9AMto5PMduringournormalbusinesshours.”Ilookatmywatch.Itis5:01PM.IfonlyIhadn’tpressedthat8earlier!

Thecall center is controllingyouvia itsmenustructure. Itwasok for the simplemenuwiththreechoicesbutthecomplexlabyrinthsoftodayaremorethanfrustrating.Inthoseinstanceswhenyoufinallygettoapersonyouthendiscoverthatthecomputerhasnotonly controlledyou, it is also controlling thepersonyou are talking to! “Press0 tospeaktoacustomerservicerepresentative.”“Enteryoureighteendigitcustomernumberfollowed by the pound sign.” A representative comes on the line. “May I have youraccountnumberplease?”Youtellthepersonyoujustentereditandthepersontellsyou,“Iamsorrybutitdidn’tshowuponmyscreen.”Yougivethemtheeighteen-digitcustomernumberandthenthepersonsays,“Thankyousir,now,mayIhelpyou?”“Yes,thankyou.MynameisJohnPatrickandIwouldliketochangemyzipcode”.“Ok,sir,Iwouldbeglad to help you. What is your name?” The customer service representative probablyselectedanapplicationfor“Changezipcode”andascreencameupto“guide”himorherthroughthesteps.Step1–whatisyourname?Assoonasacompetitorasimplewebpagefor “add/change/check status” kinds of things, perhaps integrated with the call center,customerswillswitchtothatvendorasfastaspossible.

Attitudeproblem:Theweb is agreatnewway tooffer “clickhere tobuy”andthatisthepriority,insomecasesthesolepriority,ofmanye-businesses.“Clickhere”satisfiesmanypeoplebutwhentheylaterhavetocallcustomerserviceandtalktoacallcentertheirsatisfactiongoesaway.

Netattitude:CallcentersandtheInternetcanbe integrated.“Clickhere” togetyourproblemsolvedandifthatdoesn’tsolvetheproblem,“clickhere”totalktosomeone.

ForYourOwnProtectionDoes that stream of wet ink we call a signature really make things better? Our

financial and legal system in most of the world is based on paper and ink. It hasn’tchanged for hundreds of years. It doesn’tmatter thatwe can buy thingswith amouseclick.Ifwewanttotransfersecurities,openanewaccount,setupatrust,establishalifeinsurancepolicy,orcountlessothertransactions,thenapieceofpaperwithoursignatureininkisrequired.Wearetolditisarequirement,thatisthecompanypolicyor,thatis“foryourprotection”.Isitreally?

RecentlyIowedacontractorsomemoneyforaprojecthehadcompletedforme.IaccidentallyforgottomakethepaymentwhenIsaidIwouldandassoonasIrealizedmy

oversightIdecidedtowriteacheckandtakeit tothebankanddeposititdirectlytothecontractor’s account. I knew which bank the builder used and I had his bank accountnumberfromapriortransactionwithhim.Ipulleduptothetellerwindowinmycarandgavethetellermycheckmadeouttothebuilderandwithhisaccountnumberonit.AftersheprocessedthecheckIstartedtoputmycarwindowupandthenIheardthetellersay,“Here isyour receipt”.When Igothomeand tooka lookat the receipt I could see theamountofthedepositandalsothebuilder’snewaccountbalance!BysimplyknowingthebankaccountnumberofthebuilderIwasableto(unintentionally)invadehisprivacyandseehisbankbalance.IfIwanttocheckhisbalanceagaininthefutureIcanjustdeposit$1atthedriveupwindow!Maybethebrick,mortar,andpaperworldisn’tsosecureafterall.ItcouldhavebeenmuchmoresecureandprivateifIcouldhavewiredthemoneytothebuilderusingtheInternet.

Digital ID’sarenow legal inAmericaandotherpartsof theworld.Theyprovideauthentication, authorization, confidentiality, integrity, and non-repudiation. In fact theyarefarmoredurableandpowerfulthansignatureswithink.DigitalID’swillempowerusand simplify our lives.Muchmore aboutwhat they are andhow theywork cominguplater.

Attitudeproblem:Commerce inmostof theworldhasbeenbasedonpaperandink.Nothingmuchhaschangedforhundredsofyears.

Netattitude:ThetechnologyexiststomakeInternet-baseddigitalsignaturesnotonlyworkbutmakethemmoresecurethanpaperandink.

Yes, therearemanyusesand instancesofpaper thatare justnotneeded—because they add no value. But paper is not going to go away and itshouldn’t. Just like in all introductions of newmedia types, the electronicmediaisasupplementtopapernotawholesalereplacement.Sometimestheuseschangethough.Newspapersactuallyservemanypurposes.Somepeopleusethemtokeeptherainoffoftheirhead,othersswatflieswiththem,andsomewrapfishinthem.Andthenthereisjustplainoldwritingpaper.Whenyou put a fountain pen to it magical things happen. You have this specialfeelingwhenusingafountainpen.Andifyourheartisintherightplaceyoucan inspireoruplift theheartsofotherswith thewordsyouwrite.Nothingdigitalhasquitethesameimpact.

PeanutsAndPotatoChipsIncreasinglypeopleexpecttohavetheirprovidersofgoodsandservicesthinkabout

customer satisfaction from an end-to-end point of view.Click here to buy is one smallpieceofthis.Theend-to-endconceptstartsfromthemomentweperceivethatwehaveaneedorawantforagoodorserviceuptoandincludingafterthesaleserviceandsupport.Therearemanyaspectstothis.Longbeforeapersonisreadytobuysomethingtheymaywanttolearnaboutwhatisavailableandgainassistanceindeterminingexactlywhattheyneed. Carpenter Technology Corporation a leading manufacturer and distributor ofspecialty alloys has a website called carpenterdirect.com where industrial buyers canpurchasestainlesssteel,aluminum,brassandmanyotherkindsofalloys.Thewebsitehasanonlinee-commercecatalogbut,more important to theirbusinesscustomers, isavast

amount of technical data to help an engineer determinewhat is needed for a particularproject.Asectionoftheirsite,calledMyMetallurgist,providesdescriptionsofalloysanddetailed technical properties so that engineers canmake selections based on corrosion,magnetic, or tooling requirements. Services such as this can become a technicalinformationresourceforCarpentercustomersand if it isvaluableenough thecustomerswillbecomehookedonitandwillfinditaverynaturalstepto“clickheretobuy”.

Anexampleofastepinthecycleafter“clickheretobuy”ispackaging.Ithastodowithproblemsinthe“lastanalogmile”;referringtothephysicaldeliveryofthingswebuyontheInternet.TheissueinitiallystruckmewhenIhadreceivedmyveryfirstorderfromnet.grocer (www.netgrocer.com). I orderedanassortmentof salsa, condiments,Tabasco,papertowels,potatochips,pickles,andotheressentials.Iwasquitepleasedandproudofmy e-commerce prowess (e-business hadn’t been invented yet) inwalking the talk andacquiringallofmyfavoritegoodiesonline. Iwasreveling inmypredictionsabouthoweverybodywouldbuyeverythingontheNet.ThenIgotalumpinmystomachasIlookedat these two large cardboard boxes onmy kitchen floor. And, the piles of white poly-whatever“peanuts”wereallovertheplace.Somestucktomyhands,arms,andclothing.WhatwasI todo?MywifewouldbehomesoonandshewouldhavealotofquestionsaboutmyplanstocleanupthemessIhadcreatedinthekitchen.AllthegloryIfeltaboutacquiringTabascoandpotatochipswouldbenothingcompared to thewrath shewouldunleashaboutthemessifIdidn’tgetbusy.Noproblem.I’lljustcleanitup.AllIhavetodoisseparateallthevariouspackagingmaterialsintotheirrespectivecategories,burstthecardboardboxes,putthe“peanuts”intoabagsotheydon’tendupdecoratingourlawn,andthenstoweverythingawayinourrecyclingcenter.Shouldn’ttakememorethanahalfhour.Let’ssee—howmuchtimedidIsavewithmyNetpurchaseanyway?Evenwiththepurchase of something really simple, say a small cell phone, the ratio of the packagingmaterialtothecellphone(onavolumebasis)mustbe100to1ormore.

Evenlaterinthecyclethanpackagingisfulfillment.Somewebsitesrememberyourpriorpurchasesbutsoonpurchasingagentsandconsumerswillexpectfulfillmentmodelswhere they can set up a list of things they justwant to show up on a scheduled basis.Industrial chemicals and supplies for the business and paper towels, printer paper,stockings, and potato chips for the home.More sophisticated e-businesseswillmonitorpurchasesandadvisetheircustomersoforderinglevelsthatwillminimizeshippingcost.Really sophisticated e-businesseswill provide complete inventorymanagement systemsfor their customers.When the customerwants to checkwhat is onhandof a particularitem they won’t go to their inventory system, they will go their e-business supplier’swebsite.Thisisagreatwaytotiethecustomerintoalong-termrelationship.

By paying attention to the end-to-end process, looking at possible annoyancesanywherealongtheprocess,successfule-businesseswilluncovermoreandmorewaystosatisfytheircustomers.Thereisroomforleadershiphereandbreakthroughsarepossible.Iused to be so frustrated with opening the half-gallon orange juice cartons. Did I sayopening? I meant mutilating. Then along came International Paper Corporation with abreakthroughidea—thescrewcaponthecarton.

Infact, thereareanumberofcreativeandconstructivedevelopmentsgoingon inthe packaging industry. For example, ECO-FOAM (http://www.eco-foam.com/) offers

packagingmaterialmade from a renewable resource – corn. The product is completelybiodegradableanddissolvesinwater-makesgreatcompost.Anothercompany,Metabolix(http://www.metabolix.com), is developing dissolvable plastics made from two of ourmosteasilyattainableandrenewablesources:carbondioxideandwater!

Attitudeproblem:E-commerceforbusinessesandconsumersisheretostay.Intherushtogetcatalogsofproductsonline,manybusinessesoverlookthecompleteend-to-endexperience.

Netattitude:Customers aregoing to expectmuchmore than “clickhere tobuy”.Itisn’tatechnologyproblem.

I began thinking about packaging as something important some years agowhen trying to open a cereal boxwithout destroying it and its subsequentabilitytokeepthecerealfresh.Itisanontrivialchallenge-maybeanart.Ifitis a science then I haven’t found the instructions anywhere. One starts byusingasharpknifewithalongblade.Youcarefullyslidetheknifeunderthetabinthecenterofthetopofthecerealbox.Thenyouslicethematerial toonesidewhileapplyingaslightupwardpressureviathetab.Repeatfortheotherside. Igivebeingable todo thiswithoutdamaging thebox topabout75%odds.Youarenowalmosta thirdof thewaythroughthetaskathand.Nowthatyouhavefreeduponeoftheflapsyouhavetofreetheotherflapbytearingit fromthesideflaps.Completingthiswithoutdamageisalsoabout75%oddsifyouarequitecareful.Youarenowtwothirdsofthewaytothecereal.Lastcomesopeningthebaginsidetheboxthatactuallycontains thecereal.Thisisoftenthehardestpart.Ifyougraspthetwosidesofthebagandpullverycarefullyyouhaveabouta50%chanceofopeningthebagwithouttearingit.Afteropeningthemainpartofthebagyouneedtoopenthecornersof thebagso thecerealcanflowsmoothly intoyourcerealbowl insteadofbubblingoutontothefloorandbetweenthebagandthecerealbox.Puttingthe collective probabilities together gives you a 50-50 chance at best ofhavinganopencerealboxthatpoursthecontentssmoothlyandcanbeclosedtoprotectfreshness.Somepackaging!Icouldgoonaboutjarsthatrequireahammertoopen,pillbottlesthatcanonlybeopenedbychildren,freshfruitcontainers that have to be squeezed until they break to open, soap in hotelrooms that is hermetically sealed in thick saran wrap that defies beingopened,etc.etc.etc. Isuspect thosewhosuffer fromarthritisof thefingerscouldmakemyexamplesseemtrivial.

ItIsNotAllGloomAndDoomTherearesomee-businessesthataredoingagreatjobwithend-to-endsatisfaction.

Stamps.com is a good example. Stamps.com is the leading provider of Internetmailingandshippingservices.Thecompanywasstartedin1999andhasMarvinRunyon,formerU.S. Postmaster General, on its board of directors. The company provides valuable e-services to businesses of all sizes, allowing companies to control costs and efficientlymanage their mailing, shipping and returns operations. Its business is anchored in keyrelationships with the U.S. Postal Service and United Parcel Service (UPS) and othercarriers.Forconsumersandsmallbusinessesstamps.comhaseliminatedhoursofwaiting

timeatthelocalpostoffice.Theyinsertalinkinyourwordprocessorsothatafterwritinga letter you can select to have an address label printed along with the postage. Theyactuallyhavea three-part label thatprints thereturnaddress, theaddresseeaddress,andthepostage.Youcanevenconnectyourlabelprintertoapostalscaleandweighapackageand automatically print the proper postage. They have integrated their Internet servicewiththepostalservicesothateachaddressischeckedagainstanationaldatabaseovertheInternettoensurethatyoucan’tprintanaddressunlessitisdeliverable.Thenine-digitzipcode is automatically inserted if you don’t know it. USPS packaging materials (no“peanuts” included) are integrated with the printing choices.When your packages andletters are ready to go you just put them outside by yourmailbox and the USPSmailcarrierpicksthemupandtherearenoaddedcharges.Thefeetostamps.comistenpercentofthepostageprintedwithaminimumof$1.99permonth.Thisisabargainconsideringtheconvenienceitenables.ThelocalnewspaperwhereI liveranastoryrecentlywithaheadline that read,“Parking, linesgivingpostalpatronsapain”.This isunderstandable.What is not understandable is the local cry to build a larger post office to handle thedemand. If peoplewere aware of the great service provided by stamps.com they couldavoidthelinesandgridlockparkingandprinttheirpostageinthecomfortoftheirhomes.

One of themost empowering places on theweb has got to be eBay.Buying andsellingoneBayisagreatexperience.Theyareconstantlyaddingnewservicestomaketheprocess – from end to end— easier for both the buyer and the seller. They create acommunity around the auction process and people trust it. In the beginningmaking orreceivingpaymentforyourbasementartifactsorfavoritebaseballcardswasarealhassle;going to thebank togetacashier’scheckor to the long lineat thePostOffice togetamoney order. eBay has addressed the problem through BillPoint, a credit card basedapproach,thatallowsabuyertopayasellerelectronically.Itisbasicallyaspecialpurposeelectronic funds transfer.Thepurchasepricegetscharged to thebuyer’screditcardandthenthemoneygetsdepositeddirectlyintotheseller’sbankaccount.Itworksverywelland charges a modest fee to the seller. EBay empowers people and meets people’sexpectations. They keep getting better and better. As a result it ismaking a profit andgrowingrapidly.Inthefirstquarterof2001themarketcapitalizationofeBay,arelativelybrandnewcompany,wasidenticaltothatofSearsRoebuck&Company.

All kinds of web-based services are springing up that do meet people’s needs.PayPal allows a person to send money to any other person by simply entering therecipient’semailaddressathttp://www.paypal.comandspecifyingtheamountofpayment.TherecipientgetsanemailaskinghimorhertoenrollinPayPal,iftheyarenotalreadyamember, and then theyget thepayment credited to theirPayPal account.Balances earninterest.Iftheydon’twanttousetheircreditbalancetobuythingsateBayorelsewheretheycanrequestacheckorevenadirectdeposittotheirbankaccount.PeopleusePayPalfor auctions, paying their share of a meal, and sending money to the kids at college.AnotherpaymentoptionforauctionsisBidPay(http://www.bidpay.com),whichallowsabuyertogotoawebpageandenterthephysicalnameandaddressofthesellerandforamodestfeeBidPaythensendsamoneyordertotheseller.Anemailisautomaticallysenttothesellersoheorshewillknowthatthemoneyisontheway.Bothofthesepaymentmethodsaresimpleandeffective.Theyarenotbanksorcreditcardcompanies.Perhapstheydon’thavethevariousprotectionsthatthoseentitieshave.Whoknowsiftheywillbe

successful? They do work, however, and large numbers of people are using them.Traditionalfinancialservicescompaniesshouldpayverycloseattentiontothem.

AndNowToTheFutureWhile there are somenotable positive exceptions, the bottom line is thatmost e-

businesses, whether they are serving businesses or consumers, are not meetingexpectations.TheInternethas transferredpower topeople,both thoseworking insideofbusinesses and those at home, and each day those expectations are higher than the daybefore.Wesawaninitialburstofexcitementaboutsurfingthewebin1995.OverthenextfiveyearstheInternetbecamefaster,morereliable,andreachedmuchlargernumbersofpeople. New Internet startups or “dot coms” emerged with some great ideas (but notalwaysgreatbusinessmodels)andexistingcompanies“webenabled”manyprocesses.E-commerceflourished.However,bytheendofthemillenniummanyusersoftheInternetbegan to become disillusioned and at times frustrated. They couldn’t find what theywantedore-businessesinsomewayletthemdownatatimewhentheirexpectationswererising.Howdoesanorganizationaddressthiswideninggap?Thefirstpartoftheanswerlies in anticipating and exploiting the Next Generation of the Internet – the NGi. ThesecondpartisaboutAttitude.

T

PartTwo

TheNextGenerationoftheInternetParttwoofNetAttitudewasabouttheInternetitself:whatitis,howitworks,andhow its capabilitiesareevolving. Idescribed theevolutionas theNextGenerationoftheInternet.TheprojectionsIfeaturedcametopassandwerelargely accurate. What I would say differently today is the Internet iscontinuously evolving. Improvements are continuous. I see no end in sight.Thereisno“nextgeneration”totheInternet.

I described seven characteristics of the Internet: Fast, Always on,Everywhere, Natural, Intelligent, Easy, and Trusted. There are no precisedefinitions for these characteristics. They served as a somewhat arbitraryway of parsing the many aspects of the Internet and providing examplesshowing their implications. I believe the same seven evolutionarycharacteristics are a valid method to describe what is happening with theInternettoday.

Thespecificexampleshavechangedbuttheprinciplesbehindthemhavenot.SomeInternet transactionswhichareeasy today, suchasmakinganonlinepurchase,weredifficultin2001.Whatwasfastthenwouldbeconsideredveryslowtoday.AlthoughtherewerenoiPhonesorAndroidphones,theprincipleIdescribedforEverywherewasrighton.Isaidthat theInternetwaswhereyourdesktopwas,butinthenearfuture,theInternetwillbewhereyouare.

he Internet has been around for decades. Until the middle of the 1990s it was acommunications network used mostly by scientific, academic, and government

students and researchers. With the advent of the browser, the spread of MicrosoftWindows, and improved reliability of telephone circuits, using the Internet becamesomething therestofuscoulddo.Thenwith thedevelopmentofsecurity technology toprotect credit cardnumbers, things really tookoff.Thenumberofusershasgrownandcontinues togrow rapidly.Fiveyears fromnow therewillbe threequartersof abillionpeopleusingtheNetandduringthatsametimethenatureoftheInternet,thethingsitcando and how it does them, is going to undergo a rapid evolution. In fact the NextGenerationoftheInternetisalreadyunfoldingandthispartofNetAttitudewillexploreitindepth.

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CHAPTER4

FastInternetspeedisdramaticallyfasterthanitwaswhenIwroteNetAttitude.In2001, the speed depended onwhere you lived. I offered an optimistic viewthat technology advances and competitionwould improve andmake thingsbetter. The technology has evolved rapidly as forecasted. Competitionbetween Telco’s and cable operators has provided some improvement, buttherearestillmanyruralareaswhereyouhaveonlyonechoiceforaserviceprovider.. I continue to believe we need more competition. Comcast andAT&Tcustomerservicehasimprovedoverthepasttenyearsbutsurveysandratings still rank them well below many online retailers and technologycompanies.Unfortunately, the criticisms of cable companies I described in2001inalargepartarestillvalid.

ThischapterstartswithsomebackgroundonwhattheInternetwasandhowitworked.Iwroteitwithouttechnicaljargontomakeiteasytounderstand.The most common feedback I received about Net Attitude was it helpedpeopleunderstandhowtheInternetworked.Ihopeyoualsowillfindthistobe true. In 2001, Internet speeds were asynchronous, meaning the uploadspeed was much slower than the download speed. Although speeds haveincreased dramatically, the asynchronous characteristic remains. Myconnection as I wrote these words was 60 million bits per second fordownloads and 3 million for uploads. This needs to change so that videoconferencing,telemedicine,andinteractivegamescancontinuetoevolveintomore natural experiences. Hopefully, competition will bring the neededchange.

ThePacketsDon’tCareheNextGenerationoftheInternet(NGi)isaboutnewcharacteristicsoftheInternetthatwewillgraduallybegintoexperience.TheobviousoneisFast–morespeed.

Bandwidthisatechnicaltermbutinessenceitmeansthecapacitytotransferdatausinganelectroniccommunicationssystem.Thetermbandwidthhasbecomethecommonwaytorefertothespeed,orresponsiveness,weexperiencewhenweareconnectedtotheInternet.Higherbandwidthmeanshigherspeed.Soonwewillbeawashinbandwidth!If,likeme, you have been in a hotel room recently and got connected at 19,200 bits persecondorlessandwererelievedtogeteventhatmuchspeedyoumaywonderhowIcouldmake such an assertion. Bandwidth galore? At times it seems like we are starving forbandwidth; however, these are short-term limitations that we are experiencing and thatwillsoonseemlikehistory.

We often hear the term “twenty-eight-eight” or “fifty-six-K”. These termsrefertothebandwidthorspeed.Forexample,“fiftysixK”means56,000bitsper second.A bit is a one or a zero.Nine bitsmake up a “byte”.A single

alphabeticcharacter(e.g.“a”)isrepresentedbya“byte”.ThebanneracrossthetopoftheYahoohomepageisrepresentedby8,000bytes.So“fiftysixK”or56,000bitspersecondreallymeansapproximately6,222bytespersecondcanbesent fromordelivered toyourPC.Thatmeans itwould takea littlemorethan1secondtotransmita1,200wordemailorthebanneratthetopofYahoo’shomepage.Picturesandcolorsandfancyfontscanactually requiremany thousands of bytes and that is one of the reasons why it sometimestakessolongforawebpagetofullyappearinyourbrowser.Youareprobablythinkingthatmaybewhere“you”liveitisfastorgoingtogetfast

butwhereIliveitdoesn’tseemtobeinmyfuturetohavefastInternetaccess.Thereasonstobeoptimisticaretwo;technologyandcompetition.

First, just a bit of background on how the Internet works. All information thattravelsacrosstheInternetisbrokenintopackets.Everyemail,webpage,instantmessage,or Internet Protocol (IP) telephony call is broken up into packets that then traverse theInternet.Anaveragepacketcontainsbetweenfiveandtenthousandzeroesandones.Eachpacket has a source and destination address and they traverse the Internet by travelingbetween specialized computers called routers. The routers look at each packet anddetermine where it should go next. Typically a packet may take ten to fifteen “hops”beforeitgetstoitsdestination.Thenthepacketsgetreassembledintoanemail,webpage,instantmessage,orIPtelephonycall.Thenicethingaboutthepacketsisthattheydon’tcarewhatmedia they travel through.They are agnostic.Copperwires of the telephonenetwork, fiber optic cables under the ocean, coaxial cable of cable companies, in radiowavesthroughtheairfromantennas,orfromsatellites,oreventhroughthepowergridofthe electrical system.All of thesemedia— telephone, cable, radio, and satellite—arecompeting to become the primary conduit of the Internet. Given what we know aboutcompetition—howitencouragesinnovationinthemadscrambletograbmarketshare—thisisnothingbutgoodnewsforconsumers.InsomewayseachofthemediasthreatentheothersandtheresultisthatwehaveAdamSmith’s“invisiblehand”atworkonbandwidth.

The origin of “packet switching” goes back to the “cold war” during the1950’s.Americanpolicyand technology thinkerswereconcernedabout thepossibility of an attack that might wipe out American communicationssystems and negatively impact the country’s ability to defend itself. Theconcept of breaking messages into packets was devised to protect againstcommunications loss. For example a message from New York to SanFranciscocouldbebrokenintomultiplepackets.ThepacketsthenmighttakeapathfromNewYorktoSanFranciscobutratherthangodirectlytheymightgofromNewYorktoKansasCitytoDallastoSanFrancisco.Ifthat“route”became disabled because Kansas City got wiped out the packets could bereroutedtoflowfromsayNewYorktoChicagotoDallastoSanFrancisco.Also,ifsomepacketsgotlostintheprocessatleastthewholemessagewouldnotbelost.

AdamSmith’sInvisibleHandDozens of players are already placing their bets and investing in the delivery

infrastructure and this will accelerate the role-out of bandwidth galore. Telephone

companies in many parts of the world have now mastered a technology called digitalsubscriber line (DSL). It comes in about a dozen different “flavors”: ADSL, XDSL,HDSL,etc.MostcommunitiesinAmericahaveasmallredbrickbuildingnearthecenterofthetownthathasnowindowsinit.ThisistheCentralOfficeorCO.Ifyoulivewithinroughly two miles of a CO then the telephone company can offer you this “digitalsubscriber line” that ineffectprovidesa localareanetworkbetweenyouand theCO.Itcanoperateataspeedofupto1.5millionbitspersecond.Thatistoday.InthefutureDSLhasthepotentialtonotonlyoperateattensofmillionsofbitspersecondbutalsotoreachbeyondthetwomileorsolimittoarangeofperhapsfivemilesormaybemore.EventhespeedofferedbyDSLtodayismorethanfiftytimesfasterthanthe“twenty-eight-eight”(28.8 thousand bits per second whichmost people still have). It is being rolled out incommunitiesaroundtheworld.AsignificantpercentageofpeoplelivewithintwomilesofaCOinmanypartsoftheworld.Asofyear-end2000,100%ofthepopulationinTaiwanisinsufficientproximitytohaveDSLservice.

DSLenablesbroadband,afancywordthatmeansFast.Andonceyouhavefast,thatmeansyoucanhavevideoandwhentelephonecompaniescandelivervideothatprovidesa threat to cable companies. Cable companiesmeanwhile can also deliver fast Internetaccessthroughtheircablesystem.Todaythecablecompaniesprimarilyoffera“oneway”system. They broadcast their content from their “head end” through the cableinfrastructure toyourhome.The“headends”candomuchmorethanbroadcast though.Firstofallthe“headends”arebeingupgradedtomakethecabletwowaysothatInternetaccessispossible.The“headends”canalsobeconnectedtothePSTN(publicswitchedtelephonenetwork)andtherebytheycandelivertelephonyoverthecable.Infactbyusingonlyasmallpercentageofthebandwidthavailableoverthecable,theycanoffermultiplelinesof telephoneservice toahomeorsmallbusiness.Howmany lineswouldyou likeone, two,six?Withnonoticeabledegradationtoyourwebaccessspeedit ispossibletohavecrystalcleardigitaltelephony.This,ofcourse,isathreattotelephonecompanies.

AndthentherearecompanieslikeWinstar,Terrabeam,Teligentandotherswhoaredelivering high-speed Internet access through wireless and optical technologies. Atechnology called LocalMultipoint Distribution Service (LMDS) can provide two-wayInternetaccessatveryhighspeedusingradiowaves.UsingLMDS,transmissionspeedsof several billion bits per second (gigabits) is possible along line of sight distances ofseveral miles. That means that a wireless antenna in the parking lot of an apartmentcomplexoracampuswillbeabletodeliververyhighspeedInternetaccesstothousandsofuserswithinaradiusofseveralmiles.

Meanwhile therearesatellitecompaniessuchasDirectPC,TachyonandGilat-To-HomethatareaggressivelyenteringthemarketforhighspeedInternetservice.IfirstgotHughesPCDirectinMarchof1995.Itwaswhatwecallasynchronous.Thatmeantthatitwas very fast at downloading information from the Internet but very slow in sendinginformationbackthroughtheInternet.Thisisokformanythingslike“click-here-to-send-a-short-request”todownloadamovieoranewsoftwareprogram.Butifyouwanttohavean interactive videoconferencewith a colleague youneedhigh speed in both directionsandsatelliteservicewasineffective.WorseyettheearlysatelliteInternetservicesrequiredthat in addition to the satellite dish you still needed to have a “dial-up” telephoneconnectionfortheoutboundlink.Thingshavecomeallongwayrecently.Currentsatellite

systemsarestillasynchronous(notthesamespeedineachdirection)buttheslowspeedishundredsof thousandsofbitsper second.Thiswillbea threat to telephonecompanies,cablecompanies,andwirelesscompanies.

SoWhoIsTheWinner?ManyquestionsinvolvingtheInternetbegabinaryyes/noanswer.Whowillbethe

winner,cableorDSL?TheanswerisYes.Willitbewiredorwireless?TheanswerisYes.Groundbasedwirelessorsatellite?Youguessedit,Yes.Weareattheverybeginningandthings are going to heat up.At themomentDSLand cablemodemshave an edge.Buttelephone and cable companies are learning how to quickly replicate the installationprocesswithgoodcustomersatisfaction.Thespeedthatyougetissomewhatafunctionofhowfastthelocalrolloutofserviceis.Ifyouarethefirstinyourneighborhoodtogetacablemodemyouwill enjoy a higher speed thanDSL.Asyour neighbors join you thetotal bandwidth available is shared.As theneighborhoodgetsmore andmoreusers thecable company will need to upgrade the bulk capacity available to the neighborhood.Telephone companies seem to be better prepared to rollout even levels of service.Speakingofservicethetelephonecompaniesareusedtoresponsivenesswhenyouhaveaproblem.Atleastcomparedtocablecompanies.MyexperiencehasbeenthatwhenIcallthecablecompanywithaproblemandhavetoscheduleaservicecallIgetasked,“willsomeonebehomefromonetofiveintheafternoonaweekfromTuesday?”Wirelessandsatellitecompaniesareevenlessmatureintheirservicecapability.Ontheotherhandthewirelesscompaniescanofferanun-tetheredenvironmentandsatellitecompanieshaveasignificant advantage in the many rural communities where DSL, cable modems andwirelessservicesareunlikelytobeavailableforquitesometime.

InsummarywehaveAdamSmith’sinvisiblehandatworkonbandwidth.Thebattleisjustabouttoheatup.Thisisaverygoodthingforconsumersandforbusinesses.Anditishappeningnow.Ifyouareluckyenoughtoliveinanareathatoffersmorethanoneofthecompetingservicesyouwilllikelyseespeedsgoupandcostgodown.Ifyouthinkofa “twenty-eight-eight” connection as a one inch in diameter garden hose delivering a“stream”ofcontenttoyourPC,a1.5millionbitspersecond(megabit)DSLconnectionislikeapipethreefeetindiameter!Imaginewhatthatwillmeantothecontentyouwillbeable to receive. Full screen video for example. More on that later. So, when willbroadbandbehere?Itisherenow.Everyonedoesn’thaveitbuteachdaymoreandmoredo.Therearemanyimplications.

IwasintheHolidayInninBeijingacoupleofyearsago.Therewasnojackto plug into. Everything was “hard wired”. A maintenance man was niceenoughtocometomyroomwithhistoolbag(Iusedtocarrymyown).Heopenedupthewallmodule,exposedthewires,andinstalledatemporaryjackthatIcouldpluginto.AftermanyattemptsIfinallyconnectedat2,400bitsper second. Itwas so sloooooow!But at least I could sendand receivemyemail even if it took a very long time to do so. (There was no way toeffectivelysurfthewebatsuchaslowspeed).Itwassuchagoodfeelingtobeconnectedfromsofaraway.Inthiscasethespeeddidn’treallymatter.Itwastheabilitytosendandreceivemyemailthatmademyday.Andwhileweallcomplainthateven“fifty-sixK”isnotenough,theSojournerroversaton

theplanetMarscommunicatingwiththePathfinderrobotatjust2.4K!

FromWiredToWirelessToOpticalThe first implication is that now that we have fast access at our home or small

business(largebusinessescanalreadyhavefastaccess)wherewillthenextbottleneckbe?Thecurrentbottleneckiscalledthe“lastmile”.Thisisatermthatoriginatedattelephonecompaniesbecauseyourhomeispartofthe“lastmile”fromtheirinfrastructure.AsmoreandmorepeopleandbusinessesgetDSL,cablemodems,highspeedwireless,andsatelliteservicesomepredictthatthebottleneckwillmovetothebackbones,thearteriesor“Superhighways”or“Autobahns”thatconnectallthevariousnodesandnetworkaccesspointsofthe Internet.The backbones have to carry the aggregate traffic of all the consumer andbusinesstrafficoftheInternet.

Why dowe call that stretch from the telephone company to our home the“lastmile”?Itisamatterofperspective.Manycompaniesthink“insideout”.Fromthemtous.TheInternethastransferredthepowertous.Whyshouldn’titbethe“firstmile”;fromustotheInternet?

IBM,MCI,andtheMeritSystemofMichiganbuiltthefirsttranscontinentaltransitnetworkfortheInternetin1988underacontractfromtheNationalScienceFoundation.The NSFNet as it was called was able to interconnect the many regional educationalnetworks and create one large “Internet” inAmerica. It had a speed of 56,000 bits persecond.Amazingthattheentirebackboneatthattimewasonlyasfastasasingleperson’saverageconnectiontotheInternetistoday.AfewyearsafterthatItwasupgradedto“T1”whichwasaspeedofapproximatelyoneandahalfmillionbitspersecond.Atransoceaniclink was added under a technology grant from IBM. It was the first high-speed datanetworktocrosstheocean.AfewyearslaterItwasupgradedto“T3”whichisaspeedof45.3millionbitspersecond.Subsequenttothatmajorportionsofthebackbonehavebeenupgradedto633millionbitspersecondandanon-profitcalledtheUniversityCorporationfor Advanced Internet Development (UCAID) implemented a project called Internet2which isanacademicandresearchbackboneoperatingataspeedof2.5billionbitspersecond.Thatisjustthebeginning.

What is enabling the dramatic increase in speed of the backbones is fiber optictechnology.Thinkofaglassfibersmallerthanahumanhairandimagineshiningalightthroughthefiber.Turnitonandyougeta“1”.Turnitoffandyougeta“0”.Intheneartermthelimitofthiswillbe10billion“ons”and“offs”(bits)persecondthroughasinglefiber.Thatlimitwillsoonbe40billionbitspersecond.Inadditiontothisincrediblespeedthrougha fiber,a technologycalledDenseWavelengthDivisionMultiplexing (DWDM)canenablemorethanonelighttobepassedthroughafiberatthesametime.Thisisdonebyusingmultiplecolorsoflightcalled“windows”orLambdas.Currentfiberopticcablesareutilizing160“windows”butworkisunderwaytoupgradethatto320“windows”.Thestate of the art in research laboratories is currently approximately 1,000 windows andsome startup companies like Avanex are now talking about the possibility of having100,000“windows”perfiber.

Lucent is currently building cables that contain nearly 1,000 fibers.The numbersarestaggeringwhenyouadditup.Theaggregatecapacityofafiberopticcablemaybe40

billion bits per second per “window” times 100,000 “windows” times 1,000 fibers percable.Thatcomesout to4million terabitsper secondpercable!Therearehundredsofcompanies putting fiber in the street alongside water pipes, in the ground alongsiderailroadtracks,andundertheoceans.Therearealreadytensofmillionsofmilesoffiberinplace.NewfiberopticscompanieslikeQwest,Level3,GlobalCrossing,andWilliamsalreadyhaveanaggregatecapacitythatexceedswhatAT&T,MCI,Sprint,andWorldComcombinedcurrentlyhaveinservice.

AnentireopticalinfrastructureisemergingcausingtheInternettomorphitselffromawiredworld to an opticalworld.While the “lastmile” is expanding from a one inchgarden hose to a 3 foot in diameter pipe, the backbones are moving from six foot indiameterpipestooneswhicharehundredsoffeetindiameter.BillAlpert,inaDecember2000 story in Barron’s called “Optical switches will be the next big thing in datatransmission”said“TheopticalInternetisamodernwonder.”Thebackboneswillnotbethebottleneck.

WhereDoesTheBottleneckMoveTo?The bottleneck is going to move away from the “last mile” and away from the

backbones. Sowhere does the bottleneckmove to?Part of the bottleneckwillmove togettingthebitsfromthebackbonethroughthelastmiletotheenduserorbusiness.Partofthe bottleneck will be at the server. Servers are specialized computers that deliver thewebpagesandvideostreamsandmusicande-commerceapplicationstomillionsofusersontheInternetthroughtheirbrowsers.IfyouhavemovedtoacablemodemorDSLfromyourformerslowerspeedInternetserviceyoumaynothaveactuallynoticedasdramaticanincreaseinspeedasyouhadhoped.Thisispartlybecausethereareserversthataretoobusyanddon’thavethecapacitytodelivermorebits.Websitesaregoingtoneedreally,reallypowerfulservers.ThisisagoodproblemtohaveforcompanieslikeIBM,Sun,HP,Compaqandothers.Alotofprogressisbeingmadetocustomizetheserverhardwareandsoftware to enable them to serve webpages more efficiently. (At times a contributingfactoristhattheremaybedelaysintheInternettopographybetweenyouandtheserver.)

The other that is going to change is that content will be closer than you think.Contenttodayishighlycentralizedinservers.Letssaythat1,000peopleinalargeofficebuildingallgotocnn.comoryahoo!.comoranypopularsitetoday.Inthisscenariothose1,000 people actually do go to those websites and they all get (download) the samehomepage.Apagethatlikelyhasnotchangedinthepastdayorso.Whenyouthinkaboutit,muchofthecontentoftheInternetdoesn’tchangethatoften.Sowhyisn’tthat“static”contentbroadcastedfromsatellitesdownintoInternetserviceproviders,whointurnmoveitouttoserversinthebasementsoflargeofficebuildingsandto“settopservers”inourhomes,orperhapsevenintothoselittlegreenboxesontelephonepolesthatinthefuturemay contain smart disc drives? Already companies like Akamai, Sandpiper, Inktomi,CachFlowandothersaredeploying“caches”forcontent.Acacheisatemporarystorageareaforcontentthatisfrequentlyaccessed.ThestorageareasareconnectedtoPC’sthatare placed in widely distributed locations at Internet Service Provider locations.Thousandsofthem.Sowhenyougotoretrieveanewsstorythatisverymuchindemandyouwill likelyberetrievingitfroma“cache”inaPCorserversomewherenearby.Thecontentwillbemuchcloserthanwethink.Theresultwillbethatwewillreceiveitwith

muchlessdelay.

SoWhatDoWeDoWithTheSpeed?Sowhat’sthebigdealwithspeed?Video.VideoontheInternettodayappearsina

tinyone-inchorsowindow.Itisoftengrainylookingandappearinginfitsandstarts.ItisanoveltythefirsttimeyouseevideoontheInternetbutthenitbecomesnotparticularlyinteresting to look at.When you get amillion bits per second bandwidthwith a cablemodemorDSL, thingschange.Thatsamevideowindowbecomes largerandmuch lessjittery. When you get to two million or so bits per second it will begin to look liketelevision.What does it meanwhenwe get to have high-quality, jitter-free, full-screenvideoovertheInternet?

Firstitintroducesgeo-independence.Thisinturnwillhaveabigimpactonexpertsandpeoplewhouseexperts.Expertsarepeoplewholiveonairplanes,travelingtheworldsharingtheirexpertise.Theygotowheretheproblemis.Withgeo-independenceexpertsarewherevertheyareandtheproblemsarewherevertheyare.VideoovertheInternetwillbewhat connects them.Wall size video screenswillmakepeople appear very close.Adoctormaybeon that videowallwhileyou are at a local hospital.Youget insideof afunctionalMRImachineandthedoctor,whoisanexpertinyourparticularcondition,is5,000milesawaybutonthevideowalltalkingtoyou,andthedoctorsays,“pleasebendyourknee”.Youbendyourkneeandthedoctorseeswhat’shappeninginyourbrain!Geo-independence.

Dr. William Magee is co-founder and chairman of Operation Smile(http://www.operationsmile.org)inNorfolk,Virginia.Billandateamofotherplastic surgeons make trips to under developed countries of the world torepaircleftpalletsofchildren.Theseincrediblydeformedchildrenareoftenridiculedandsometimesevenhiddenawayfromsociety.Theyhavenolife.Nosmiles.UntilBilland the teamarrive.Livesarechanged.The impact isamazing.Unfortunately,mostofchildrenwhoneedtheassistanceareturnedaway.Therearenotenoughdays,supplies,andsurgeonstomeet theneeds.Billtoldmethatoneofthereasonsthatlocalplasticsurgeonscannothandletheneedsis training.Lackofmoderntextbooks.Lackofknowledgeofthelatest techniques. Imagine if a doctor in Thailand could not only receivetrainingfromBillovertheInternetbutifBillcouldremotelyparticipateinasurgicalprocedurerealtimeovertheInternet.Itwillhappenandliveswillbechanged.

College professors will give lectures to students on different continents.Engineeringexpertswill“arrive”onthesceneofcomplexsituationsviavideowalls.Theirtimewillbeleveraged.Howmanyadditionalsituationscouldexpertshandleiftheydidn’thavetospendsomanyhoursonairplanes?

The next implication has to do with Expectations. Everyone will not have highbandwidthimmediately;itisgoingtorolloutatdifferentratesandpacesindifferentpartsoftheworld.However,therealreadyaremillionswhohaveitandthosewhodoexpecttoseeverycreativecontent.Irememberbackintheearly1980’swhencolordisplayswerefirst introduced. This was before the IBM PC. Displays were used mostly in large

companiesattached tomainframecomputers.Thescreenswereeithergreenorgrayandtextappearedaseitherwhiteordarkgreen.Therewerenopicturesorgraphics.Justlettersandnumbers.Thennewdisplayswereintroducedwhichcouldshowuptosixteencolors!Stillnopicturesorgraphicsbutyoucouldseenegativenumbersinredforthefirsttime.Theycost about20%more than themonochromedisplaysandmanypeople said, “whoneedsit?”Ittookquiteawhileforthemtocatchon.CanyouimagineadisplayonyourPCnothavingcolortoday?Ofcoursenot;and,soonyouwillnotbeabletoimagineawebsitethat doesn’t have a lot of full screenvideo.Youwill expect tobe able to say theword“Help”toamicrophoneembeddedinyourkeyboardordisplayandtohavealivepersonappearfullscreenwithasmilesaying,“Hi,howcanIhelpyou?”.

We will also expect to see very creative content. Not just more webpages withbigger brighter banner advertisements on them.Videowill be a norm butwewill alsoexpect to seeveryhighqualitygraphics.ThedisplaysonourPC’s today typicallyhave480,000 pixels. Each pixel contains some combination of red, green, and blue andcollectivelythepixelsmakeupa“display”thatlookslikeasinglepictureorpageoftextormovie.Inlate2000IBMshippedforthefirsttimeahighresolutioncomputerdisplaythathas200pixelsperinchandmorethan9millionpixelsintotalona22-inchscreen.Thenewdisplayisasclearasanoriginalphotographand4.5-timessharperthantop-of-the-linehigh-definitiontelevisionscreensanditwillmaketheviewingofvideoanddigitalphotosacompletelynewkindofexperience.Itwillalsosignificantlyreduceeyestrainandtheneedforprintinghardcopiesaswealloftendo.

Displays of this type will make it possible to replace conventional film X-rays.PhysicianswillbeabletoviewdigitallyphotographedX-raysimmediatelyonthedisplay.TheX-ray images could also be sent online to specialists around theworld for instantfeedbackandcounsel.Largeprintedsatellitemapsandphotographswillbereplacedwithphoto-qualitydigitalimages,allowingmeteorologiststoquicklyinterpretweatherpatternsandinstantlysharethemwithcolleaguesaroundtheworld.Suchapplicationsasthesewillrequirebandwidthtobeabletodeliverallthebitsthatwillbeneededtolightupallthosemillionsofpixelsonanearlyinstantbasis.Soit isnotspeedforspeed’ssakebutratherspeedtoenhanceourInternetexperienceandenableustointeractwithhighqualitymedia.TheFastInternetrepresentstheevolutionofnotanewmediumbut thenewmedium.Itpresentsatremendousopportunitylikenothingwe’veseeninmanydecades,maybeever.Itwillhaveaprofoundimpactonourbusinessandpersonallives.

T

CHAPTER5

AlwaysOnThepriorchapterdescribed theoriginsof the Internetandhow itworked..This chapter described the World Wide Web and how it worked. To manypeople, the Internetand thewebwere thesame thing,but theyareactuallyquitedifferent.TheInternetis theunderlyingcommunicationsinfrastructurewhichmovespacketsofonesandzeroesfromoneroutertoanother.Thewebis an application which uses the Internet to enable users to find anddownload webpages and use applications for learning, e-commerce,entertainment,andmuchmore.

This chapter described examples of applications which use the Internetwithout theweb.Oneexample Iwroteaboutwascontrollingdevices in thehome. Iwasquiteabitaheadof themarket in thisarea.Homeautomationjust now is beginning to emerge into the mainstream. One of my primaryinterestscurrentlyishomeautomation.Iwillbewritingaboutthesubjectinthefuture.

he second characteristic of the Next Generation of the Internet is that it will beAlwaysOn. Today, formost people, the Internet is not always on.Whenwe are

readytousetheInternetwegotoourPC.We“boot”itupifitisnotalreadyrunningandthen we startup a program called a “dialer” which is used to “log on” to our InternetServiceProviderwhointurnestablishesaconnectionforustotheInternet.

Thedialerisaprogramwehaveallcometoloveattimesandhateatothers.Whenweclickonthe“connect”buttonthedialerplacesacalltotheISP.Thereisapauseandthen, unless we have selected the mute option, we hear this cacophony of screeching,whirring,andthenhissingsoundsofourmodem“talking”totheISP’smodem.Sometimesinamatteroffifteensecondsorsowegetsomeindicationthat theconnectionhasbeenestablished.Themodems,screechingateachother,weremusic toourears.Wearenowready to get our email, engage in some Instant Messaging, or surf the web. On otheroccasionstheprocesstakesaminuteormore.Theconnectionismadeandtheninamatterofsecondsitdisconnectsandwestartoveragain.Sometimesitdoesn’tconnectonthefirstattemptatall.Sometimesittakesmanyattempts.Sometimeswegiveup.

If you visit an Admiral’s Club or Crown Room at an airport you can go to the“workstation”areawhereyouwillseebusinessmenandbusinesswomendialing,re-dialingandsometimescursing.Thesearemenandwomenwhoaredesperate togetconnected.ThequalityofthephonelinesfromtheAdmiral’sClubinSanFranciscousedtobesobadthat I have spent entire layover periods trying to connect and leavingunfulfilled.Some“roadwarriors”havemasteredtheskillofgettingconnected.Theycarrytoolkits,adaptors,cables, power converters –and a lot of experience— to hook up their PC to electricalpowerandatelephonejack.Theyhavetoremoveaplasticcoverfromthewallandpulloutthewiresandthenuse“alligatorclips”toconnecttotheirPCmodem.

WhenvisitingacustomerofficeorconferencecenterIhaveoftenlookedhighandlowforaplacetoconnectmyThinkPadtogetmyemail.OvertimeIhavelearnedthatthesimplestwayistojustsaytosomeone,“excuseme,couldIborrowyourfaxmachine?”You can be certain that somewhere in nearly every building on earth there is a faxmachine.FaxmachinesareallthesameinthattheyhaveRJ-11jacks.RJ-11isshortfor“Registered jack”. RJ-11 is a particular standard for a six-conductor plastic jack thattypically contains four wires (two for each phone line). The RJ-11 jack is the mostcommontelephonejackinuseworldwide.Typicallyawirefromthewallplugsintoajackonthefaxmachinethatislabeled“line”.Almostalwaysthefaxmachinehasanadditionaljackthatisvacant.Itislabeled“phone”.ThatiswhereyouplugyourPCmodem.Thenyoujusthavetofindoutifitisnecessarytodiala“9”togetanoutsidelineandyouareonyourway.Readytogetconnectedandthenstandtherebythefaxmachinelikealurker.Itisembarrassingwhenpeoplecomebytofaxsomethingortopickupanurgentincomingfax they were expecting and there you are, a complete stranger, hoarding their faxmachine. “I’ll be finished in a minute”, you say hoping that your email program isn’tdownloadingahugemultimediafilethatwilltakethenexthour.SometimesitisanythingbuteasytogetconnectedtotheInternet.

AlthoughwealllookforwardtomoreInternetspeed,beingAlwaysOnwillsoonbeperceivedasbeingevenmorevaluableandimportant.IfyouareluckyenoughtobeusingacablemodemorDSLorevenbetteryet,beingastudentatacollegeoruniversityhavinganalways-onlocalareanetworkinthedormitory,youknowwhatImean.YouareAlwaysOn.Youdon’t“logon”.Youjust“areon”.Soontheconceptofloggingonwillbeasoldfashioned as “ringme up an operator” tomake a telephone call like people did in the1950s’.Youdon’t“logon”tothepowergridsoyoucanuseyourtoaster.Youwon’t“logon”toanISPinordertousetheInternet.WhenweareAlwaysOnthingschange.Itisadifferentexperiencethanwhatmostpeoplefacetoday.

BybeingAlwaysOn,notonlydoesthefrustrationgoawaybut,someverysubtleyetprofound thingshappen.Whenyoudon’thave to logon—you justareon—yourpropensitiestodothingsontheInternetchangedramatically.Ifyouareleavingthehouseinthemorningtoflytoacity1,000milesorsoawayyoudon’tgotoyourPC,bootupWindows, dial your ISP to get connected, start a browser and surf to aweather site tocheck the weather at your destination. In fact the overhead associated with gettingconnected is so high that people don’t normally connect to the Net unless they areplanningtomakeasessionof it,perhapsahalfhourataminimumsoyoucandootherthingsonlinetoo.Theoverheadtoconnectforasimpleweathercheckisjustnotworthit.Youwaituntilyougetinthecarandhopeyouhearaforecastforyourdestinationorgetanewspaper.

IfyouareAlwaysOn,ontheotherhand,youjustgoovertoyourPCandtouchthemouse.Yourenergysavingmonitorspringstolifeandyouclickontheweathericon.Infactyourproclivitytogochecktheweather, thenews,thesports, thestocks,toshop,tolearn,tobeentertained,becomesquitedifferentthantodaybecausenowyouareAlwaysOn.WebegintothinkoftheInternetnotasanewmediumbutasthenewmedium.Likeelectricityitisjusttherewhenyouneedit.Andincreasingly,itwillbe.

Theotherchangewillbethatwhenwearealwayson,wewillbegintothinkofthe

Internetdifferently. It iseasy to thinkof the Internetand thewebas thesame thing.Formillions of people they are in fact synonymous. The browser is their sole Internetapplication.Theyuseitforsurfingwebsites,email,banking,shopping,andparticipatingindiscussiongroups.Allwith theirbrowser.Actually, the Internet and thewebare twodifferent things.TheInternet isaglobalcommunicationsnetwork. Itdeliverspacketsofzeroes and ones from origin to destination. The web is an application that utilizes theInternet.

Thewebwas born in Europe at CERN, which is the EuropeanOrganization forNuclearResearchbasedinGeneva,Switzerland.Thousandsofscientistsandresearchersthereareengagedinadvancedworkinphysics;specificallytheareaofparticleresearch.Inthelate1980’sasystemsprogrammerbythenameofTimBerners-LeewasworkingatCERNonsoftwareforrealtimedataacquisitionfromphysicsexperiments.Thatwashisdayjob.Atthesametimehehadaskunkworksprojectgoingontofindawaytocopewith the huge growth of documents from themany research projects. There was greatinterestinCERN’sworknotonlybythethousandsofstaffandresearchersinGenevabutalsobycolleaguesallovertheworld.Theproblemwasthateveryonehaddifferentkindsof computers; Unix, Apple, IBM, DOS, Windows, Linux, and many others. A highlycentralizedhierarchicalapproachwasnotmeetingtheneedsof thosewhowantedtogetconnectedwithalltheresearchthatwasgoingon.ItwouldhavebeennicetofindsomewaytomakeallthecomputerscompatiblebutTimhadamuchbetteridea;makethedatacompatible.

Two basic ideas make it work. First is a “protocol” called HTTP or hypertexttransfer protocol.HTTP defines a series of exchanges between a browser and a server.UsingHTTP thebrowser enablesyou to request apageof information from the server.TheprotocolspecifiestheaddressofaserversomewhereontheInternetandadocumentname.Therequestgoestowww.amazon.com,forexample,andyoureceivethehomepagefrom their serverdownloaded toyourPC.The secondkeypartof theweb isHTMLorhypertext markup language. HTML utilizes “tags” that define how the content of adocument is formatted. For example, a <b> tag means that the text associated with itshouldbehighlightedinBold.Othertagsareusedtounderline,centerorenlargetext.Thetags themselves are not visible but they control what a webpage looks like. Mostimportantlytherearetagsthatspecifythatcertaintextisahyperlink;i.e.alinktoanotherdocumentinanotherserver.ClickonitandtheHTTPprotocolresultsinyou“surfing”tothe desired page. This allworks so smoothly and intuitively that in a remarkably shortperiodoftimemorethanahundredmillionpeoplehadmasteredit.Hence,theresultthatmanypeoplethinktheInternetisthewebandthewebistheInternet.

Usingabrowsertovisitwebsites,however,isjustoneofthethingsthattheInternetmakespossible. Inaddition todeliveringwebpages theInternetcandeliverother things.For example, a colleague of mine, Andy Stanford-Clark, purchased roughly $300 ofweathermonitoringequipmentatRadioShackandinstalleditontheroofofhishouseonthe Isle ofWight, which is off the coast of England. Theweather equipmentmonitorstemperature, humidity, barometricpressure and trend, rainfall,winddirection, andwindspeed. The data is sent to the PC in his house,which in turn delivers it to a server atanotherlocation.Andy(orhisfriendsandfamily)canutilizeasimpleapplicationprogramonthedesktopofhisPCcalledtheWeatherBoxandcanseewhattheweatherisdoingat

his house over the Internet fromwherever in the world he happens to be. The data isdelivereddirectlytotheWeatherBoxnottoabrowser.

The WeatherBox is an example of a class of applications called SCADA(supervisorycontrolanddataacquisition).SCADAisusedfordeliveringrealtimedataformonitoring a citywater supply, an oil pipeline, or a plant floor automation system in afactory. With an Always On Internet, data from these applications and others can bedeliveredtoremoteengineersandotherswhohaveaneedfortheinformation.Nolongerwillitbenecessaryforapersontobeatthesiteinordertomonitorwhatisgoingonatthesite. A practical application of the technology is Automated Meter Reading. This willmean that no longerwill people have to come to read your electricity/gas/watermeter.TheywillbeabletoqueryitremotelyacrossyourAlwaysOnhomeconnection!

Andtheapplicationsarenotlimitedtotheindustrialarena.Imaginethatyouareonthetraincommutingtowork.Allofasuddenyourealize,ohgee,didIclosethegaragedoor?DidIremembertoputdowntheblindsinthesunroom?Iwassupposedtoputdowntheblindssothatthesundoesn’tbleachthefabricofourfurniture.YougrabyourmobilephonewhichhasabuiltinInternetcapability.SinceyourhomeisAlwaysOnyouareableto connect to a server on the home LAN. An application on the server sends statusinformationtoyourphonethatconfirmswhatyoususpected;theblindsarestillup.Youmove the cursor on the display of the phone to “blinds down” and click.Downgo theblinds.While you are at it you confirm that the garage doors are down.Later that daywhileen route toyourweekend retreatyouconnect to itsLANand turnon theheat sothingswillbecozywhenyouarrive.Alwayson.

Myfatherhasapacemakerinstalledinhischest.Itisagreattechnologythatregulates the rhythm of his heart. Periodically,mymother helps him placesomesensorsonhischest,whichareconnectedtoelectricalleads,whichinturnconnecttoamodem.Theydialthehospitalandthemodemtransfersdataabout howDad’s pacemaker isworking. If there is an irregularity of somekind,avisit to thehospitalmaybeneeded. I lookforward to thedaywhenDad’spacemakerwillemitanRFsignalthatcanbepickedupbyadeviceinthe house,which in turn is connected to the homeLocalAreaNetwork. Ifthereisanyirregularitygoingonamessagegetssenttomybrotherandmeand to the doctor. No need to wait for the next scheduled test. Real time.Alwayson.

Most Internet access today is via telephone companies. The telephone was notdesigned for the usage requirements of the Internet but the telephone companies haveadaptedwell.Generallyspeakingthetelephonenetworkisextremelyreliableinmostpartsoftheworld.However,muchofthewiredinfrastructureoftheworldhasbeeninplaceforaverylongtime.Insomehotelsyougetconnectedbutthenthebitshavetogofromyourroomtothenetworkclosetofthehotelandthenunderthestreetsviasomeancientwiringthathasbeeninplacefordecades.SomehoteltelephonesystemscanonlyaccommodateafractionoftheirguestsbeingconnectedtotheInternetsimultaneously.Theresultisoftenslowconnections,brokenconnections,andsometimesnoconnection.Manypartsof thewiredworld are just not prepared to handle theAlwaysOn environment thatmore andmorepeoplearecomingtoexpect.

A new standard introduced by the Institute for Electric and Electronic Engineers(IEEE)called802.11bisgainingalotofmomentumandisabouttochangethegameforAlwaysOn.802.11butilizesaPCMCIAcardthatyouplugintothesideorbackofyournotebook computer.A tiny antenna on the end of the card can then communicatewithanotherantennathatmaybeintheceilingorinacloset.Theantennascancommunicatewith eachotherwithin a rangeof roughly threehundred feet.Formosthomes thiswillcovertheentirehomeplusthepatio!

Althoughthepriorityforthisnewwirelesscapabilityhasbeennotebookcomputersthere are nowdevices being introduced to outfit desktopPC’s aswell.This is going tobecomeextraordinarilypopularforuseinhomeswhereputtingLocalAreaNetworkcableinthewallsisoftendifficultandexpensive.Thebiggestimpactof802.11bisforthe“roadwarriors”.HavingaNotebookcomputerwithan802.11bwirelesscapabilitymeansbeingable toconnect to theInternetwhile inairports, trainstations,hotels,hospitals,buildinglobbies, and other public places. Starbucks coffee is starting to install this wirelesstechnology in all of their locations.Yournext coffeeordermaynot be a “to-go”order,especiallywhenyoucanrelaxwithyourcoffeeandbeconnectedtotheInternet.

Nolongerwillpeoplehavetolookforthefaxmachinetogetconnected.Companiessuch asWayport andMobileStar are rolling out services now. Not only does this newwirelessstandardallowyoutoconnectyourPCtotheInternetataspeedofuptoelevenmillionbitspersecondbutalsodoessowithnowires.AmericanAirlineshasinstalledtheMobileStarserviceintheirAdmiralsClublounges.Foramodestfeeyoucanhavehigh-speedaccess,nohassleswithdialing,andsitanywhereintheloungethatyouwant.Themulti-megabitspeedisbetweenyourNotebookandthe“gateway”inthehotelorairportlounge.Theactualspeedyouexperiencewilldependonhowmanyusersyouaresharingwith and the speed of the connection between the hotel or lounge and their InternetServiceProvider.But it is almost always far better than the oldwayof using a dial-upconnection. It also eliminates thewires and provides encryption so that another user orhackerisnotabletoeavesdroponyouractivity.Anewversionofthewirelesstechnology,called802.11a,willbelaunchedin2001thatwillbeapproximately1,000timesfasterthanthe56KspeedthatcomeswithPC’stoday.Thiswillputwirelessinclearcontentiontobeanalternativetothehighspeednetworkingcablesthatarebeingputintovirtuallyallnewofficebuildingsandupscalenewhomes.

Butthenthereisthepowerreceptacle.BatterylifeisgoingtoimproveforourNotebookcomputersandcellphones,butuntilitdoeswestillneedtochargeourbatterieswhenwestopby theairport loungebetweenflights. It isgreatthatwecanconnecttotheInternetinasimplewirelessmannerandenjoythehigh speed but where is the power receptacle to plug in and charge thebattery? Sometimes I think that hotel and airline executives don’t travel. Ihavebeenin loungesin theworkstationarea, theplaceforPCusers,whichhavenopowerreceptacles.SomehotelshavegottenmorewiththeprogramandnowhaveanRJ-11andapowerreceptaclerightonthedeskintheroom.ThatisprogressbutnowthatIhavemyPCpluggedinwheredoIplugmycellphonecharger?

Thereisanotherwirelesstechnology,calledBluetooth™,whichwillalsohaveabig

impact and potentially revolutionize our personal connectivity beyond just our PC andprovide wireless operation for virtually any kind of device. Bluetooth is a technicalspecification for small formfactor, low-costcommunicationbetweenmobilecomputers,mobilephones,telephoneheadsetsandotherportablehand-helddevices,plusconnectivitytotheInternet,allusingradiowaves.TheinitialversionofBluetoothwillhavearangeofoperationisapproximately30feetbutalaterversionwilltakeitto300feet.Bluetoothisbeing driven by leaders in the telecommunications, computing, and network industries,including3Com,Ericsson,IBM,Intel,Lucent,Microsoft,Motorola,Nokia,Toshiba,andover2000associateandadoptercompanies.

Bluetoothwilleventuallyhelpusallperformeverydaytasksinextraordinarywaysusingwireless technology.Youwill be able towalk into a roomwhere yourPC is andyourPalmPilotorotherPDA inyourpocketwilldetect thePCand thenautomaticallyunlock the PC, log you in with your password, decrypt your files, open up yourapplications,andautomaticallysynchronizedatabetweenthePCandthePDA.WhenyoustepawayfromthePCitwillautomaticallybesecured,preventingunauthorizedaccess.

ImaginethatitisMondaymorningathomeandyouareheadedouttotheairporttoattendanimportantcustomermeeting.Youcomedowntobreakfastinthekitchen.Whileeatingyourcereal,youuseyour“InfoPad”,an8.5”x11”paper-sizedwirelessinformationappliance, to logon to the Internet (usingBluetooth todial out through thePC inyourbasement home office). You check on your flight schedule and the weather at thedestinationcity,soyouknowifyouhavetobringajacketoraraincoat.Whileonlineyouquickly check some stock prices and put in an order to buy one that you have beenfollowing.

Yourmobilephone,whichutilizesBluetoothwirelesstechnology,willenableyoutopurchasegasandcoffeeatthegasstation.Whilethegasispumping,aBluetoothserverinthepump sends ads toyourmobilephone and allowsyou tobrowsegifts from thegasvendor’s Intranet.Yourmobile phonemay also allowyou to control various devices inyourhomeenvironment suchas turning lampsor appliancesonandoff.Some researchanalystsclaimtheBluetoothHeadsetwillbecomethemostpopularproduct thatutilizesBluetoothwirelesstechnology.TheBluetoothHeadsetwillbeconnectedtoacompatiblemobilephoneandthentheusercaneitherreceiveormakephonecalls.Voicedialingwillalsopossible.

AnotherideathatislikelytobecomequitepopularwithBluetoothwillbetocontrolhomeentertainmentunitssuchasCD-players,MP3players,televisions,andhometheatresystems. Instead of today’s remote control units we will be using our Palm Pilot orHandspringPDA.Havingasingleinterfacewillbequitedesirable.WewillalsobeabletodownloadprogramsfromtheInternetthatwillenableustopersonalizeourPDAtohandlenewdevicesandalsototailorthewayinwhichwewantourentertainmenttowork.At6PMturnonthenewsfromasatellitestationandthenat8PMcaptureamovieandstoreitonthehomemusicandvideoserverinthebasement.AtthetouchofabuttononthePDAbringthenewstothekitchenonawallmountedflatpanelmonitor.Withanothertouchofa button the monitor becomes a PC monitor and the PDA becomes our keyboard andmouseforsurfingtheweb.

BeingAlwaysOnwill changeour lives. Itwill enableus tohaveaccess to

informationwhenweneeditnotjustwhenwehappentobeataplacethatis“wired”. Itwillallowus to receive real timedata fromavarietyofsourcesandevenusetheInternetmorelikeanintercomtoreachcolleaguesorfamilymembersonatimelybasis.EventhoughwecanbeAlwaysOnthatdoesn’tmeanwewillhavetobeAlwaysOnallthetime;justwhenwewanttobe.

T

CHAPTER6

EverywhereIn 2001, I believed the Internet was going to be everywhere. I wasdirectionally correct, but perhaps a bit optimistic WiFi would becomepervasive. An increasing number of places offerWiFi, but toomany hotelsstillchargehighfees.AlthoughalmostallpubliclibrariesofferfreeWiFi,toomany physician office waiting lounges and small restaurants do not. ThemajorityofmedicalwaitingareasIhavevisitedhavenoWiFi;clearlyanetattitudeproblem.

GigabitWiFiarrived in2012,but ithasa longway togobeforebecomingubiquitous.Myviewwasandstill isWiFi shouldbe free to theconsumer. Iunderstand just as there is “no free lunch”, hotels, airlines, and medicalpracticesmustrecoverthecostofinstallingandmaintainingWiFi.However,theyallprovideelectricity,lighting,heat,airconditioning,andrunningwaterfor free. Why not free WiFi? The cost for these necessities is recoveredthroughthepriceofproductsandservices.Theyareacostofdoingbusiness.WiFishouldbethesameway.ManyhotelshaveseenWiFiasawaytoboostprofit from a guest’s stay, but they are beginning to get theword loud andclearfromcustomerswhoresenttheadditionalcharges.HyattHotelsrevisedtheirpolicyinthisregardin2015.

In2001,Ipredictedmanypeoplewouldhavemultipledevices,dependingonwhotheywereandwheretheywereandwhentheywerereadytoengageincertainInternetactivities.AlthoughtherewerenoiPhonesorAndroidphonesat the time, I could see the shift coming. I suggested some people wouldchoose tohavenodevicesor just aPC. I saw the Internet kiosk filling thegap. Although Internet kiosks are in use, the ubiquity of cell phones hasmostly obviated the need for them. I wrote about location based services,somethingwenowtakeforgranted,buttheexamplesIwroteabouthavestillnotappeared.Istillbelievetheywill.

he third characteristic of the NGi is that the Internet is going to be everywhere.TodaytheInternetisnoteverywhere.TheInternetiswhereourPCis.Ifyouareout

forarideinthecar,walkingdownthestreet,visitingsomefriends,orwherever,andyougettheideathatyouwanttodosomethingsimpleontheInternetlikechecktheweatherorasportsscore,yourfirststepistogotowhereyourPCis.ItwouldbegreatiftheInternetwaseverywherewhenweneed it. In factwearealreadyseeingdramaticchangesalongtheselines–ahugeshiftisunderway.

Theevolutionof theuniversalbrowserhashadahuge impactonmakingInternetcontentavailableEverywhere.BeforeMosaic,thefirstwidelyusedbrowser;therewasnoexpectationofauniforminterfaceandwaytointeract.Todaywetakeitforgrantedthatwecanwalkup toanycomputerconnected to theInternetandexpect tofindabrowserthere.Notonlythatbutweautomaticallyknowhowtouseit!Theworldwentfromzero

to tens ofmillions of users in a very short time. In effect, the largest focus group evervalidatedthat“browsing”wasafundamentalhumantrait.Notrainingrequired.

ThevastmajorityofwebpagesareviewedthroughabrowseronaPC.Twoyearsfromnowitmaybelessthan50%.Mightbealotless.IsthePCgoingaway?No.Itisnota decline inPC’s causing this drop in the percentage ofweb accesses. In fact PC’s aregrowing.IcannotimaginegivingupmyPC.However,theeraofthePCasthecenterofinnovationandactivityontheInternetisover.Ithasshiftedfrompersonalcomputingtopervasive computing. Pervasive computing, as it’s name implies, refers to computingdevices which are Everywhere. This would include personal digital assistants (PDA’s),mobilephones,pagers,publickiosks,andanewgenerationofdeviceswehaven’theardofyet. A vast assortment of devices that fit our every need orwhim and theywill all beconnectedtotheInternet.

Whenpeople go toweather.com to check out the conditions for theweekend thevastmajority go to their PC and view the weather forecast through their browser. Butsome people may want to see that same information using an Internet connectedtelevision.Forthosepeopletheirtelevisionisatelevision85%ofthetime,but15%ofthetime the television serves as their browser. Other people would like to see that sameweather.cominformationon theirpager.According toRichardShimatZiff-Davis,“Theonce-ubiquitous pager is fast being squeezed out of the market by ever-cheaper cellphones and more-capable handheld devices”. True enough, but many people swear bytheirpager.Theywearitontheirbeltmorning,noon,andnight.Pageruserswillexpecttobeabletoviewtheweatherinformationontheirpagerscreen.Theywon’tneedtoseethedifferent sun and cloud icons, the banner advertisements, or the various graphic “trim”from the webpage. They primarily want to know if it is going to rain and what thetemperatureisorisgoingtobe.Transcodingtechnology–seebelow—willbeutilizedtolookatapage,figureoutwhattherealcontentis,whatmakessense,what’simportantonthispageand todeliver thatparticularcontent inaclevercompactway to for thesmallscreensizeofthepager.

InternetTranscodingforUniversalAccess

Moreandmorepervasivedevices,suchaspersonaldigitalassistants(PDAs),hand-heldcomputers, smartphones,TVbrowsers,wearablecomputers,andothermobiledevicesaregainingaccesstotheInternetandothermultimedia-rich information sources. However, the capabilities of these devices toreceive, process, store and display Internet content vary widely. Given thelarge variety of devices that people will be using, it will be difficult forInternetcontentpublisherstotailorthecontenttoindividualdevices.

Enabling universal access of multimedia content has become increasinglyimportant.Universalaccessdescribesthemechanismforadaptingmultimediacontenttotheconstraintsoftheclientdevices.Asanexample,asmartphonecanaccessatextdocumentthroughtheuseoftext-to-speechsynthesis.

Toenableuniversalaccess in thecomingageofpervasivecomputing, IBMhas developed a system that tailors the content of webpages for pervasivecomputing devices. This tailoring process is called transcoding. The

transcoding system adapts video, images, audio and text to the individualpervasive devices using a framework that allows the content to besummarized, translated and converted, on the fly. It isn’t perfect by anymeansbut until theworld’s content developersproducedevice independentcontentitisaoftenagoodalternative.

Otherpeoplewillchoose toget theirweather.compageon theirwirelesspersonaldigitalassistant.Formanypeople,perhapsforquiteafewmillionpeople,thePDAwillbetheironlycomputer.Forthemithaseverythingtheycouldwant.PDA’ssuchasthePalmPilot,HandspringVisor and theRIMBlackBerry are gaining capability and popularity.Alreadytheyareavailablewithacolordisplay,morethanenoughcapacitytostoreyouraddressbook,calendar,todolist,memopad,aportfolioofusefulsoftwareapplications,and of course a wireless connection to the Internet. What more could you want? Formillions, nothing.Forothers, plenty. I lovemy IBMWorkPadPDAbut I stillwantmyThinkPadanddesktopPC.

And yet millions of other people are beginning to prefer the cell phone (mobilephone)astheirwebaccessdevice.AlthoughthegrowthissignificantinAmericaitisnotas dramatic as in other parts of the world. People in Europe are using their Internetenabledmobilephonesontrains,checkingtheweatherandalsopayingtheirbills,tradingstocks, and shopping.We will be hearing a lot aboutWAP phones. This refers to thewireless applicationprotocol,which is catchingon strongly inEurope.WAP includes awirelessmarkuplanguage(WML),whichiswellsuitedforbuildingInternetapplicationsfor use on mobile telephones. Handelsbanken, one of the largest banks in Sweden, isworkingwithIBMtouseWAPtoenable itsmainframebankingapplications tobecomeavailableontheircustomerscellphones.

The popularity of cell phones in Europe is in part due to the fact that there is asinglestandardcalledGSM.Duringtheearly1980s,cellulartelephonesystemsbegantobecome popular in Scandinavia, the United Kingdom, France and Germany.Unfortunately,eachcountrydevelopeditsownsystemandnoneofthemwerecompatible.PeoplecouldnotusetheirphonesacrossnationalboundariesatatimewhenEuropewasbeginningtounify.Arelatedproblemwasthateachcountry’ssystemwaslimitedinscaleand therefore expensive. In 1982 the Conference of European Posts and Telegraphs(CEPT)formedastudygroupcalledtheGroupeSpécialMobile(GSM)torecommendasystem that could provide attractive cost and quality and also support internationalroaming.By1993therewere36GSMnetworksin22countriesandithassincespreadtohundredsofnetworksinoverahundredcountriesaroundtheworld.TheacronymGSMnowstandsforGlobalSystemforMobilecommunications.DeutscheTelekomacquiredanAmericanGSMcompanycalledVoicestreamin2000furtherbuildingmomentumtowardenablingapersontobuyonecellphoneandhaveonecellphonenumber thatcanworkanywhereintheworld.

ProfoundthingsarelikelytohappenwiththeuseofmobilephonesinEurope.TheGSM standard used throughout Europe includes a computer chip called the SubscriberIdentityModule(SIM).TheSIMchipisabouthalfthesizeofapostagestampanditfitsinsidethephone.IfyoutakeyourSIMchipoutofthephoneandputitintoanotherphoneyoucanthenusethatphonebecausethechipcontainsinformationaboutyouridentityand

evenyourphonenumberlist.Accesstothechip(andoperationofthephone)ispasswordprotected.IamsureitwasnotplannedbackwhenGSMwasfirstdevisedbutbyhavingthis password-protected chip it becomes feasible to put a digital ID in it for use in e-commerceapplications.Thisopensupalotofinterestingpossibilities.

Forexampleatsomepointyoumaybeabletowalkuptoavendingmachine,grabyourcellphoneandpressabuttonthatpromptsyouforyourname.Yousay“thisisJohn”andthephonerecognizesthatitisyoubecauseyourvoiceprintisstoredinthechip.Youthenpressanotherbuttonandthevendingmachinegivesyouasodawiththechargebeingsent to your credit card or bank account.Another exciting possibility is towalk into ahotelanddialanumberthatisonthemarquis.Yousay“thisisJohn”andyougetareplythatsays,“Roomnumber1045isreadyforyou”.Yougotothetenthfloorandpointyourinfraredenabledphoneat thedoor lock.A light flashes.Yousay toyourphone“this isJohn”andthedoorunlocks.

MeanwhiletheideaofEverywhereinJapanistakinganadditionalapproachandtheresult is explosive. In early 2000 theAsian edition of BusinessWeek ran a cover storycalledDoCoMo.It refers to thesubsidiaryofNTT,Japan’s former telephonemonopoly.Since the company was partly spun off from NTT in 1992, DoCoMo has become theworld’smostvaluablecell-phonecompany—withamarketvalueofover$300billionasofearly2000.DoCoMoisthelargestsingle-countrycell-phoneoperatorintheworld,withmorethan25millionJapanesesubscribers.

AccordingtoBusinessWeek,“ThereareafewthingsaJapaneseteenagegirldoesn’tleavehomewithout:hersix-inchplatformshoes,sometouch-uptonerforherhaircoloroftheday,andheri-modephone.TeenagersinJapanaresendingblackandwhitepicturesofthemselvesbackandforthtoeachotherusingtheirI-modeInternetphones.ThepicturesarestoredonserversatDoCoMo.TherearealsothousandsofwebsitesthathavecustomcontenttofitnicelyontheI-mode’ssmalldisplay.

When the next generation ofwireless Internet service, called 3G, arrives for cellphonesoverthenextfewyearstheteenagerswillbeplayingmusicandwatchingvideoontheir phones.ManyDoCoMo users probably don’t own a PC. For them the phone hasbecome the way they get the Internet Everywhere. We may find the DoCoMophenomenoninAmericasoon.Inlate2000analliancewasstruckbetweenNTTDoCoMoandAT&TWireless wherebyDoCoMo has taken a sixteen percent equity stake in theAT&TWireless tracking stock. The partners believe that the alliancewill facilitate therapiddevelopmentofnext-generationmobilecommunicationssystemandrelatedmobileservices in the U.S. market. DoCoMo has set up an advisory board of top AmericanthoughtleaderstogetadviceonhowtobestintegrateDoCoMointotheAmericanmarket.The impact could be significant. InMayof 2000 Japan became the first country in theworldwheremorethanhalfofthewebpageaccesseswerenotfromaPCbrowser.

The application possibilities are endless.News,weather, sports, stocks and emailaretheobviousones.Transactionorientedapplicationswillultimatelyprovemoreusefulhowever.Haveyouever riskedyour life speeding toanairport tocatcha flightonly tofindoutwhenyouarriveexhaustedatthegatethattheflighthasbeendelayedbyanhour?Worseyet,itisontimebuthadalastminutegatechangeandthenewgateisamileaway!Usingamobilephonetochecktheverylateststatus,orbetteryet,havingyourphonering

withamessageaboutthescheduleorgatechangeisavaluableservice.

Locationbasedservicesarealreadyemergingandtheywillgetverysophisticated.SupposeyouarewalkingdownthestreetinWinchester,Englandat4PMintheafternoon.Your phone vibrates or rings and you observe that amessage has arrived for you. Themessage says, “Please stop at theKing James Pub for an early bird special. Corner ofChestnut andMain.Less than twoblocks.”Anapplication serviceproviderhasworkedwiththewirelessproviderandvariousmerchantstomakeofferingslikethispossible.Theservice,ofcourse,knowswhattimeitis,andbasedoneitheraGlobalPositioningSystemchipinyourphoneortriangulationtoyourphonefromnearbycellulartowers,itisabletodeterminewhereyouare.Anyonewithinsomanyblocksduringacertaintimeframewillreceivethespecialoffer.

ThegoodnewsisthatmobilephonesarebecomingubiquitousandusingthemforInternetaccess,whilestillnascent,isbeginningtotakeoff.Serviceprovidersaremovingfromjustputting thesamecontent that isonawebpageon thewirelessdevice, tomoresophisticatedapproachesthatwillreducethesizeofmessagesoremailbymorethanhalfthroughtheuseofcleverabbreviations.Theyarealsocustomizingtailoredtomakethemmore modular so that screen menus can be based specifically on the nature of theapplications.Thebadnewsisthattherearemultiplecellphonestandardsaroundtheworldand Internet standards are not being consistently used for Internet applications on cellphones.WAPphonesarebeingdeployedinEurope.InJapanDoCoMoisusingadifferentapproachandtheAmericanmarketistakingyetadifferentapproach.Actually,inAmericatherearemultiplestandardsandmultipleInternetapplicationapproaches.Intotal,thingscould be described as a mess but there is hope on the horizon. TheWorldWideWebConsortium(W3C)atMIThasrecommendedanewstandardcalledxHTML.Itisdeviceindependent. That means it will be possible to create Internet applications and publishcontentinsuchawaythatdeploymentcanbeonaPCoracellphoneoraPDAorotherdevices.

AsInternetstandardsbecomeintegraltocellphoneswewillseedeeperintegrationofthecellphoneintoallformsofInternetcommunication.Oneexampleistheintegrationof thecellphone,corporatedirectories,andInstantMessaging. IBMhasmade itsentireemployeedirectoryaccessibleviacellphonesovertheInternet.Anemployeecanloginintoawebsiteusinganycellphonethathasamicro-browser.Manycellphonesnowhavetheseandsoonmostwill.Theemployeeentersafewcharactersoftheperson’snameheorshe is looking for and the person’s phone number appears on the phone display. Thenumber can then be calledwith the touch of a button. In addition, if (and only if) thepersoniscurrentlyconnectedtothecompanyintranet,theemployeedoingthesearchwillseeanadditionalchoiceonthephonedisplay.ThatchoicesaysIM,whichmeansinstantmessaging.Ifthatchoiceismadeanothermenuappearsonthephonedisplaygivingtheemployeethechoicetosendaninstantmessagethatsays“CallmeASAP”or“Callmein5 minutes” or “I’ll be there in 10minutes”, etc. At the touch of the button the instantmessageissenttothePCdesktopoftheperson.ThepersoncanthensendareplyfromthePCanditwillappearonthephonedisplayofthe“caller”.Onmanyoccasionsitisawasteoftimetocallaperson.Theyaremostlikelyonthephoneoroutorjustbusy.But,iftheyareconnectedandyouknowtheyareconnectedandhavetheabilitytosendthemaquickmessagefromyourcellphoneitopensupawholenewmethodofcommunication.

And then there’s a whole new range of devices. Internet radio receivers areemerging that plug into a high speed Internet connection. The tuning knob won’t belimitedtoradiostationswithin30or40mileslike“normal”radios.Morethan5,000radiostationsalreadybroadcastovertheNet.TheNetpliancei-openerisanon-PCdevicethatoffersone-buttonwebaccessande-mail.TheHandspringVisorusesatechnologyplatformcalledSpringboardthatallowsamyriadofdevicestobepluggedintothePDA-likedeviceandchangewhatitdoes.ItcanbeaplainPDAlikethePalmPilotoritcanturnintoacellphone,aTVremote,cameraorvirtuallyanything.The listofnetappliancesor Internetgadgetsgoesonandon.

AOLInYourKitchen?Online services giantAOL is partneringwith PCmakerGateway on a family of

Internetappliances—includingawirelesskeyboardwithflat-panelmonitor thatcanbemountedunderakitchencupboardlikeamicrowave.ThePCblendsintotheenvironmentand becomes an “appliance”; download a recipe, check on inventories of food andsupplies,orcheckfood.comtoseesomecookinginaction.

BecomingMainstream?Some people call them Internet appliances; some call them wireless gadgets.

Whatever you all them they are small, inexpensive, lightweight, instant-on devices thatconnect to theInternet.It isstillveryearlyin theevolutionof themandtherearemanyvariationson the theme.Theearlyexamplesareabitprimitiveandawkward tousebuttheywill get better and better as consumers vote in themarketplacewith their dollars.According to IDCCorporation18.5million Internet applianceswill ship in theU.S.by2001 compared to 15.7 home PCs. The numbers are expected to continue very rapidgrowth.Sega,NintendoandSonyareaddingmodems,processorsandmemorychips totheirgamesystems.Pervasivecomputing.Everywhere.

Therearemanyimplicationstotheonslaughtofthesemanydevices.Somepeoplebelieve that there is going to be one device that will do everything; PDA, cell phone,pager,musicplayer,globalpositioningsystem,andmore.Idon’tbelieveitforonesecond.People are all different.Sure, in theoryonedevice coulddo everythingbut peoplewillwanttooptimizeindifferentways.Somepeoplewantthephonecapabilitytobeoptimal.Otherswant thePDAtobeoptimal.Somepeoplelikea tinykeyboardandlightweight.Otherpeoplewillopt formoreweighbut amore significantkeyboard.And soon.Thecommon element of all the devices is that they will all have either wired or wirelessInternet connectivity and thereforemean that for each of us the Internetwill in fact beEverywhere.

One additional characteristic about themany devices is that they offer thehopeofmakingInternetconnectivitymuchsimpler.Ifyouwanttoshutdownyour PC for the day, you have to go to the “start” button and select “shutdown” but you have to be careful that you have first stopped all theapplications youmay have been using. Sometimes you get amessage thatsayssomethinglike,“Doyoureallywanttoshutdown?”Atothertimesyoumaygetanirreverentmessagethatsayssomethinglike,“Halt,youfailedtoproperlyshutdown!”Theimplicationisthatyouareanidiot.Withamobile

phoneorPDA,whenyouwantto“shutdown”,youpushthe“off”buttonandyou have completed the task. Turning things on presents an even biggercontrast.Consumerdeviceswillincreasinglycomefromconsumercompaniesratherthancomputerortelecommunicationscompaniesandtheresultwillbethattheywillbesimplertouse.

Manypeoplewillhavemultipledevices,dependingonwhotheyareandwheretheyareandwhentheyarereadytodocertainthings.However,therearemanypeopleintheworldwhodon’thaveaccesstoapersonaldevicenomatterhowsmallorinexpensivetheymaybe.Insomecasesitmaybepeoplewhocan’taffordadeviceandinothercasesitwillbepeoplewhojustdon’twantadevice.NoPC.NoPDA.Nocellphone.

Enter the public Internet kiosk.We are beginning to see these at airports. Publickiosks where you can get your email, check on your stocks, or buy something. Thecompellinglowcostofcommunicationswillcauseinstitutionsofallkindstodrivetheirtransactions to the Internet.TheUnitedStatesSocialSecurityAdministration requiresapersontoshowahardshipcaseforwhytheycan’taffordtohaveabankaccountwheretheSSA can deposit their monthly payment electronically. This approach will eventuallyspreadtotheInternet.Thekioskwillbethewayinwhichmanypeoplewillgainaccesstothetransactions;orderingsomethingorpayingabill,doingsomequickresearch,checkingthe status of a bank account or an insurance policy, or getting directions.When I wasgrowing up, I remember going out to a vendingmachine to get a quart ofmilk. SomepeoplewillsimilarlygoouttoanInternetkiosktorunan“errand”.Thekioskwilladdress,inpart,thequestionofthedigitaldivide.Theywillbeubiquitous;onthestreetcorner,inthejungle,churches,schools,governmentbuildings,andontheplantfloor.Manufacturingemployeeswillbeabletotakea“webbreak”insteadofasmokebreak.ThekioskswillplayakeyroleinenablingtheInternettobeEverywhere.

The large number of devices connecting to the Internet will place a lot ofstrain on the infrastructure. Today’s Internet is not prepared to handle thebillions of devices that will be connected over the next few years. Thecapacityhasbeensteadilygrowingandtheadventofpervasiveopticalfiberwilllikelymeetthedemand.However,wewillsoonrunoutofaddressesforall the devices. When you connect to the Internet you are assigned atemporary Internet Protocol (IP) address. The Internet Protocol is the basicbuildingblockonwhich the Internet isbuilt.Thecurrentversionof the IP,called IPversion4,usesa fourpartaddress foreachdevice;64.252.14.121forexample.Eachpartof theaddresscanbebetween0and256.256times256 times 256 times yieldsmore than 4 billion globally unique addresses.Soundslikealot,butinpractice,thenumberisconsiderablysmallerbecauseof the inefficient way in which the addresses are allocated. Even at fourbillion it is not enough. Cell phones alone are projected to in the billions.IPv4haslastedtwentyyearsbutitistimetomoveon.

AnewversionoftheIPstandardhasbeenapprovedcalledIPv6orIP“Nextgeneration”. (No, there was never a version 5 – lots of engineers andcommittees.Itisalongstory.)IPv6has2tothe128thpoweraddresses.Thatmeans

340,282,366,920,938,463,463,374,607,431,768,211,456

different IP addresses can be assigned.Based on aworld population of sixbillion,thatmeanstherewouldbemorethan

50,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

addressesperperson!Ifyoulookatitbylandmassitwouldbeanaverageofslightlymorethan

200,000,000,000,000,000,000

addressespersquarecentimeteroftheplanet!

Thatshouldbeenough!

IPv6 includes other benefits and simplifies end-to-end security. This willbecomeveryimportantforconductinge-commercetransactionsviaourmanydifferent devices. The initial deployment of IPv6 will take place inspecialized markets such as in third generation wireless deployments inEurope andAsia during the next 2-3 years.Once IPv6 gains a foothold innew markets, pressure to upgrade other systems will begin to build. ThetransitiontoIPv6willtakemanyyears,withaperiodofcoexistencebetweenIPv4andIPv6lastingadecadeorlonger.

T

CHAPTER7

NaturalI had a vision the Internet would becomemuchmore natural to use.Mosteverything I forecasted about Internet use has happened and exceeded myexpectations.Inthemidtolate1990s,ImanagedaninnovationgroupatIBMcalledWebAhead.Someverycleversoftwareengineersinthegroupdeployedan instant messaging system developed by an Israeli company. ThetechnologywascalledVirtualPlacesandtheinstantmessagingprogramwascalledVPBuddy. (The technologywas lateracquiredby IBMandrenamedSameTime).OnlyoursmallgroupusedVPBuddyinitially.TheCIOofIBMatthe time asked me to stop promoting VP Buddy because it was not anofficially supported system. It was run by our little group instead of thecorporate IT function. I said itwasgrowingbecauseemployees found itaneasy and natural way to communicate. It grew from a few dozen users tohundreds of thousands across the company worldwide and became anindispensabletool.AsthepotentialcrisisofYear2000(Y2K)approached,theCIOaskedourgroup tomakesure instantmessagingwasupandavailablearound the world. The innovation model followed by theWebAhead groupoffersmanylessonsapplicabletoday.

IsawabrightfutureforonlineeducationbecauseIbelieveditwasanaturalway to learn. I wrote about University of Phoenix and how they weregrowing. I had no idea nine years later I would embark on 3 ½ years ofonline study with the University leading to a Doctorate in HealthAdministration in 2014. The massive open online courses (MOOCS) arefulfillingthevisionIdescribed.TherearemanyskepticsofMOOCS,justastherewereofthe

Internetin2001.MOOCcriticsareconcernedaboutlowoverallpercentageof students who complete courses, but this ignores the huge growth ofMOOCSwithhundredsofuniversities,thousandsofcourses,andmillionsofstudents.10Iremainoptimisticabouttheirfutureasanacceptedlearningtool.

ThemostnaturalformofuseontheInternettodayissocialmedia.Ididnotforesee there would be more than 200 social media sites with billions ofmessages every day ranging from family pictures to tweets announcingcorporate earnings. I did foresee and advocated the net attitude whichunderpinssocialmedia.Itisallabout“PowertothePeople”.

I was optimistic about voice recognition, including the ability to translatelanguages. Adoption was slow for a decade, but is now accelerating withAmazon’sAlexa,Apple’sSiri,Google’sCortana,andtheSkypeTranslator.

heInternetneedstobecomemorenatural.Arguablyitisnotreallythatnaturaltoday.Infact,itisalmostacontrivedactivity;youhavetoreallywanttobeontheNet.As

wemoveforwardfromacoupleofhundredmillionpeopletoacoupleofbillionpeopleonthe Net this has to change. One ingredient to things becoming more natural is instantmessaging.Likesomanythingsteenagersprovidesomecluestowhatthingsaregoingtobelike.Theygethomefromschool,theygetoffthebus,theydashintothehousetothePC,andtheygetontheInternet.Unlikeafewyearsagowhenusingthebrowserwasabigthing, they now focus on using instant messaging programs such as AOL instantmessenger,ICQ,orYahoo.Insteadofsurfingthewebtheysendinstantmessagestotheirbuddies–manyofthemthesameoneswithwhomtheywereridingonthebus!Tothemthisisjustanaturalwaytocommunicate.

ItIsn’tJustForKidsAnymoreInstant messaging is much more than meets the eye and it is not a social

phenomenon limited to kids. There are bigger things afoot here. Instant messaging isbecoming the“backchannel” incorporationsaround theworld. In late1997agroupofsoftware engineers at IBM’s Internet TechnologyLaboratory in Southbury,ConnecticutmetwithEhudShapiro todiscuss instantmessaging.Udi isamemberof theFacultyofMathematicsandComputerScienceatTheWeizmannInstituteofSciencebutatthetimehewason leaveofabsenceandhad just formedacompanycalledUbique.UbiquehaddevelopedatechnologycalledVirtualPlacesthatenabledauserconnectedtotheInternettocreatealistoftheir“buddies”.Theprogramutilizedatechnologythatcouldsensethe“presence” of another user. This feature became known as “awareness”. If any of their“buddies”werealsoconnectedtotheInternetthenhisorhernamewouldbehighlightedinbold.Byclickingonthatnametheusercouldthensendan“instantmessage”totheir“buddy”.TheprogrambecameknownasVPBuddy.

TheIBMengineersaskedUdiforacopyofthesoftwareinordertoexperimentwithitinacorporateenvironmentandhehappilycomplied.AtfirstVPBuddywasanoveltyamong just a fewof the engineers andmyself. It rapidly evolved frombeing “cool” tobecoming a useful tool to becoming a way of life. It became the “back channel” forcommunications.

IfirstrealizedhowprofounditwaswhenIwasinahotelroomsomewhereworkingon my email. I was replicating email from the company server and while that washappening I was browsing some websites reading news. I was also connected to VPBuddy.WhenyouinstalledVPBuddyitautomaticallybecamepartofyourPC.Allofasuddenamessage,aninstantmessage,poppeduponmyPCscreen.ItwasfromRonda,myassistant.Someonehadcalledtheofficewithanimportantmatterandshewasn’tsurewhattotellthepersonsoshethoughtshewouldtryVPBuddytoreachme.Iansweredherquestionandwentbacktomyemailandnews.Iknewwewereontosomethingbigandimportant. If you were connected you could be reached and reach others who wereconnected.Itdidn’tmatterifyouwereathome,attheoffice,inahotelwithonlyasinglephone line, at a customer’s office, an airline lounge, or evenon a trainor planewith awirelessconnection.

Emailisgreat.Weliveanddiebyit.Somedayswecan’tlivewithoutit.Otherdayswewould rather die than open that inbox! It isn’t going to go away but it needs to besupplemented. Email is asynchronous. You send an email to a person to ask them aquestion.Theyare travelinganddon’tget theemail foradayor two.Theyansweryou

andmeanwhile you are traveling for a day or two.By the timeyouget the answer thequestionhaslostitsrelevance.Inmanycasesthequestionyouhaveisasimpleone.Youneedtoknowrightnow.Withinstantmessaging,youtakealookatyourbuddylisttoseeif a colleague who likely has the answer is online. If they are you send them a quickinstantmessage.Theyansweryouandthecommunicationisover.Youarefinished.Youhavewhatyouneed.Thisiscalledsynchronousor“instant”messaging.

Assistants and secretaries at IBM foundVPBuddy a very useful tool.Now theycouldreachtheirprincipalevenifheorshewasinahotelroomwithasinglephonelinereplicatingtheiremail.TheengineersatIBMputtheVPBuddyprogramontheirintranetsitesootherscoulddownloadand install it. Itgrewby leapsandbounds.TherewasnoannouncementofVPBuddy,notrainingprogram,nohelpdesk,andnoofficialsupport–justpeoplehelpingeachotherwithtipsandtechniques.By1999thereweremorethanaquarter of a million users in the company! At any point in time there were tens ofthousandsofpeopleconnectedatanyonetimeandmorethanamillioninstantmessageswerebeingsentandreceivedperday.The“backchannel”wasworking.

A company attorney in NewYork and a company attorney in Chicago having aconferencecallwithavendorattorneyfoundtheycouldpassanote“underthetable”toeach other from thousands ofmiles away. Executives having press interviews over thetelephonecouldreceiveinstantmessagesfromtheirmediarelationsmanagerswhowerealsoonline.Questionsandanswerscanbeflyingaroundinthebackgroundenablingtheexecutive to be responsive to a reporter’s line of questioning. Sales and servicesprofessionalscouldhavechatsessionstosolveproblemsforcustomers.Atonepointsomemiddle managers in the CIO’s office questioned whether allowing this unsupportedapplicationtocontinuetogrowinsuchanexperimentalwaywasagoodthing.Justbeforetheendof1999 theCIOhimselfdeclared theVPBuddyprototypeapplication“missioncritical” for the migration to Year 2000. At the stroke of midnight there were eightysoftware engineers in a single chat session discussing technical details of Y2K. If acustomer disaster of some kind had arisen the experts from around the world were allconnectedandreadytosolvetheproblem.

Whataboutprivacywhenusinginstantmessaging?Yes,thereisadarksideof IM – it can be abused like any good tool can.Most instant messagingsystemson themarkethaveprivacyoptions tohelpwith this.Forexample,youcanselectwhocanseeyouwhenyouareonline.Optionsincludeanyoneandeveryone,onlyaspecifiedlistofpeople,everybodyexceptaspecifiedlistof people, or nobody. You can also set modes of operation such as “I amaway”or“Donotdisturb”.It ismostlyself-regulating.Peoplearegenerallysensitiveandfollowthegoldenruleofinstantmessaging—dountoothersasyouwouldhavethemdountoyou.

UbiquewasacquiredbyIBMin1998andwasbrandedbyitsLotussubsidiaryasSametime.Sametimeevolvedintoafamilyofreal-timecollaborationproductsprovidinginstant awareness, communication, and document sharing capabilities for the businessworld.Numerousothercompaniesoffersimilartechnology.Awarenessisthecornerstoneof these offerings. With the selected awareness of coworkers, partners, or customersonline,userscancommunicateinavarietyofways—fromone-on-oneinstantmessages

tolaunchingvirtualmeetings.Notonlycaninstantmessagesbesentbutlivedocumentsandapplicationscanbeshared.Whetherpresentinganewprogramtoafieldsalesforceorto offering live assistance to web customers, real-time collaboration is emerging as amajornewareaofInformationTechnology.

Once you see that your buddy is indeed online youmaywant to have a short e-meeting.Perhapsyouhaveaspreadsheetwithnextyear’sbudgetthatyouwanttoreviewwithher.Youclickonhernamebutinsteadofsendinganinstantmessageyouselectanoption to“invite toan instantmeeting”.Yourcolleaguegets the invitation instantlyandthenclicksonabuttontoaccepttheinvitation.Thisopensherbrowserandtakeshertothee-meetingpage.Thee-meetingpageisa“virtualconferenceroom”wherethetwoofyou(youcouldhavemultiplecolleaguesifyouchoseto)canreviewthespreadsheet.Supposeyou use Microsoft Excel as your spreadsheet and your colleague uses Lotus 1-2-3. Itdoesn’tmatter.Whatever spreadsheet software you have appearing on your PC iswhatyourcolleaguewillseeinthee-meeting“space”inthebrowser.Thisiscalledapplicationsharing.Your colleaguemay say “whatwould happen to the budget if you change thegrowth rate assumption”? You change the percentage in your spreadsheet and yourcolleagueseesthechangeinherviewofthespreadsheet.Youcaneventurncontrolofthee-meetingovertoyourcolleagueandshecanmakeachangewhichyouwillthensee.Nolongerdoyouhavetosay“faxmeacopyofthebudget”.Nolongerdoyouhavetoask,“Doesanybodyhavethecurrentversionofthebudget”?

The instantmessagingbuddy list typically includesyourcolleagues;peopleyou work for and people you work with. The buddy list crossesorganizationalboundaries.Peoplearound theglobe indifferentdepartmentsand even different companies, all of who are working on a project for acommon customer can be part of the list.When the project is over the listmaygoawaytobereplacedbyanewone.Thebuddylistdoesn’thavetobeallbusinesseither.Agood instantmessagingsystem includesencryptionsothatthewrongpeoplecannotreadconfidentialinformation,butamorepublicpartof thebuddy listmight include familymembers, the schoolnurse, andyourstockbroker.Haveyoueverbeeninterruptedinaconferenceroomwhena secretarybringsyouaphonemessage?Yougo to aprivatephone to callhometofindoutyourspousewantstoknowthenameofaplumbertofixaleakysink.Perhapsthatten-minuteinterruptioncouldhavebeenatensecondinstantmessageinstead.

Many companies are focusing on development of tools that expand on instantmessagingande-meetingstoprovidecomprehensivecollaborativeenvironments.Amongthe leadingcollaborative toolsareNotes/SametimefromLotus,ConferenceCenter2000fromPlaceWare,TeamFlowfromCFM,CentraeMeeting/CentraConferencefromCentra,andCaucusVirtualTeamsfromCaucusSystems.Theyarebuildingtoolsinsixkeyareas.

1. Chat and instant messaging applications. These are the basiccommunication element and where collaboration usually starts. Groups ofcolleaguesorbusinesspartnerscanseewhoisonlineandsendtextmessagestoeachother.

2. Real-timeconferencingtoolswithapplicationsharing.Thesecanbe

used in conjunction with a conference call and let participants viewpresentationsthroughawebbrowserorsketchadiagramorannotateaslideina“whiteboard”.Therearemanyapplicationsincustomerservicewherearemote technician can push awebpage to youwith instructions on how tochangethatprinterribbonorunclogyourgarbagedisposal.

3. Asynchronous web-based conferencing. This includes discussiongroupsormessageboardsthatarenotdependentonreal-timeinteraction.

4. Documentandknowledgemanagementtools.Thiscategoryincludesa variety of web based and other groupware applications that enablecolleagues to jointlyworkondocumentsandkeep trackofwhomadewhatchanges.

5. Groupcalendars.Thesetoolsletuserscoordinatemeetings,schedulechatsessionsandtrackothereventsusingabrowserore-mailnotification.

6. Web-based project management. These tools show lists of projectsand teammembers aswell as the status of their assigned tasks and relateddocumentation.

Tools suchas thiswillbecomevery important in theNGi.Theobviousbenefit isreduced travelcostbut thereareequally importantbutmoresubtlebenefits.E-meetingsstartontimeandendontime.Theparticipantscanallbeindifferent locations;someathome,someattheoffice,someattheairport,andsomeataclient’soffice.Peopletendtobeprepared.Everyone,bydefinition,hasaccesstothelatestsubjectmatter.Andwhilethee-meeting is going on, colleagues can be sharing information via the instantmessaging“backchannel”.

Themostimportantbenefitofe-meetingsisthatyoucanactuallyhavethemeetingwhen itneeds tobeheld.Howoftenhaveyouexperienced thefollowingproblem?Youurgentlyneedtohaveameetingwithsomeonebutthatpersonis“notavailable”.Youtalktotheirassistantandfindtheyaretraveling.They’llbebackweekafternext.Meanwhile,youhaveanurgentmatterandyouneedthemeetingtomorrowatthelatest.Chancesarethatthepersonwhoistravelinghassomeslacktimeattheirhoteloratanairlinelounge.With e-meeting technology, as long as the participants have access to a PC and aconnectiontotheInternet,themeetingcanhappen.

Theironyofe-meetingsisthatnowyoucantravelmore!Inthepastyouweresometimes tethered to your office. You couldn’t take that needed trip toEuropebecauseofanimportantmeetingtotakeplaceduringthatweek.Nowyoucantakethetripandstillbeabletoattendthemeeting.Forthelastsevenyearsor so Ihavebeen travelingaround theworld tellingpeoplewhy theywon’thavetotravelsomuchanymorebecauseoftheInternet.Thatisabouttochange!

The teenagers will likely continue to make instant messaging an important newsocialphenomenonbutinparallelwiththatevolutioncorporateenterprisesarebeginningtoseethepotentialforprofoundimpactfromrealtimecollaboration.IanLamontwroteastory in NetworkWorld (11/13/00) called “The Coolest Kind of Collaboration” whichfocusedonhowaccountingfirmErnst&Young,alongtimegroupwareadvocate,istaking

collaboration to thenext level. JohnWhyte,E&Y’sCIO,believes thatusing telephonesande-mailshouldbeviewedastheold-fashionedwayforemployeestogetthingsdone.E&YiswellalongontheNGicurve.

VirtualteamingexpertJessicaLipnackgoesevenfurther.Shebelievesweareatthebrink of a workplace revolution. Improved Internet-enabled features of collaborationapplications,combinedwiththefrustrationsofmoretraditionalcommunicationtools,willprovide the fuel, says Lipnack, co-author of Virtual Teams: People Working AcrossBoundaries With Technology and co-founder of virtual-teams.com, a managementtechnology consultancy inNewton,Massachusetts.Lipnack says that peopleneed tobeabletomakedecisionsandresolveconflictsonline,aswellasprovideleadership,assigntasks,exactaccountabilityandfacilitatemeetings.“All thestuffwedonaturally face toface,wehavetobeabletodoonline,”shesays.

LearningOn-LineAnother area that is benefiting from the evolution of instant messaging and e-

meetings is e-learning. In practical terms, e-learning is the ability to learn outside aphysical classroom. “Distributed learning” such as correspondence courses have beenaround for a long time but Internet technology is now providing the means for anadvanced and wide-ranging e-learning infrastructure. E-learning allows companies todeliver effective, specifically targeted training in a cost-effective way. It can delivertrainingonaglobalbasis,whiletailoringcontenttosuittheneedsofindividuals.Italsoallows an organization to regularly assess skills gaps that may exist and make theappropriate investments to close the gaps. A number of theworld’s leading companiesincluding GE, Cisco, IBM and Procter & Gamble have embraced e-learning and arereaping significant benefits. JohnChambers,CEOofCisco, hasdescribed e-learning as“the third wave of the internet.” Laura Sanders, Vice President for IBM MindspanSolutionssays,“Havingdeliveryinfrastructuretoprovidee-learningwillbeasimportantinthenextfewyearsasane-mailsystemistoday.Itwillsimplybepartofwhat’sneededtorunabusiness.E-learningwillmovefromtheclassroomtotheboardroomasastrategictooltoforcompetitiveadvantage.”

According to International Data Corporation, e-learning will have a significantimpact.TheyexpectcorporatebusinessskillstrainingintheU.S.togofrom72%intheclassroomin1999downto35%byyear-end2004.Thetechnologycanbesplitintothreegroups. Self-paced or asynchronous learning allows a learner to choose a courseindependently and learn online, usually alone, like reading a book. Collaborative orsynchronouslearningmakesuseofinstantmessagingtechnology,whichallowsaremotelearner to interactwithothers in thegroup, askingquestionsanddiscussingpoints.Thevirtualclassroomorreal-timelearning,usingvideoovertheInternet,allowsalearnertoseetheteacherandtalktoothersintheclassthroughinstantmessagingoranaudiolink.

E-learningisparticularlyeffectiveonalargescale–amultinationalcorporation,forinstance,isabletousee-learningtechniquestotrainitsentireworkforcearoundtheworldsimultaneouslyon the introductionofanewproductor innovation,with immediateandconsistentresults.Smallercompaniescanalsobenefitbytrainingemployeesquicklyandefficiently in new skills, creating a flexible and multi-talented workforce. Unipart, acompanyintheUK,forinstance,hasintroducedacomprehensivee-learningsystemthat

allows its employees to handle different parts on its distribution line. Theirs is an e-learningsystembasedon“just-in-time”education–wheretheworkerslearnsomethinginthemorningandapply it to thedistribution line in theafter-noon. InUnipart’s case theinnovationhasallowedittowidenitsproductbaseusingexistingstaff.

UniversitiesGoOnlineTooTheInternetwasbornintheuniversityenvironmentandtherearemanyadvanced

Internet research projects happening there. Probably all universities in the world havewebsites and many have impressive intranet sites for class scheduling and interactivestudies.SomeuniversitiessuchasTheOpenUniversityinEnglandandtheUniversityofPhoenixdomostoftheirteachingonline.AtTheOpenUniversitymorethan150coursesuseInformationTechnologytoenhancelearninginvariouswaysincludingvirtualtutorialsand discussion groups, electronic submission and marking of assignments, multimediateaching materials and computer mediated conferencing. OU students read more than170,000 email and computer conference messages every day. OU researchers havedeveloped new applications of Information Technology for learning from “virtual fieldtrips”andhaveevencreatedanInternetstadiumcapableofhostingmassaudienceeventswithupto100,000students.

TheUniversityofPhoenixOnlineclaimstooffer“theunparalleledconvenienceandflexibilityofattendingclasses fromyourpersonalcomputer. Insmallgroupsofeight tothirteen,orworkingone-on-onewithaninstructor,studentsarediscussingissues,sharingideas,testingtheories,essentiallyenjoyingalloftheadvantagesofanon-campusdegreeprogram, with one important exception.” And, they also remind us that there is “Nocommute!”AtsomepointIenvisionthatdegreeswillbegrantedbasedonthe“learningspace”inwhichthelearningoccurredmoresothanontheeducationalinstitutionthatwasattended.Forexample,apersonmightsaythatheorshegottheirPhDandifyouwanttoseetheirdegreeyoucangotohttp://janeqdoe.com/degree.Uponvisitingthereonewouldseeane-diplomathatmightsaysomethinglikeJaneQ.Doewasgrantedthisdegreebasedon the unanimous vote of the following professors. Then there would be a list ofprofessors and their digital signatures that would authenticate that the professors arelegitimate.Therelevanceofthee-diplomaIenvisionisnotthatoftheuniversitybutratherof the status and reputationof the individual professors.Suppose a personhas gotten adegreeinCustomerRelationshipManagement.Evenmoreimpressivethanadegreefromtheworld’sleadinguniversityforCRMeducationmightbeane-diplomawhichissignedbythetoptenCRMprofessorsintheworldwithwhomthepersonstudied.

Alotofeducationwillbedoneon-linebutsomewill remainphysical foralongtime.Maybeforever.ProfessorStanleyBirkinoftheUniversityofSouthFlorida remindsme thatmost advanced college degrees today require totalimmersion.Studentsoperate inanapprenticeshipmodeandareavailableatall times for research seminars and presentations. It is this total immersionthathasworkedsowellindevelopingtheresearchskillsnecessarytofilloroccupyafutureroleasaprofessororakeyresearcher.AlthoughthisarchaicapproachgoesbacktotheolddaysofOxfordandCambridge,itdoeswork,and has resulted in great researchers and faculty members the world over.Onlineorphysical,studentscanstillgettogetherinpersontoturnthetassel

ontheirmortarboards!

SprechenSieDeutschInstantmessaging,asatechnology,isattheverybeginning.Muchmoreispossible.

Lotushas introduced language translationso thatmessagescanbe translatedon the fly.ForexampleImightsee thatmycolleagueFrank inHeidelberg,Germany isonlineandsend him an instant message. “Frank how is the weather in Heidelberg?” I ask. ThemessageistranslatedontheflytoGermananduponFrank’sscreenappearsamessage,“Frank,wieistdasWetterinHeidelberg”?FrankanswersmeinGerman,“John,isteskaltundregnerisch”anduponmyscreenappears,“Johnitiscoldandrainy”.

Language translation is performed using some very sophisticatedmathematics.Itisn’tperfect.Arealpersondoingtranslationofwhatyousayas you say it, watching your facial expressions, understanding the variousinnuendosandbodymovementsisfarsuperior–fornow.Machinetranslationwillbegoodenoughformanywebapplicationsintherealmofe-business.Itis good for conversation but not yet good enough to interpret contracts orprovide instructions during a surgical procedure.You could think of it likeridinginataxicabinNewYork.Theinstructionsyouareabletoprovidearenot in thedriver’snative languagebut it isusuallygoodenough togetyouwhereyouwanttogo.

The potential here is enormous. By adding text-to-speech technology both FrankandIcouldhaveheardasimulatedvoicethatwouldspeakthe translatedwordsthroughthespeakerofourPC.Takingthisevenastepfurther,ifyoucombineinstantmessaging,voicerecognition,languagetranslationandtexttospeechtechnologies.Yougetarealtimemulti-lingualintercom!Thinkaboutcustomerserviceapplications.ThinkaboutapersonaskingaquestioninSpanishandthenthatquestionisroutedtothemostknowledgeableperson in that subject matter, who answers the question in Chinese and the questionerhearstheanswerinSpanish.

Thereused tobe30,000dialects in theworld.Today thereareabout5,000.Somepeoplesay thatsoon therewillbe justone. Idon’t thinkso. In fact IthinktheInternetmayactuallybringbacksomeof thoseformerlyornearlyextinct dialects. People have grown up on a mountain somewhere with aunique dialect. Then they graduated from school and went their separateways. The dialect dies. Now, with Internet email, these school friends canremain incontactand in factcanmaintain theirdialectandbring in formergraduatestobuildacommunityaroundtheircommonculture.

AnAgentAtYourServiceAnother emerging technology in the instant messaging arena is software agents.

Softwareagentsarenotnewbutusingtheminconjunctionwithinstantmessagingis.Thesoftware engineers at IBM’s Southbury Internet lab began to experiment in 2000 withwhattheycallBuddyBots.Botisanabbreviationforrobot.TheBuddyBotsaresoftwarerobots.Theydothingsforyou.ForexampleyourbuddylistmayhaveanentryinitcalledBlue Pages. It isn’t a person – it is a software agent. Blue Pages is the name of the

corporatedirectoryatIBM.Itcontainsmorethan300,000entries.Ifanemployeeclickson Blue Pages (which is always connected) and types, “who isMichael Nelson?”, thebuddybotgoestotheBluePagesdirectory,looksupMichaelNelsonandsendsbackaninstantmessagethatincludeshisname,emailaddress,phonenumber,andofficelocation.

Thereare,ofcourse,otherwaysthatanemployeecouldgetthatsameinformationincluding various intranet applications. However, there is a certain appeal to using theinstantmessagingprogramtodoit.TheIMprogramisalwaysthere;rightonthedesktopreadyforuse.Yes,abrowsercoulddothejobbutsometimesthebrowserisnotadesirablesolution.Forexample,youmaybebrowsinganewsstoryandthenyourphonerings.Youanswerthephoneandcolleagueasksyouaquestion.Youdon’thavetheanswerbutyouare sure another colleaguedoes andyouoffer to lookup theoffice location.Yougo toyour favorites list in your browser and look up the information and, your caller beingappreciative,youhangupthephone.Backtothatinterestingnewsstoryyouwerereading.Oops, how do I get back to that page I was on? Sometimes you can go back with abrowser – sometimes you can’t for various reasons. You could have started a secondbrowserfortheinquirybutsometimeshavingmultiplebrowsersrunningonyourPCgetsconfusing.Usinga simple“who is”command inyour instantmessagingprogramcouldhavedonethejobveryefficiently.

I believe this will be an emerging NGi trend; i.e. using an instant messagingprogramforsimplequeriesand tasks. It is justsimplerandfaster.Howaboutaweatherforecast?Enter“WeatherBoston”andbackcomes“Boston–cloudywithsnowshowers”.How about a stock quote? Enter “stock quote XOM” and back comes “Exxon-Mobil$88.75”.TheSouthburyengineershaveprototypebuddybotsthatbringyouyourportfolioofstockquotes,allowyou to lookup thedefinitionofcompany termsfroma referencedatabase, and alert you to your daily calendar and pending to-do itemswhen you firstconnect in themorning.Buddybotswillmake thenextgenerationof the InternetmoreNatural.

One of the Southbury engineers, Karl Gonzalez, took the concept ofawareness a step further. He built a “digital video water cooler” to allowcolleagueswhoworkatmultiplelocationstocometogetherinavirtualspace.A video camera andmicrophone at each of eight locations provides a livestream over the intranet to a single webpage that displays all eight videowindows.Colleaguescangoovertothecamera,wavetoanothercolleague,have a brief chat or just a friendly wave. The result was to increase teamcamaraderie and a sense of presence and belonging to the same team eventhoughtheywerephysicallyseparatedbylargedistances.

MusicMakesTheWorldGo‘RoundPartoftheNGibecomingmoreNaturalwillcomefrombetterintegrationofmedia

includingaudio,video,animation,andvirtualreality.Asmorebandwidtharrivesformorepeoplewewill find that a lot of video contentwill be available.Wewillmove towardhavingfull-screen,jitter-free,highqualityvideoontheInternet.Overtimewewillbeableto watch video on mobile phones and PDAs. The most significant and practicalintroductionofmediawillbemusic.Thereasonthatdigitalmusic(MP3inparticular)hasbecomesopopularisthatitispossibletotransportitindigitalformandthenplayitwith

no perceptible loss in fidelity.You can convert yourCD collection toMP3 format andstoreitonyourPC.AcollectionofonehundredCDswouldrequireabout5billionbyes(gigabytes)ofstorage.This is justafractionof thestoragethatcomeswithanyPCyoubuy today. You can then establish “playlists” to organize your collection by genre orcomposer.YoucanthenconnecttheoutputofyourPCtotheinputofyourstereosystemandtheresultishighqualitystereomusic.ThequalityisnotthesameastheoriginalCDbutmostpeoplecannottellthedifference.

That same music collection will be able to be played on your PDA or on anynumber of different MP3 music players thus achieving excellent portability. Somehandhelddeviceshave theability tostore tensofhoursofMP3musicand thiscapacitywill continue to rise and the cost will continue to decline as solid state and micro-miniaturediskdrivescontinueonthetechnologycurve.Theresultisthatwewillbeabletocarryourentiremusiccollectionwithuswhereverwego.SpecializedMP3serversareemergingfor thehomeat thesametimeasthehandhelddevicesgainpopularityoutsidethehome.ThesenewproductsenableyoutocombineyourpersonalmusiccollectionwithmusicservicesontheInternet.EscientConvergenceCorporation,forexample,isofferingproductsthatofferconsumerssimplewaystomanageandaccesslargemusicCDand/ormovieDVD collectionswithout requiring any knowledge of computers or the Internet.Working hand-in-hand with popular name-brand CD changers and hard-disc musicproducts that store large numbers of discs or music files, Escient’s TuneBase productshave a set-top box that instantly identifies and finds a particular disc, transforming theuser’s existing TV set or touch-screen display into a “mega-jukebox.”With a colorfulinterfacethatdisplaysalbumcovers,artists,songsandstylesofmusic,thiskindofproductwill give users instant access to thousands of songs. For years I have been planning tobuildadatabaseofmyCDsincludingthecomposer,orchestra,tracktitles,etc.andinfactImade several attempts at it butnevergot too far.Much too tedious.ThenalongcameMP3andtheCDDB.

CDDB(compactdiscdatabase)isaservicewithadatabaseofCDtextinformation.WhenyouputamusicCDinyoucomputer’sCD-ROMdrive,yourCDDB-enabledplayerwillaccessCDDBserversovertheInternettoidentifytheCDanddownloadinformationabout it to yourMP3 player.Disc title, artist, track title, and related information is notactuallyontheCDitself– it is in thedatabaseatCDDB.Thebestpart is thatnowyoudon’thavetotypethisinformationin.IamgratefulthatIdidn’twastethehoursitwouldhavetakentodoitmanually!

CDDB2 is the next generation of theCDDB database and disc recognitionservice.The new service offers significantly extended information for eachCDtitleinthedatabase.Examplesincludesearchablecreditsforproduction,songwriting,andmusicians(includinginstruments)atbothdiscandtrack-by-track level; over 250 genres; relatedweb links and associated content; andsegments(portionsofmusicthatcanbesmallerorlargerthanasingletrack).

MP3 is changing how people think about digital music whether they areconsumers,artists,producers,broadcasters,orwebcasters.Meanwhilethereis still a physical/analog aspect to music I don’t see going away. Did youknow there is a site on thewebwhere you can commission the creation of

yourownviolinorcello?Seehttp://www.msen.com/~violins/

Watch what is going on with music on the Internet. The issue isn’t whether theRIAAwinsalawsuitagainstNapsterorwhethermp3.comfulfillsitsbusinessplans.TheissueisthattheInternethasenabledeverycomputerintheworldtobeconnectedtoeveryother computer in theworld. As a result people can exchange information very easily.Thatincludesmusic.Whatisneededisnotmorelawsuits.Whatisneededisnewmodelsforthedistributionofmusicandothermedia.Theexplosionofdigitalmusicisjustthetipof the iceberg.How about creatingmusic on the Internet?A five-piece bandmay soonhavealivejamsessionwitheachinstrumentalistonadifferentcontinentandthousandsoflistenerswhopaidtolistenin.

RadioGoesDigitalTooDigital radio will be the sound of the future. It will be the best sound on the

airwavesinthenearfuture,becausedigital-radiohasthepotential todeliverCD-quality,interference-freesound.Digitalradiois thetransmissionandreceptionofsoundthathasbeenprocessedusing technologycomparable to thatused inCDplayers.Adigital radiotransmitter converts its content into ones and zeroes and then broadcasts them. At thelistening end, digital radio receivers, containingmicroprocessors, convert the stream ofonesandzeroesbackintomusicorvoicewithasoundqualitythatissignificantlybetterthantoday’sradios,justasCDssoundbetterthanvinylrecords.

Today’sradio,whichisanalog,canneverachieveconsistenthighqualitybecauseofthe technology used and the transmission environment inwhich it is broadcast.Digitalradio reception is virtually immune to interference, unlike AM and FM, which meansthereisnostaticnorechoes.Themicroprocessorsortsoutthenoisefromthemusic.

Becausethedigitalradiohassoftwarecapabilitiesitcanofferotherfeaturestoo.Forexample,youcanselectthestationyouwantfromthecallletters;e.g.WQXR.Therewillbe no need to select 96.3. In addition, your digital radiowill be capable ofmonitoringsignalstrengthsandthenswitchingyoufromafadingsignalyouaredrivingawayfromtoastrongersignalyouareapproaching,muchlikeyourmobilephonesystemswitchesyoufromcelltocell.Itmaybepossibletodrivefromcoasttocoastandlistentoyourfavoritestationwithnointerferenceordisruption.

Manyotherfeatureswillbepossiblesuchastuningtospecificsongtitlesorartists,listeningtoverylocalizedtrafficandweatherinformation,andutilizingpagingservicesorstockmarketquotations.WhereastodaywehavetwoseparatebandsforAMandFM,wewillseetheemergenceofasinglebandfordigitalradio.Theremayevenbeasinglebandgloballyandboth terrestrialandsatellite transmissioncapabilitiessowewill literallybeabletolistentohighqualitymusicanywhereanytime.

Digital radio has the potential to revitalize radio as a cost-effective and powerfulmedium.It isbeingembracedintheU.K.andCanada.IntheUnitedStatesdigitalradiomaybeviewedasapotential threat toexisting radiostations, justasMP3 isviewedbysomeasathreattothemusicindustry.Intheendbetter-soundingstationswillwinout.

OnMarch18,2001,“XMRock”wassuccessfullylaunchedfromtheSeaLaunch’sOdyssey platform in the Pacific Ocean. This is a precursor tomaking satellite radio a

realityduringsummer2001.Asecondsatellite,“XMRoll,”isscheduledtolaunchinearlyMay. XM-ready radios will hit retail shelves across the country. A state of the artbroadcastcenterusingIBM’seServersandhighcapacitydiskstorageisnearcompletion.Both “Rock” and “Roll” will operate in geostationary orbit above the United Statestransmittingupto100channelsofdigitalqualityprogrammingfromcoast tocoast.YouwillbeabletodrivefromMainetoSanDiegolisteningtothesamestation!

PicturesToo!Everybody’sgotashoeboxofpicturessomewhere.Buriedinacloset.Adrawer.Or

stuffedinanalbum.Nowandthen, theyget takendown,passedaroundandenjoyedbyfamilyandfriends.Butbyandlarge,themomentsthatmakeuplifearen’tsharednearlyasoften as they could be. So saysCeivaLogic, Inc.maker of the first Internet-connecteddigitalpictureframe.TheCeivadigitalpictureframelookslikeanordinary12-inchframewith aLCDscreen that displaysup to 10digital images cycling continuously.Plug theCeivaintoaphonejackanditlogsontotheCeivaWebsitetodownloadanynewimagespostedtoyouraccount.Itdoesn’tevenrequireacomputer.Andanyoneyouauthorizecansend pictures to your Ceiva account. Your friends and family can take pictures with adigitalcameraanduploadthemtoceiva.com.TheCeivaframecanautomaticallyupdateanddisplayyournewphotoseveryday.Justsitbackandenjoytheshow.

AndOfCourseThereWillBeVideoIrememberinthe1970’swhenthefirstcolordisplaywasintroducedforusewith

IBMmainframecomputers.A lotofpeople said “whoneeds it”?CFO’swere intriguedthat it would be possible to see negative numbers in red but many were not intriguedenoughtowanttospendtheextramoneytheycost.Adoptionofcolormonitorswasslowbutthentheybecamestandard.CanyouimaginehavingaPCtodaywhichhadonlyblackandwhite?

Similar to the introduction of color decades ago the introduction of video on thewebisgreetedbymanywith“whoneedsit”?Thevideoavailableonthewebtodayisinavery small window, it is often grainy looking, and sometimes jittery. After the noveltywearsoffmanyhavedecidedtojuststickwiththewebthewayitwas.ThatwillchangewiththeintroductionofFastaspreviouslydiscussed.Videowillbeexpected.InfactintheNGithetimewillcomewhenyouareonawebpageandyouwillliterallysay“help”andyouwillexpectafullscreenvideosessiontoinstantlyappearonyourscreenwithalivepersonwhosmilesandsays“howcan Icanhelpyou”?Full screen, jitter-free,dazzlingclarityvideo.ItwillhelpmaketheInternetmoreNatural.

SpeechSaysItAllImagineatimewhenyouwillbeabletoissuesimpleverbalcommandstorunallof

theappliances,machines,andsystemsyouuseinyourhome,office,orontheroad.Inthecurrentdecadeof theNGiyourvoicewillbeallyou’llneedtopreparemeals,shopandbank by phone, invest in the stock market, handle e-mail and even drive your car—without having to turn a key in the ignition or touch the steeringwheel. Even securitysystemswill relyonpeople’svoices forcomputerpasswords,access toofficebuildings,restrictedareas,thehome,andbankaccounts.

ScientistsatIBMResearch,havealreadydevelopedanumberofvoicerecognitionsystemsandarenowbuildingprototypesforothers-whichwillgiveanewmeaningtotheterm,“freedomofexpression.”Forexample,atestsystemhasbeendevelopedthatallowstravelers toorderairline ticketswithsimplevoicecommands.Notonlydoes thesystemunderstandyour spokenwordsbut it alsounderstands thecontextofwhatyousay.“I’dlikethenextflighttoAustinfromNewYork”andyougetexactlythat.“LeastexpensivereturnflightnextThursday”andyougetexactlythat.Thesystemnotonlyunderstandsthewords“leastexpensive”,“return”,and“nextThursday”,butalsoisabletotranslatethemintospecificrequeststhatretrievethedatayouarelookingfor.Yourspokenwordsarethesystem input and the output back to you can be either spoken by a simulated voice orgiventoyouonyourcellphoneorPDAdisplaywhereyoucanmoreeasilyrecallit.

TheNextGenerationOfSpeechRecognitionSignificant progress has been made in speech recognition even for large

vocabularies of tens of thousands ofwords. The speech can be continuous – you don’tneedtohaveanypausebetweenwords.However,thetechnologytodateismosteffectiveonly under controlled conditions such as low noise, speaker dependent recognition andspeechthatisreadordictatedasopposedtoconversationalspeech.

That may change with a new approach called audio-visual-based speechrecognition.Psychophysicalexperimentshavedemonstratedthattheshapeofyourmouthas you say something adds important intelligence to enabling a computer to recognizecertain speech utterances. The information is known as visual phonemes or “visemes’’.Visemesprovideinformationthatcomplementsthephoneticstreamfromthepointofviewofconfusability.Forexample,“mi’’and“ni’’whichareconfusableacoustically,especiallyinnoisyenvironments,areeasytodistinguishvisually:in“mi’’lipscloseatonset,whereasin“ni’’theydonot.Similarly,“f’’and“s’’whicharedifficulttorecognizeacousticallybelong to two different viseme groups. Experiments are underway and in the not toodistantfutureitmaybepossibletousefacedetectioncombinedwithvoicerecognitiontotakethingstothenextlevel.

Icanstill remember the first timeIwitnessedspeechrecognition. Itwas in1981 and at the time Iwas assistant to theCFOof IBM.One day hewasinvited tovisitYorktownHeights,homeof theThomasJ.WatsonResearchCenterwherehundredsofresearchershavecreatedmanyoftheworld’sgreatinventions. The main purpose of that particular day’s visit was to get anupdateonthestateofspeechrecognition.Agroupofusenteredahugeroomthatwasfullofcomputers.Ihadneverseensuchalargecomputingcenter.Itwas enormous.We all huddled around the console of this “supercomputer”while several PhD’s prepared the demonstration. One of them sat at theconsoleinfrontofalargemicrophone–lookednotunlikearadiostation.Wewere all asked to please be silent.You couldhaveheard a pin dropon thefloor. The researcher got very close to the microphone and with a perfectarticulation he said the word “nine”. We waited and waited and waited.Seemed like forever. Like waiting for a pan of water to boil. Finally, aresponsecame.Weallcrowdeduptoseethevideoconsolewhereitdisplayeda9.Ourmouthsdroppedopeninawe.

AccessibleToAllThe NGI offers great hope to those who have speech, language or hearing

impairments. New therapeutic technologies are being developed too. A computerizedlanguagetoolcalledSpeechViewertransformsspokenwordsandsoundsintoimaginativegraphics. The result is greatly increased effectiveness of speech therapy and speechmodification for people who need it. They can select from over a dozen languageexercises. Each exercise responds to your voice input with immediate, clear andmeaningfulfeedbackthathelpsyou“seehowtospeak.”Inaddition,thespeakerreceivesanimatedrewards that reinforcesuccessful responses.Thiskindof technologycanbeofgreathelptohelppeopleofallageswhohaveavarietyofdisabilities,suchasspeechorlanguage impairments, cerebral palsy, developmental delay, traumatic brain injury, andspeech disorders resulting from a stroke. The technology provides a real boost ineffectiveness for professional speech language pathologists, special education teachers,teachersofthedeaf,Englishasasecondlanguageinstructors,andprofessionalsworkingwithaccentreduction.

ABrowserThatTalksToYouA lot of people take access to theWorldWideWeb for granted. For the blind,

however, accessing theweb is a tough task.ChiekoAsakawa, a blind researcher at theIBMTokyo Research Lab, used screen reader technology—which speaks aloud eachitemonthecomputerscreentosurftheWeb.Initially,sheusedthereaderonlyforspecificresearchtasksbecauseitwasnotasfastaspoint-and-click,butthenateamofresearchersat the lab created a talking web browser called the “Home Page Reader”. It has beenreleasedasacommercialproductinJapanandischangingthelivesofvisuallyimpairedpeoplewhowanttousetheweb.

TheHomePageReaderreadsplaintextinamalevoiceandhyperlinksinafemalevoice,making it easy for users to find the information they need – different voices fordifferent duties. To speed up the slower text-to-speech process, the system includes aquickreadingmethodoftext-to-speech.Oneisafast-forwardfunction.Whenthe“0”keyis held down, the voice goesmuch faster, like on a cassette tape recorder.But it slowsdown again for the first few characters after certain types of stops, such as periods,commas,tabs,andhyperlinks,sothatuserscanhearthebeginningofeachsentence.

TheHomePageReader systemalso incorporatesamethod forconvertingHTMLtags into voice data. This is extremely important because there is a lot of “text” onwebpageswhich isn’t really text at all – it is a graphic images that looks like text butwhichwasdonegraphically insteadofnormal text input.Theprogramevengivesuserscontrol over answering questions in online forms,which allows them to interact easilywith and provide information to all kinds of Websites, from search engines to onlineshoppingmalls.IhavewitnessedblindpeopleusingtheHomePageReaderanditbringstears to your eyes to see how swiftly and effectively they can breeze throughwebsitesgainingtheinformationtheywantwithvirtuallynolimitations.

LimitationsInToday’sComputingInteractionImagine aworldwhere using your computer is as easy as talkingwith your best

friend.Speak,gesture,walkaround,pointatsomethingthatinterestsyou—thecomputerhears you and sees and responds to your everywish. Such capability is called “naturalcomputing”anditwillsurelymaketheNGimoreNatural.

Todayweinteractwithcomputersinawkwardandunnaturalways.Wesiftthroughcountlessinstructions,pressbuttons,andfumblewithgadgets,whenwhatwereallywantto do is create, communicate, entertain, and understand.Whatwe don’twant is all thelaborious typing, clicking, and memorizing arcane commands. The concept of naturalcomputingissimple:itprovidesinformationwherewewantit,howwewantit,andwithpractically invisible interfaces that adapt to natural human interaction skills. A multi-modal user interface is considered to be oneof the core elements necessary in order toreachtheleveloftrulynaturalcomputing.Quitesimply,thecomputerrespondstohumansusingthetime-honoredtraditionsofhumaninteraction:voiceandgesture.

The technology behind natural computing basically gives the computer eyes andears.Forexample, IBM’sViaVoicespeech recognitionsoftwarecan interpretourvocalcommands.Anembeddedcameracansendvisualinformationtoamachine-visionsystemthat tracksourmovement andgestures.Special algorithmsdevelopedby IBMResearcharecapableofthencombiningandinterpretingnaturalcomputingenvironmentaroundus.Someday—soonerthanyouthink—naturalcomputingtechnologycouldbeintegratedintooffices,furniture,householdappliances,cars,classroomsandoperatingrooms.Intheareasofscience,medicine,andbusiness,usersmaybeabletocollaborateremotelywithoneanotherinvirtuallabs,operatingrooms,andfactorieswithboththeirwordsandtheirgesturesbeingnaturallyinterpreted.

ConvergenceAtLastPundits have been predicting digital convergence formany years. It was to be a

mergingofaudio,video,images,radio,television,allformsofmediaandcommunicationswith their digital representations. It didn’t happen as much or as soon as predicted.However, thetremendousgrowthincapabilityanddeclineinpriceofdigital technologyduringtheendofthelastmillenniumhasvindicatedthepredictors.Itishappening.WeareonourwaytoexperiencingtheNGianditwillbeamoreandmoreNaturalexperience.

Isourmediawearingout?

Ever think aboutmediawearing out? I was cleaning out the basement theotherdayandIcameacrossaboxof5.25”diskettes.Lotsofthem.Theydateback to 1979when I had a Radio Shack TRS-80Model III. The diskettesstored80,000bytes!Seemedlikealotatthetime.Arethesedisketteswornout? Well, who knows? Probably not but they are “effectively” worn outbecauseIcan’timaginewhereIwouldfindadiskette*drive*thatcouldreadthem.IalsofoundaboxofcassettetapesthatIhadusedasdatastorageonmyRadio ShackTRS-80Model 1. Fat chance of retrieving any data fromthem. How about 3.5” diskettes? Sure they are ubiquitous today but howabouttenyearsfromnow?Howabout35mmslides?Idon’tknowthelifeoftheslidesthemselvesbutliketheRadioShackdiskettes,Isuspectthelimitingfactorwillbethelifeofthedeviceswithwhichtoretrievethe“data”.Therewilllikelycomeadaywhentheslideswillbefinebuttherewillbenobody

whoknowshowtorepairthecarouselorobtainpartsfortheprojector.

Therearecountlessotherscenariosofsimilarilk.So,what’stheanswer?Letourchildrenandgrandchildrenworryaboutit?No,Ithinkwecandobetterthan that. Infact Ihavebeen thinkinga lot latelyaboutanAnnualPlanforInformationArchiving.The idea is simple. It startswithan inventoryofallmediatypesinourpossession:photographs,movies,slides,audiotapes,andCD’s. It also includes data which is already digital and stored on variousmediatypes:bigdiskettes,littlediskettes,zipdrives,tapesofvariousformats,writeableCD’s,andofcourseoursystemharddisks.Eachyearconvertsomeof your “old”media to newmedia. I plan to start thismyselfwith 35mmslidesthatmymomanddadtookinthe1940’s.I’llmovethemtojpegsandstorethemondiskandtape.I’llalsoscansomeveryoldfamilypictureswehave thatgoback into theprior century.Eachyear review the inventoryofmediaandmakeaprojectionofwhatis“exposed”fromatechnicalpointofview.Lookatnewformatsandmediatypeswhichareemerging.Itmayalsobe a good idea to keep an eyeon scanning and conversion technologies. Itmaypaytore-scanorconvertfilesascompressiongetsbetterandscanningdensitiesimprove.Iftheoldestmediagetsmovedtocontemporarymediainbite-sized chunks on a regular basis the effort should be manageable.Admittedly,committingtothedisciplinesuggestedhereisnoteasy.Liketaxand estate planning,writing awill and reviewing it periodically, and otherthankless tasks. If we pass the idea on to succeeding generations it willhopefullygeteasierandeasier(maybeautomatic)topreserveourmediaandourveryculture.

Technicalfootnote(thankstomycolleagueDavidSinger)

There is also a distinction to be drawn between lossy and losslessconversions.Makingadigital-to-digitalcopy is lossless (assumingyou takeprecautions to avoid errors in the process), and so there is no reason topreserve the original medium. On the other hand, analog-to-digitalconversions are potentially lossy (witness the debates about the virtues ofvinylversusCD,sinceCDsdoloseanyinformationabove22kHz),andsoitisbest tocontinue topreserve theoriginalanduse itas thesource for latercopies.Andonstill anotherhand, somedigital formatsare inherently lossy(JPEG)andshouldneverbeusedasthesourceforalatercopyunlessthere’snootherchoice.

Thereisalsotheissueofpreservingmorethanthebits—evenifyoucouldrecover the data on theRadio Shack cassettes, youwouldn’t be able to doanythingwithit,becauseyouwouldn’tknowhowtointerpretit.IthasbeensaidthatNASAhasthisproblem—theyhavehugeamountsofdatatowhichthey’velosttheformat,sotheycan’tuseit.

T

CHAPTER8

IntelligentThis chapter included a description of the Extensible Markup Language(XML); what it is and how it works like the preceding descriptions of theInternetandtheWorldWideWeb.TodayXMLispervasive.Thedescriptioninthischapterwillhelpexplainwhy.

One of the examples I used in 2001 was bioinformatics, a science in itsinfancy. There was no supercomputer, Watson, in 2001 (other than thenamesake headquarters for IBM Research). The Watson supercomputertechnology has become the embodiment of the big data and analyticsinitiatives IBM is pursuing in healthcare. TheWatson Healthcare group isbeginning to have a positive impact in the treatment of cancer and otherimportanthealthcarerelatedareas.

Laterinthechapter,Idescribedspecializedwebportalsasplacesto“hangout”andmeetupwithotherpeoplewithcommon interests.Whenyoureadthispart,you immediatelywill thinkof today’ssocialmedia. Ithasroots innetattitude.

I discussed the need forwebpages to be intelligent.One of the examples Idiscussed was the need to have a webpage display on small devicesdifferentlythanonPCs.Thiswasafuturisticpredictionbecausein2001therewerenosmalldevicespowerfulenoughtobrowsethewebsatisfactorily.

A final area I wrote about was autonomic computing. This is a set oftechnologies allowing computers to self-heal when something goes wrong,muchlikehumans.Therehavebeenmanyadvancesinthisareabutthetermautonomicfadedaway,buttheconceptsareuniversallyimplementedinmostenterprisecomputerstoday.

heInternethascomealongwaysinceitsinception,butthelinksdon’talwaysworkanditissometimeshardtofindwhatyouwant.TheInternetneedstoworkinamore

Intelligentmanner.TheInternettodayisacollectionofbillionsofwebpagesthataremoreor less randomly organized. Linkages between pages that should be linked seem to becreatedwith“tapeandstring”ornotlinkedatall–likethehotel’sreservationssystemthatisnotlinkedtotheirfrequentguestsystemortheairline’sflightarrivalsystemthatisnotlinkedtotheirgateschedulingsystem.Searchingforinformationischallengingtoput itmildly.Thegoodnewsisyoucanfindanythingandeverything.Thebadnewsisyoucanfindanythingandeverything.Sometimesyouarelookingforsomethingthatseemslikeitwouldbeeasytofindbutyoursearchfindstenmillionmatchesandyoucanspendhourstryingtonarrowitdown.Whenyousearchon“WilliamShakespeare”youfindthingshewrote, books about him, thingswritten about him in discussion groups, personal pageswherepeople list their favoriteplaywrights,andnumerouscompanies thathaveadoptedShakespeare’snamefortheirproducts.Thebasicreasonforboththepoorlinkagesandthe

difficultyinfindingthingsisthatwebpageshavegreatformatbutnocontext.Theresultisthatitisoftenhardtocopewiththeoverwhelmingamountofinformation.

ABoldNewStandardSolutionstobroadproblemssuchas thisareoftenbenefitedbystandards.TCP/IP

(the transmission control and Internet protocols) enabled global networks to becomeinteroperable.HTMLenableduniversal sharingofdocuments.Anewstandard from theWorld Wide Web Consortium called XML will enable us to cope with informationoverload – in effect to add intelligence to the web. XML, the Extensible MarkupLanguage,provides away to add context to awebpage and structure to theweb– it isarguablythemostimportantstandardforthewebsincethewebwasdeveloped.VirtuallyallnewdevelopmentsgoingonforthewebarebasedonXML.JustasTCP/IPprovidedthebaseonwhichthewebcouldbebuilt,XMLisprovidingthebaseonwhichthewebcanevolvetoahigherordermedium–onewhichisintelligibleanduseful.

WebpagesareconstructedusingHTML(describedinchapter5)andXML“tags”.Thetagsdonotappeartoanyoneotherthantheauthorwhocreatedthembuttheyplayanimportantrole.Justliketagsonpiecesofmerchandisedescribewhatthatmerchandiseisandhowmuch it costs,HTML tagson awebpagedefine the formatof thepage’s text;causingittobeblueorred,HelveticaorCourierfont,alignedtotheleft,right,orcenter,arrangedinatable,separatedbyahorizontalline,madelargerorsmaller,etc.XMLtagsonawebpagedefinewhatthepageisabouttherebyaddingcontextandenablingsystemstotellwhatcertainthingsmean.

For example a tag may indicate that the word “screwdriver” on a webpage is a“tool”. The tag doesn’t tell how the word is formatted but rather what it means – itscontext. Italso tellsus indirectly that thisparticular instanceof thewordscrewdriver isnotrelatedtoacocktail.ByutilizingXMLtagsawebpagecancontainverydeepcontextincludingrelationshipstootherthings.Forexample,differenttypesofscrewdriverscouldbedefinedsuchaslarge,small,Phillipshead,straighthead,etc.ByconsistentlyapplyingXMLtagstoallwebcontentthewebwillbegintoevolve.Onceinformationisproperlytaggedyouwillbeabletofindexactlywhatyouarelookingforwithmuchgreaterspeedandprecision.Itwillalsobepossibletofindthatsmallelectricfryingpanwhenyoucansay category=appliance, item=frying-pan, type=electric, size=small. No more electricguitarsandfriedchicken.

HowIsYourVocabulary?XMLbecomesevenmorepowerfulwhenthevarioustagsfordefiningcontextget

aggregatedintohigherlevels,formingavocabulary.Thecarpenter’sunionmightformavocabulary that defines all the valid tool categories, tools, tool dimensions, etc. that allmembers and constituencies of the union could understand. Not only could peoplesearching webpages take advantage of this but so could web applications. This wouldenable the ordering of tools and the inventory taking of tools to be automated. Serverscouldcommunicatewithotherservers,checkinginventorylevelsororderstatusoftoolswithnohumaninteraction.Thetooltagswouldbesupplementedwithtagsthatdescribethingslikecustomernumber,lastname,organizationname,postalcode,quantityonorder,invoice date, and job location. Now the webpages become enabled for e-business and

thingsstarttocometogetherinawaythateliminatesfaxes,manualprocedures,computerapplications thatconvertonesetofdata toanothersetofdataandother redundant low-valueoperationsthataddunnecessaryleadtimes.

ContractsTalkingToEachOtherCommon vocabularies, based on XML, will enable businesses to start taking

advantageoftheInternetinanexpandedway.Anewvocabularycalledthetradingpartneragreement markup language (tpaML) will make this possible. The Trading PartnerAgreement (TPA) isanelectroniccontract thatusesXMLtodefine thegeneralcontracttermsandconditionsandthevalidbusinessprocessestobeused.SophisticatedsoftwarewillbeabletoensurethatalltransactionsthatareconductedovertheInternetbetweenthetradingpartners’businesssystemsareconductederrorfree.Thepotentialtospeedupthepace of business will be greatly enhanced. For example, consider a small auto partsmanufacturer that wants to sell to a major automaker. The automaker would create acontractusingtpaMLandthensendittothepartsmanufacturer.Itwouldcontainallthenecessary information about the automaker.Thepartsmanufacturerwould then add theessential informationabout itself to the templateandreturn thecompletedTPAover theInternettotheautomaker.Thecontractisthenprocessedbyeachtradingpartner’ssystemssothattheywillbeabletotransactbusiness.TheautomakercouldissuepurchaseordersintheformofdocumentstransferredtothepartsmanufacturerundercontrolofthetpaMLdocument. The whole e-commerce exchange would take place without further humaninterventionbecausethebuyerandsellerpreviouslydefinedalltheparameters.

TakingTheHighRoadRolling it up to an even higher level is Oasis, the world’s largest independent,

nonprofitorganizationdedicatedtothestandardizationofXMLapplications.OASIShasseveralindependentinitiativesunderwayincludingebXML,whichisajointeffortoftheUnitedNationsandOASIS toestablishaglobal framework thatwillenableXMLtobeused in a consistent manner for the exchange of all electronic business data. “XMLstandards developed over the next few years will form an essential part of the ITinfrastructure for decades to come,” commented Laura Walker, executive director ofOASIS.“OASISiswidelyrecognizedastheopenforumwhereindustryleadersputasidecompetitive differences and come together to solve business problems with XML.Wehave the criticalmass to insure standards developedwithinOASISwill be adopted byindustriesaroundtheworld.”

E-MarketplacesWillChangeHowBusinessIsConductede-marketplaces will change the very notion of business itself. Corporate

partnershipswillgiveway tovirtualenterprises.Verticalmarketswillbecomeawebofsupply-demand relationships. And collaborative commerce will blur the line betweencompetitionandcooperation.Businessasusualwillnotbesufficienttosurviveasthenewmodels evolve.So far, e-marketplaces havebeenmostly press releases.The technologyand business guys from an industry – like chemicals, autos, air travel, retail,pharmaceuticals,etc.—gottogetherandannouncedthatthetophandfulofplayersintheirindustry are going to get together and create an e-marketplace. Somemonths later theCEO’sgottogetherandsaidtoeachother,“Whatexactlyisitwearegoingtodowiththis

thing?” In spite of the early hype and confusion, the real potential of e-marketplaces isverysignificant.

An e-marketplace is amany-to-many,web-based trading and collaborationmodelthatenablescompaniestomoreefficientlybuy,sellandcollaborateonaglobalscaleandacross a whole industry or at least a major piece of an industry. For example, theWorldwideRetailExchange(WWRE)consistsofmorethan50retailersfromaroundtheworldwithcombinedannualrevenueofover$722billion.TheWWREutilizesthemostsophisticated Internet technology available and their goal is to enable retailers andsuppliers to substantially reduce costs across product development, procurement andsupplychainprocesses.

The approach to achieving these benefits is to provide a shared Internet-basedinfrastructurethatenablescommercetransactionsthatautomateandstreamlinetheentirerequisition-to-paymentprocessonline,includingprocurement,customermanagementandselling; a collaborative network for product design, supply-chain planning, optimizationandfulfillmentprocesses;anindustry-wideproductinformationdatabase;anenvironmentwheresourcing,negotiations,andothertradingprocessessuchasauctionscantakeplace;andanonlinecommunityforpublishingandexchangingindustrynews,informationandevents.Asaresult,buyersandsuppliersenjoygreatereconomiesofscaleandliquidity—and can buy or sell anything — easily, quickly and cost effectively. In addition, e-marketplaces will enable companies to eliminate geographical barriers, and expandgloballytoreapprofitsinnewmarketsthatwereonceoutofreach.

XMLprovidesthelinguafrancatomakee-marketplacespossible.Whatremainstobedoneisthetoughjobofintegratingthemanyincompatiblesystemsamongcompaniesaround the world. Major projects are underway in the major industries. The biggestlimitationingettingtotheultimatevisionisthelimitedavailabilityoftechnicalskillstodothework.Aninterestingnewcompany,CommerceQuest,isprovidinganoutsourcingservice that may fill the gap for many companies. CommerceQuest created a b-to-bsoftwaregatewaycalledenableNet.ItisnotspecifictoanyindustrybutratherisagenerickindofcapabilitythatcanallowtransactionsfromonecompanytobeabletogothroughtheenableNetgatewayover the Internet and thenbeexecutedonadifferent company’ssystem even though the participating companies may have totally incompatibleinformationtechnologysystems.

XMLwillalsoenableustoeasilyattachnewformsofdatatothingswedo.Forexample,theadventofsmallandinexpensiveGlobalPositioningSystemdeviceswillbringlatitudeandlongitudeintoourlives.Todaywetendtolabelevents with time. We put the day, month, and year on the back of aphotograph.GPSgreatlyexpands thepossibilities.Whenadigitalpicture istakenwithacamerathatalsocontainsaGPScapabilityitwillbepossibletocapture the latitude and longitude of where the photographer was standingwhen the picture was taken. The photographer can also add voice notesdescribing the picture and digitally sign the picture to establish itsauthenticity. All of this can be encrypted to ensure that nothing is altered.Intelligencehasbeenaddedtotheartofpicturetaking.

We all remember exactly where we were when somethingmemorable and

significanttookplace.Forexample,ifyouaremorethanforty-fiveyearsoldyou undoubtedly remember where you were when John F. Kennedy wasassassinated—exactlywhere.GPSwillcauseus to thinkof locationasanimportant dimension. Not just day, week, and month but also latitude andlongitude.

P.S.HereisexactlywhereIwasonthatfatefuldayin1963…

http://www.attitudellc.org/where-were-you-when-3/

PortalsForOurEveryNeedA physical portal is an entrance to a home or building and a web portal is an

entrance to the web or some subset of the web. Portals like Excite, Lycos,MSN, andYahoo!providecategorizeddirectoriesoflinkstovastamountsofwebcontent.Muchofthecategorizationisdonebyhand–realpeopleatthesecompaniesreadwebpagecontentand then decide what the context is and determine which category of the directory itshouldbeplacedin.Addingnewlinkstothedirectoriessometimestakesmonthsbecauseof thismanualprocess.Asmoreandmorecontent for theweb isproducedusingXMLtags, the categorization process can become automated – computers will read thewebpages, determine the content and properly categorize them. The “general purpose”portalsmentionedwill continue to be important around theworld for “newbies”— forpeoplewhojustaren’tsurewhattheywanttobrowsethroughorwhowanttomakesomegeneralsearchesforthings.Theywillusetheseportalsasahuborcommunicationcenterformany aspects of their lives. These portals will get better and better because of theintelligenceXMLisaddingtotheweb.

Theaveragepersonhasbecomemoreandmorewebsavvy. If theywant tolearnaboutanewFordautomobiletheyheardaboutsomewhere,theywillgotowww.ford.com.Theydon’tneedtogotoaportal,andstepthroughaseriesofmenustoeventuallygettoFord.Theywilljustgodirect.

SpecializedPortalsMoreandmorepeoplewillbeinterestedinportalsthatspecializeinparticularareas

of interest; either on a business or personal basis. VerticalNet is a portal for industryprofessionals.The site hasdozensof specializedportals –beverageonline,ElectricNet,nurses.com, meat and poultry online, and dozens of others. Each of them provides acommunityforprofessionalswheretheycanlearn,discuss,lookforjobs,issuepurchaseorders,buy,sell,andfindresourcestomaketheirjobseasier.Realmoneychangeshandsin these specialized portals. They automate the buying and selling processes, save onordering time,enablepeople to shop for thebestpricing,allow them to securedeliveryschedules, track shipments, and gain wider access to the industry in which theywork.Similarportalsarepoppingupinalmosteveryindustryfacilitatingawayforpeoplewithcommonintereststobeabletohaveaveryintelligentapproachtowhatthey’redoing.

CommunityPortals–HangingOutThere are also community portals. Places that are very people oriented. Mary

Furlong,founderofThirdAgeMediacallsthem“Lifestyledestinations”.Theseareplaces

where people “hang out” on the Internet. Hanging out has emerged as a key Internettechnology term. If you have any teenagers at home youwill know exactlywhat I amtalkingabout.Teenagerstendtoleavethehouselateatnightataboutthetimethatyouarereadytogotobed.Astheyareleavingyouaskthem,“Whereareyougoing?”Theansweris “Nowhere”. “What are you going to do?”. “Nothing.” And then later, much later,sometimesthenextday,theycomeback.Yousay,“Wherehaveyoubeen?”“Nowhere.”“Whatwereyoudoing?”“Nothing.”“Youhavebeengoneforthirtyonehours,youmusthavebeendoingsomething!”“Iwasjusthangingout.”

Peoplehangoutatphysicalplacesandtheyalsohangoutinthevirtualworld.Moreandmore, people hang out at life style destinations; places like Blackberry Creek andNick.comareofgreat interest toyoungchildren.Tripod.comorclassmates.commaybeveryinterestingtopeoplewhoare18to30yearsold.MyFamily.commaybeofinteresttothoseabitolder.Peoplewhoare45orsomayhangoutatHarleyDavidson.comorothermotorcyclesites.ThirdAge.comisofgreatinteresttothosewhoare45to102!ThirdAgeiswhere70yearoldsgotofindadateorconfigureafragrancetomatchthewayapersonwantstoprojecttheirself.

Some organizations have a grand e-business plan to build a portal for their ownorganization;notanyoldportalbutonethatissogreatthateveryonewillcometovisitit.Withthebillionsofwebpagesandlargenumbersofgeneralandindustry-specificportalstochoosefrom,the“wewillbuilditandtheywillcome”approachisunlikelytosucceed.An alternate strategy is to reach out and build relationshipswith the places and portalswherethepeopleyouwouldliketoreacharehangingout.Whereyourconstituencyhangsout iswhere youwant to be hanging out; and by creatingmarketing relationshipswiththoseplaces,youcanprovidelinkstobringthembacktoyoursiteforwhatyouhavetooffer. Ifyoubuild it,will theycome?Notnecessarily,but ifyouarehangingout in therightplacesyouwillconnecttothem.

KnowingWhatYouKnowOneofthemajorchallengesoforganizationsofallsizestoday,whetheritismade

upoftenpeopleortensofthousandsofpeople,isbeingableto“knowwhatyouknow”.Ifthe5%mostknowledgeablepeopleintheorganizationcouldtransferwhattheyknowtothe 5% least knowledgeable people in the organization,what a tremendous impact thatwouldhaveontheeffectivenessandtheprofitabilityofthecompany.Infact ithasbeenestimated that there isaknowledgedeficitofbetween fiveandsix thousanddollarsperemployeebecauseofinformationintheorganizationthatisnotknownbyothers.Evenisavery large company this is a significant amount of money. For example, a marketingspecialist in a company isworking on the introduction of a newproduct and is havingdifficultyfiguringouttheoptimumdistributionstrategyfortheproduct.Itturnsoutthatacolleague in a sister division of the company in another country had the exact sameproblem and developed a brilliant solution for it. The real problem is that the firstcolleaguedoesn’tknowaboutthesecondcolleague.Asaresultthecompanymayengageaconsultantandpaytogetasolutiontheyalreadyhave!

Companies such as Lotus are developing very sophisticated tools to facilitateknowledge sharing to enable organizations tomore effectively leverage the knowledgethey have. By combining collaborative, messaging, database, and data mining

technologiestheyareabletocreateknowledgeportals.Theideaistocreateawindowintoalltherelevantcontentthatapersonworkingonaprojectmaybeinterestedin,notonlyinallthedatabasesthattheorganizationhasbutalsofromtheInternet.Thatpersoncanthenfindoutwhoelsemighthaveworkedonorcurrentlyisworkingonsomesimilarproject.The project database can be shared and the person with the need can establish anelectronic linkagewith the other person and collaborate. Company portals built for theemployeeswon’tsufferthefailingsofthe“ifyoubuilditwilltheycome”syndromeoftheweb—inthesecasesthereisacaptiveaudience.

ContentIsn’tWhatItUsedToBeContentisawordthatbecamecommonplacewiththebirthandgrowthoftheWorld

WideWeb.Itreferstothetext,graphicsandmulti-mediathatappearonwebpages.Inthelast decade virtually all web content was created using the HTML standard and wasdesignedandpublishedaspagesforthebrowseronaPC.ContentontheNextGenerationInternet needs to be highly adaptive; i.e. Intelligent. New interfaces and devices areemerging, the diversity of users is increasing, machines are acting more and more onusers’behalf,andwebactivitiesarereachingawiderangeofbusiness,leisure,education,andresearchactivities.Webpagesthatare“onesize(forthePC)fitsall”willnolongerbeadequate.Weneedtobethinkingofwebcontentinamuchdifferentway.

Toachievemaximumflexibilityandreuse,webpagesneedtobedecomposedintothecomponentsthatmakeupthepagesor“fragments”.Fragmentsmayincludebannersatthe top of a webpage, navigationmenus, “boilerplate” legal notices, graphical buttons,images,andpiecesoftextthatcollectivelyrepresentthepage.Thefragmentscanthenberecombinedandrenderedappropriatelyfortheuser,task,orcontext.ForexamplewhenIgo to weather.com to check today’s forecast I see a beautifully formatted page thatcontainsaweathermapoftheentirecountrypluscolorfuliconsrepresentingclouds,rain,snow,andthunderbolts.IfIhappentobereceivingweatherforecastonamobilephoneorPalmPilotIdon’thavethe“realestate”todisplayallofthiscontent.WhatIreallywanttoseearefewercontentfragments-justthetemperatureandtheoddsofrainorsnow-laidoutappropriatelyformysmalldisplay.

A prototype contentmanagement system developed at IBM, Franklin,makes themanagement of fragments possible. It provides an end-to-end process; from contentcreation and reuse to quality assurance and publishing to multiple devices. Content isbrokendowntofragments,andtheresponsibilityformanagingthefragmentsisassignedto different experts. The graphic designer produces the buttons, icons and images. Theproductmanagermaintainstheproductdescriptionsandpricing.Thelegaldepartmentisresponsible for the terms and conditions.When creating a product promotion, the webeditoronlywritesanynewtextandsimplypointstothefragmentsalreadycreatedbytheexperts.

Animportantaspectofcontentmanagementistheseparationofcontentandstyle.TheXMLstandardenablesthis:eachfragmentofawebpageisanXMLdocumenttaggedwithdescriptors.Adescriptormight tellwhether thefragment isabanner,price tableorproduct description, or state its target audience or expiration time. The contentmanagement software then uses “style sheets” that lay out the right content for eachdevice.Asaresult,theenduserseestheappropriatecontentandlayoutforthedevicethey

areusing,beitahugevideowalloratinydisplayonamobilephoneorpager.Inaddition,usingXMLtodescribethefragmentsresultsininformationthatisinaformatthatcanbeprocessedbyapplicationsaswellaspresentedtoend-users.Insteadofhavingtokeepthesame information in twodifferent formatssuitable forautomatedprocessingandhumanconsumption,itcanbestoredjustonce.

Anothercriticalaspectofcontentmanagementisdetectingchange.Forexample,ifacompanyadoptsanewlogoorupdatesaproductspecification,thechangeintelligentlyandautomaticallyripplesthroughthethousandsofpagesthatmaymakeupthewebsite.Onlyfinalpagesthatincludethechangedfragmentarerepublished.Theefficiencyofthisapproachishugecomparedtotheoldmethodthatreliedonpeopleeditingeachandeverywebpagemanually.Thinkingaboutcontent in thisnewwayresults inamore intelligentapproach. Creating and managing websites is easier, more cost-efficient and moreautomatic for the owner. The content on the resulting websites is consistent, timely toviewandappropriatefortheuserandthenewdevices.

LifeSciences–TheNextFrontierAnoften-askedquestionattechnologyconferencesandinjournalisticpublications

is,“Whatisthenextbigthing?”Surely,themanyinformationtechnologiestalkedaboutinthis book will continue to amaze us but an even bigger arena may turn out to be themarriage of information technology with Life Sciences. Most of us studied biology, abranchofknowledgethatdealswithlivingorganismsandvitalprocesses,inhighschool.Itwas a relatively broad subject – seems like an overview—compared to the broadercollectionofrelatedsubjectsthatarepartoftheexplodingareacalledLifeSciences.Asmorehasbeenlearnedaboutlife,wholenewareasofstudyhaveemerged–genomics,thestudy of the genetic material of an organism; proteomics, the study of the incrediblycomplexproteinsthatwearemadeof;bioinformatics,thejoiningofbiologyandcomputerscience; and the emerging field of metabalomics, which is the study of substancesessentialtometabolism.Notonlyhavethetopicsbecomemorecomplexbutalsotheveryway in which they are studied has changed. Biology has matured from “in-vivo”(observations of real life), to “in-vitro” (test tube experimentation), to “in silico”(experimentation by computer simulation). This transition from “wet” biology to “insilico”biology is inevitable asmoreandmore informationbecomesavailable and largescale computing infrastructure becomes available. It is this migration to “in silico”research that promises to enable the greatest advances of our time - the launch ofmolecularbasedmedicineandthefirsttrueunderstandingofthemolecularbasisoflife.

Proteinscontrolallprocessesinthecellsofthehumanbody.Comprisingstringsofaminoacids that are joined like linksof a chain, aprotein folds into ahighlycomplex,three-dimensional shape that determines its function.Any change in shape dramaticallyalters thefunctionofaprotein,andeven theslightestchange in thefoldingprocesscanturnadesirableprotein intoadisease.Thestudyofhowproteins fold isextraordinarilycomplex. The simplest investigation with the most advanced tools takes months. Thescientific community considers protein folding one of the most significant “grandchallenges”—afundamentalprobleminscienceorengineeringthathasbroadeconomicand scientific impact and whose solution can be advanced only by applying high-performancecomputingtechnologies.

At the beginning of the new millennium IBM announced a $100 millionexploratory research initiative to build a supercomputer 500 times morepowerful thantheworld’sfastestcomputersof today.Thenewcomputer—nicknamed“BlueGene”byIBMresearchers—willbecapableofmorethanone quadrillion operations per second (one petaflop). This level ofperformancewillmakeBlueGene1,000timesmorepowerfulthantheDeepBluesupercomputerthatbeatworldchesschampionGarryKasparovin1997,andabout2milliontimesmorepowerfulthantoday’stopdesktopPCs.BlueGene’smassivecomputingpowerwillinitiallybeusedtomodelthefoldingofhumanproteins.Learningmoreabouthowproteinsfoldisexpectedtogivemedical researchers better understanding of diseases, as well as potentialcures. Dr. PaulM. Horn, senior vice president of IBM Research said, “Inmanyways,DeepBluegotabetterjobtoday—ifthiscomputerunlocksthemysteryofhowproteinsfold,itwillbeanimportantmilestoneinthefutureofmedicineandhealthcare.”

Better understanding of how proteins fold can potentially lead to pharmaceuticalcompanies being able to design high-tech prescription drugs customized to the specificneedsofindividualpeople.Anddoctorsmaybeabletorespondmorerapidlytochangesin bacteria and viruses that cause them to become drug-resistant. “Breakthroughs incomputers and information technology are now creating new frontiers in biology,” saidIBM’sHorn.“Oneday,you’regoingtobeabletowalkintoadoctor’sofficeandhaveacomputeranalyzea tissuesample, identify thepathogenthatailsyou,andtheninstantlyprescribeatreatmentbestsuitedtoyourspecificillnessandindividualgeneticmakeup.”

Whatwe are seeing is a technology revolution in one industry being enabled byadvances in another— information technology has become the driver of experimentalbiology.ThenewLifeSciencesdisciplinesarebeingbuiltonpowerfulcomputersystems,massivestorage,theInternetandaninfrastructurethatenablesthedistributionandsharingofcontent.Usingnewalgorithmsforsearching,matching,andaligning information, thebasic steps of identifying, purifying, and cloning a gene followed by purification andcharacterization of the proteins associated with that gene, have been automated andstreamlinedtoadegreethatnoonecouldhavepredictedtenyearsago.

ToseewhyinformationtechnologyhasbecomesofundamentaltoLifeSciencesweonly need to contemplate the amount of data involved. The human genome databaseconsistsofapproximatelythreetrillionbytesofinformation-equivalenttoapproximately3,000compactdiscs.Unravelingtheinteractionsandfunctionsofproteins(theproductsofthegenome)willbeoneof themostcomputationally intensiveproblemseverfacedandwillrequireordersofmagnitudemoredataandcomputingpowerthanbeingusedtoday.

One of the long-standing goals for information technology has been tomaximizeproductivity through enhanced collaboration. That same goal is now fundamental tocontinuedadvancesinLifeSciences.Researchersnowsharedata,bothpublicandprivate,andcollaborateinvirtualenvironmentstomeettheincreasingpressuretoreducethecostof drug development while also decreasing the time to market. New drugs often costupwards of $500 million to develop and test. On average, the process from discoverythrough approval takes between ten and fifteen years to complete. The application of

informationtechnologywillallowcompaniestoreducecostsassociatedwithcreatingnewdrugs,andshortenthedevelopmentcycle.

ManagingLifeSciencesdataisnotjustacorporatemandate,butalsowillbecomeasignificant issue for individuals whose genetic information could become available(anonymously or not) through these sources. Protecting individuals’ rights by requiringinformedconsentforanyuseoftheir identifiablegeneticinformationisachallengethatinformation technology must help overcome— for example, by helping to implementaccesscontrols thatensurethatonlythosethatshouldhaveaccesstosuchdata,actuallyhavesuchaccess.

AutonomicComputingIn this decade therewill be billions of devices used by people and therewill be

trillions of intelligent chips built into or attached to almost everything we buy. Thecombinationofallthesedeviceswillgenerateenormousamountsofdata.ThepassageofthedatathroughtheInternetwillplaceenormousstrainonthenetworkinfrastructureandonthesystemsusedbyallkindsoforganizations.Operatorsofe-businesseswillfindtheirtime being deflected away from finding better ways to leverage their systems for thebenefit of their customers, to instead spending their energyonkeeping the systems andnetworksoperatingproperly.Thetremendousamountofcomplexitywillleadtomoreandmorehumanintervention,bothattheuserinterface,attheservers,andatallpointsinthenetwork.Weneedpreciselytheopposite–tohidethecomplexity,andrequirelesshumanintervention.

Solvingtheproblemwillrequireanewkindofintelligence.Thestakesarebig.InaspeechtotheNationalAcademyofEngineersinearly2001,PaulHorn,IBMSeniorVicePresident and Director of Research said, “The future of our increasingly technology-driven society depends on making computer networks fast, reliable, always available,flexible and self-managing. “IBM isworkingonabroad solution to theproblemwhichtheycall“autonomiccomputing”.

The basic approach is to create an intelligent network and system infrastructurewhichactsmore likeourownbodies.Thinkaboutcontrollingyourheart rate,breathingrate,constrictionorrelaxationofyourbloodvessels,dilationofyourpupils,movementoffood through your alimentary canal, the regulation of your body’s core temperature—actually,thebeautyisyoudon’thavetothinkaboutanyofthem.They’reallregulatedandcontrolledbyyourbody’sautonomicnervoussystem.

Thisallowsyoutouseinformationpouringinfromtheworldaroundyouforhigherlevelfunctionslikethinking,deciding,thenactingonthosedecisions.Simplyput,youcanconcentrate onwhat youwant to do, and leave the runningof your incredibly complexbiologicalsystemstoyourautonomicsystem.Anautonomiccomputingnetworkpossessesthreeessentialqualities.First,itisresponsive—abletorespondtounpredictableeventsin“intelligent”ways,notjustsuddensurgesinwebtraffic,butalltypesofdisasterssuchasfires,storms,earthquakes,etcthatcanwreckhavocwithnetworksandsystems.Next,itisself-managing and self-healing – able to be adaptive and look after itself, and whensomethingfailsorgoesawry,correcttheproblemorgetthehelporresourcesneededtodoso. Last, it is always accessible — customers, employees, partners, and suppliers —

anyonethatneedstocanalwaysgettoiteasily.

If the network and systems are to have these qualities, all kinds of detection,decision-making and directing functions will be required throughout the network. Theinformation technology industry will need to turn its attention to embedding more“smarts”andfunctionalityinanewarrayofmicroprocessorsincludingmonitoringchipsthatdetecterrors,failuresandthingsabouttofail,andnetworkprocessorchipsthatcandosomethingaboutthedetectedproblems.Computerswillbebuiltusinganewarchitecture– one that is more cellular and distributed – just like the human nervous system. Thesystems and networks will be built from microprocessor “cells” that integrate thefunctionsofcomputers—processors,memoryandcommunication.

Thesecellulararchitectureswillallowthecomputertogetthecomputingpowerouttowherethedatais–widelydistributedtowhereverthedataisstored.Itislikelythatinthecurrentdecadeitwillbepossibletotakedozensorevenhundredsofserversinadatacenterandfitthatcomputingcapabilityintoacloset.Softwarewillenablethecomputingcapability to be self-managing and self- healingwhen somethinggoeswrong.Thiswillenableintelligentcomputing“utilities”thatwillalloworganizationstotapinandpayastheyuseitjustliketheydoforelectricityandwater.

S

CHAPTER9

EasyIn2001,Idiscussedexperienceswithwebsiteswhichmademesay,“Whyisthissohard?”Fourteenyearslater,Istillfindmyselfsaying,“Whyisthissohard?” Many websites have gotten easier to use, but there are still manythingswhich remain toohard.This is especially truewith electronichealthrecords (EHRs) and patient portals, as discussed in my book, HealthAttitude.1112

Thischapterprovidedinsightaboutwhysomethingsaremoredifficultthanthey need to be. Part of net attitude is making webpages easy to use. Idescribed how programmerswhowrite the instructions forwebpages thinkandthevarioustoolstheyuse.

Some web applications are not natural in a browser. I thought by now, itwould no longer be the case, but the phenomenon of desktop apps beingeasiertousethantheircounterpartonthewebremains.ThebestexampleisQuicken.MillionsofpeopleuseQuickenforWindowsorQuickenforMactokeep track of their spending and assets. Intuit, the company that ownsQuicken, acquired aweb based financial planning and tracking site calledMint.comin2009.IsuspectIntuit’sbusinesscasefortheacquisitionincludedasignificantmigrationofusersfromQuickentoMint.com.TheMint.comsiteisgoodbutnotnearlyaseasyasQuickenonthedesktop.Iexplainedwhythisisthecase.

Another contributor tomaking things easierwas thegrass roots supportofopen source software.There aremany important lessons in the history andstatus of Linux. Linux is a programming language many thought wasinteresting but without a great future. I was very bullish about Linux andurgedIBMtoadoptit.Thisturnedouttobeverygoodforthecompanyandits customers. I said in2001,and still believe, efforts springing fromgrassroots,likeLinux,willalwaysprevailandprovidecontinuousimprovements.Apresent example is bitcoin. I feel the sameway about bitcoin nowas I didaboutLinuxin2001.Ithasthepotentialtomakefinancialtransactionsmucheasierforbillionsofpeople.

ometimesIsaytomyself,“Whyisthissohard?”Inmanycasesthingsactuallydoworkexactlythewaytheyweredesignedtoworkbutthatisn’tthewayIwantthem

towork!Thetruthisthatwhenyouconsidertheunderlyingcomplexityofmanyaspectsofinformationtechnology,includingtheInternet,itisnothingshortofamazingthatthingsworkatall.TheInternethasbeencobbledtogether,andsohavetheeffortsofbusinessestoemployandexploit it, resulting inacrazyquilt.Weexpect it toworkas reliablyandpredictably as the telephone system in America that took decades of planning andbuilding.Whenweenter informationinourPCoratawebsiteweexpect thePCor theservertofigureoutexactlywhatwemeantbywhatweentered.Thefactisthatcomputers

arenothumansandtheprogrammingtoenablecomputerstofigureoutwhatwemeanisnot easy to create. In spite of today’s shortcomings, there are reasons to be optimisticaboutthingsgettingeasier.TheInternetandtheWorldWideWebarecontinuingtoevolvebased on new standards. In parallel, new software communities, including Linux, aregaining momentum – devising creative new ways to share ideas about software andapproaches to creating software applications. The combination of more standards andbettersoftwareapproachesofferthepotentialtomakethingsmucheasier.

Thebrowsingexperienceitselfneedstobecomeeasierandinfactprogressisbeingmade.IntheearlydaysofthewebyouhadtobeacomputerscientisttobeabletoinstallabrowseronyourPC.Today,everyPCsoldcomeswithabrowserpre-installedandreadytouse.PlugyourPCintoelectricalpowerandanetworkconnectionorphonelineandyouare ready to surf theweb.Asmore andmore Internetusage shifts to consumerdevicessuchasmobilephonesandPersonalDigitalAssistantsthingswillgeteveneasier–muchmorelikeconsumerappliances.Consumercompaniesknowhowtomakeapplianceseasyto use. Although many people still say that a VCR is impossible to program, mostconsumerappliancesareintuitiveandrequirelittleornotraining.Ifyouwanttoturnyourhandheldpersonalstereooffyousimplyturntheswitchtooff.ContrastthiswithyourPCwheretoturnyourcomputeroffyoumustfirstgotothe“Start”button.Thenyouselect“Shutdown”andthenvariousprogramsrunningonyourPCaskyou“Doyoureallywanttoshutdown?”IfyouwanttoprintsomethingwithyourPC,youmustgotoamenuthatislabeled“File”.Computersweredesignedbyverytechnicalpeopleincomputercompanieswhothinksuchapproachesarelogical.Thegoodnewsisthatthingsaregettingeasier.Itused to takeyears forconsumers toget feedback to thedesignengineers that aproductwas unusable.With the Internet – “Power to thePeople”— feedback on products getsbackinhoursfromtheintroductionofanewproduct.Notonlywillthingsgeteasierbutitwillhappenmorequicklytoo.

Whilewe can look forward togreat progress inPCs andother devicesbecomingeasiertouse,abigpartofmakingthetotalexperienceeasierhastohappenattheserver–thee-businessesthemselveshavetobeeasier.Inthe1990sitwasnoteasytobuildane-business,runane-businessoruseane-business.However,justastheInternetisevolvingasamedium, the tools forbuildinge-businessesaregettingbetterandbetter.Whilewecontinue to read aboutmajorwebsites that havemulti-hour outages, technology is nowbecoming available tomakewebsites as reliable as the airline reservation and bankingsystemswehaveusedformanyyears.

WhoBuildsWebsites,Anyway?E-businesses, inresponsetorisingcustomerexpectations,are tryingtomaketheir

websitesmoresophisticated.Notonlydomanysites look impressivebut theyalsohavesome amazing capabilities. “Click here” to do almost anything— check the inventorylevelofan item,calculateshippingcosts,or initiatea livechat sessionwithacustomersupport representative. The bar keeps rising as competition ramps up to win overconsumersandbusinessprofessionals.Therearetwochallengesthatthispresents.Firstisa shortage of software developers who know how to do the sophisticated things andsecond is the challenge of using the browser as the exclusive interface for e-businesstransactions.

TheHighPriestsEtAlSoftwaredevelopersfall intoroughlythreecategories.Firstare the“highpriests”.

These technical giants are not only experts in writing very sophisticated computerprograms in themoredifficultprogramming languagessuchasCandC++but theycanalsoreachintothe“operatingsystem”softwareprovidedbyMicrosoft,IBMorSunetalandmodifyandextendthebasiccapabilitiesthatthosecompaniesprovided.Thesehard-core experts design, build, and fix large, complex systems, environments, andapplications.The reallygoodones aren’t bound to any specific programming language;they usewhatever tools fit the task at hand. Someof the “high priests” don’t domuchprogrammingatallbutareexpertsatdiagnosingcomplexproblemsandmakingsystemsand computing networks do what they are supposed to do. These “high priests” ofprogramming are relatively few in number and in many cases command extraordinarycompensation–ifyoucanevenfindthem.

The second category of programmer is much larger in number and typicallyspecializesindevelopingapplications.Theyareverycompetentinbuildingprogramsforspecific application areas like business (e.g., payroll), manufacturing (e.g., inventorycontrol) or science (e.g., molecular analysis), but will turn to the “high priests” forassistance in some of the “hard core” problems. Finally, in the third category there aremillions of webpage designers, often called webpage developers, who don’t reallyconsider themselves programmers at all. In fact some members of this group refer tothemselvesas“webmonkeys”.

Software developers in the first and second categories are sometimes calledsoftwareengineersbutaretypicallycalledprogrammers.Whateveryoucallthem,findinggoodones isnoteasy.It ispartofabiggerproblem.There isashortageofhundredsofthousandsofskilledinformationtechnologypeople inAmericaalone.Europealsohasashortage.TherearegoodskillsavailableinpartsofAsiabutimmigrationlimitshavekeptmany from being employed. In the year 2000 some progress was made in the UnitedStates via the passing of legislation that allowed higher immigration limits but theshortagestillremains.Althoughthefirsthalfof2001sawmanylayoffsinthetechnologyindustry,thecutbackswereconcentratedinmanufacturing,marketing,andvariousindirectsupportareas–nottheskilledprogrammingarea.

The key to generating enough skilled people over the longer term lies in aqualityeducationsystemthatcanmeettheneedsoftheinformationeconomy.

Thewebwasbuiltbyprogrammers—peoplewho, typically, spenda lotof timethinkingaboutmakingtheirprogramsfasterandmorecapable,butnotnecessarilyeasytouse.Theusersofthewebtypicallydon’tknow(orwanttoknow)thegorydetailsofhowtheprogrammersmadethingswork—theyjustwanttoperformcertaintasks,likebuyingan airline ticket or enrolling in an e-learning course. This is where the webpagedevelopers,thethirdcategory,comein;puttingasimplefaceontherichesoftheInternet,andmaking it easy for almost anyone to take advantage of it.Webpage developers notonlybuildgreat lookingwebpagesbut increasinglyhavefoundways tomakewebpagesactindynamicwaystointeractwithusers.However,therearetwolimitationsinhibitingthewebpagedevelopers’efforts.Oneisalackofprogrammingskills,andtheotherisasetoflimitationsimposedbythebrowser.

Many of the things that webpage developers want their webpages to do requireprogramming.Whilethewebpagedeveloperoftenhasexcellentgraphicdesignskills,theygenerally do not have programming skills. Programming is not visual. It involvesthousandsoflinesofinstructions(referredtoascode)thatthenhavetobe“debugged”—programming is intellectually intensive. To meet their needs without having to turn toprogrammers,webpagedevelopershaveturnedtoaformofprogrammingcalledscripting.Just like there are many different programming languages there are many differentscriptinglanguagesincludingJavaScript,Perl,REXX,Tcl,andothers.

Webpage developers are flocking to JavaScript and it has emerged as the mostpopularscriptinglanguage.ItwasdevelopedbyNetscapeasatooltoenablethebrowsertohavemorecapabilitythanjustbrowsing.JavaScriptisincorporatedintowebpagesjustliketheHTMLorXMLtagsare.Whenthebrowserdownloadsawebpage,theJavaScriptcommandsareexecuted.Thisisverypowerful.WithJavaScript,aWebpagecanreacttowhat thepersonwhoisbrowsingthepageisdoing: imagescanswapwhenyoumoveamouseoverthem,menuscanappearanddisappeardynamically,calculationscanbemade,orzipcodescanbeusedtoautomaticallylookupacityandstate.

JavaScriptsampleprogramsarereadilyandfreelyavailableonmanywebsitesandwebpagedevelopersareabletocopythesesamplesandusethemwithoutactuallyhavingtoknow thedetailsofhow theywerecreatedorhow theywork.Thevisualaspectofawebpage and the ability to try something and instantly seehow it is going toworkhasenabled some very sophisticated webpages to be developed. By combining JavaScriptwith various webpage development tools such as NetObjects Fusion or Macromedia’sDreamweaver webpage developers are able to create webpages that can do almostanything you can imagine. Large numbers of webpage developers are becomingempoweredwithJavaScript–becominghighlyproductiveandable togainmuchof thepowerofprogrammingwithouthavingtobecomeaprogrammer.

Contrarytopopularbelief,JavaScripthasnothingtodowithJava.JavawasinitiallydevelopedbySunMicrosystemsandwassubsequentlycontributedtoby IBM and others. Java is a programming language. Netscape wanted tointroduce a scripting language to help webpage developers be able to addmorecapabilitiesandat the timeJavawasverynewandbecomingpopularrapidly.NetscapedecidedtonametheirscriptinglanguageJavaScript.SomewouldsaythiswasdonetocapitalizeonthepopularityofJava.AtthispointJavaScript has become extraordinarily popular on its ownmerits. The factthatJavaScriptworksinboththeNetscapebrowserandMicrosoft’sInternetExplorer has made JavaScript ubiquitous. No matter what its name, it ishavingapositiveimpactintheworldofe-business.

BrowsersAreGreatForBrowsingThereisaremainingproblem–JavaScriptinwebpagesislimitedbythecapabilities

of thebrowser–and the limitationsof thebrowseraresignificant.Letusstartwith thepositive aspects. The browser has become ubiquitous, it requires no training, and hasbecomesecondnaturetomillionsofpeople.Infactitseemsthatbrowsinghasemergedasafundamentalhumantrait;onethat,untilrecently,wedidn’tevenknowwehad.Peoplejustclickhereorclicktheretodosomething.Eventhoughthebrowserwasintendedfor

browsing,itisamazingwhatelsetheygetusedfortoday.Businessesarerushingto“webenable” their entire inventory of computer applications; enabling the applications to beaccessible from a web browser instead of the traditional and proprietary interfaces.CorporateCIOs find thebrowserespeciallyattractivebecause it reduces thecomplexityfor users and the cost to the organization for distribution of the software (it can bedownloaded;nodiskettesorCDs)andtheresultingsupport.There isalsotheadvantagethatapersoncangotoanybrowseranywhereandgetaccesstothecompanysystemsanddata.

The flip side of this is that the browser is not really well suited for manyapplications.MillionsofpeoplehavesoftwareprogramsloadedontheirPCs—Quicken,TurboTax, Microsoft Money and similar programs — that help them to manage theirfinancialaffairs.ThesePCprogramsworkwithMicrosoftWindowsandhavethefamiliarWindowsmenus and functions. Just as the browser has become familiar tomillions sohavetheseeasytouseapplicationsandtheWindowsdesktop.

Therearealsoweb-basedapplicationsthatcanenableyoutomanageyourmoneyortaxesusingabrowserandawebsite,butthewebapplicationsdon’tlookorfeelquitethesameasacomparableWindowsapplicationon thePC.Theydon’thaveedit/copy/pasteand other desktop functions or don’t have them in the familiar way. They don’t have“local”data.Thatmeansyoucan’tpayyourbillsorreviewyourbudgetswhileyouareonanairplaneorifyouareatalocationthatdoesn’thavegoodconnectivity(unfortunatelytherearestillquiteafewofthem).Theywillbeonlyasresponsiveastheserverandthenetworkbandwidthareatthemoment.

Applications on your PC feel different.You can click here to pay a billwith theWindowsapplicationandtheresponsetimeislimitedonlybythespeedofyourPCandyourdiskdrive.Thisistypicallysofastthatitseemsinstant.Clickonawebpagetopayabillonlineinyourbrowserandtheresponsetimecanbeafewsecondsor,insomecases,muchlongerasyouwaitfortheserverorthenetworktoallowyoutogotothenextstep.Samethingwithemail;youcanuseEudora,LotusNotes,orMicrosoftOutlookandgetinstant responsewhen you delete an email from your inbox or you can useweb basedemail and spend timewaiting for thenetworkor the server.Thebottom line is that thebrowserinterfacedoesn’tfeelasnaturalandresponsiveasnativedesktopapplicationsandisnotadequatetohandleallofourneedsandexpectations

FreedomFromTheBrowserFortunately, there are alternatives to thebrowser interface– and thealternative is

thedesktopitself.Wewillsoonstarttoseeanexplosionofnewapplicationsthathavethelook, feel and accessibility of the desktop but also have access to the web behind thescenes.Forexample,imaginetrackingallyourfrequentflyerpointsinasingleapplicationthatautomaticallygoestoeachoftheairlines’websites,logsinwithyouraccountnumberandpassword anddownloadsyourbalances.And, if you areoffline, still allowsyou toaccess and manipulate the data. All this with an application sitting on your desktop,lookingandfeelinglikeawindows—orLinuxorMac—application,notlikeabrowser.Theywillbeintegratedwiththedesktop.Forexample,youmayhaveasmalltextwindowinthe“systemtray”atthebottomofyourWindowsdesktop.YoutypeastocksymbolintoitandanapplicationgoestotheWallStreetJournalforlateststories,toEdgarOnlinefor

thelatestSECfilings,toyourQuickenportfolioforyourcurrentholdings,etc.andpullsitalltogetherinonenicelyformattedreportonyourdesktop–nobrowser.Thisnewkindofapplicationwillalsooperateofflinewhenneededandthenupdatethingsthenexttimeyouare online.We are already beginning to see Internet applications that don’t require thebrowser interface; instant messaging programs, the RealJukeBox and Windows MediaPlayer are examples. Individuals will no longer be shackled to the traditional browsermodelofthepast.

New tools are emerging that are going to trigger yet another wave of Internetapplicationsbasedonthenew“browserfree”model.Nextgenerationscriptingtoolswillkeep the simplicity of the first generation— building applicationswith an easy to useinterfacebutwiththepowertoaccessthewholerangeofnativedesktopcapabilitiesplusall that theInternethas tooffer.UsingJavaScript, thewebdeveloperswillcreateusefulapplicationswhilethe“highpriests”willbuildascalable,manageable,available,reliable,and secure infrastructure to support the applications at the server.The browserwill notdisappear—featuresinbrowserswillgetbetterandbetterforviewingcontentandsurfingtheweb—butwemayseeitreturntowhatitwasoriginallyintendedfor-browsing.

Aninnovativeapproachforbuildingthese“browserfree”applications,calledSash (http://sash.alphaworks.ibm.com), was developed at an IBM skunkworks in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Sash enables web developers to useJavaScript tocreatewindowsdesktopapplications thatcandoall the thingswebapplicationscandobutwhichcanalso takeadvantageof thestartbar,the file explorermetaphor, and other basicwindows capabilities. The Sash“weblications” look and feel just like nativewindows applicationswhile atthe same time having the Internet connectivity capabilities of the browser.Weblications can operate online or offline. They “live” on the desktop justlike a traditional application but when connected they get live data andinteractwith theweb.Whendisconnected theweblicationscanuse thedatalocally.Itisanewparadigmforwebapplications.

In the summer of 2000 a group of summer interns at IBM in Cambridge,Massachusetts developed a Linux version of Sash called SashXB. It wasmadeavailabletotheLinuxopensourcecommunityinAugust2000.

TheNextGenerationOfE-BusinessEasy is about to takeon anewdimension as thewebcontinues to evolve. In the

early stages the web allowed for browsing of documents with hyperlinks to otherdocuments.Thenwith theadventofXMLitgainedcontextso thatdocumentscouldbemoreeasilyfoundand,moreimportantly,integratedwithinformationtechnologysystems.Anewsetofstandardsgainedprominenceinearly2001thatwillallowthewebtomovetoyetahigherlevel–fromawebofdocumentstoawebofdocumentsandapplications.The“applicationweb”isnowinitsinfancybutitwillexpanddramaticallyandprovideanew way for application software to be developed, published, searched, and utilized.Relatively inexperienced software developers will be able to assemble new e-businessapplicationsaseasilyastheydospreadsheetstoday.Theywillbeabletolocatemodulesof software that were written by others and placed in a global directory organizedaccordingtothespecificcapabilityofthesoftware.Theywillthenbeabletolinkmultiple

softwaremodulestogethertoperformthedesiredtasks.Theuserwillseeawebpageatane-businessthatsimplymeetstheirneedsbutbehindthescenesthee-businessserverisnotinteracting with a single website but rather with multiple servers in a network ofapplications.Tounderstandthisimportantnewdevelopment,weneedtostartwithsomehistoricalperspectiveonhowcomputerapplicationsgetcreated.

TheEarlyDaysInthe1950sand1960scomputerprogrammingrequiredthattheprogrammerbean

expertwith theparticularcomputer thathisorheremployerhad. Itwas like learning todriveacar.Notanycar–onespecificmakeandmodelofcar.Beinganexpertdriverofthatcargaveyounocredentialsorevencapability todriveanyotherkindofcar. If theorganizationgotanewkindofcomputer,alltheprogramminghadtoberedone.Usersofthesystemhadtomakearequestbyfax,form,orphoneandtherequestwouldbeenteredintotheapplicationprogrambysomeoneelseandthen,attheendoftheday,a“batch”oftheday’sinputswasprocessedandtheuserwouldgettheresultsthenextdaybyreceivingaprintedreportofsomekind.

During the1970sand1980s theonlineworld simplified thingsquiteabit. Inputscouldbemade“realtime”whileacustomeroruserwasonthephone.Acustomerservicerepresentativecould take the informationover thephone,enter itdirectly intoasystem,gettheresultsimmediatelyandreportbacktothepersononthephone.Someprogresswasmade inmaking thingsmorecompatible fromsystemtosystemby theestablishmentofcommon languages and protocols for databases and communications. However, theprogrammingtodothiswasstillveryspecifictotheparticularkindofcomputingsystem.Infactthingsgotevenmorecomplicatedtoprogrambecauseofthereal-timenatureoftheapplicationsandtheneedtointegrateacrossnumerousprocesses.

TheWebThe web took things a big leap forward. At last there was a common way (the

browser)foraccessinganddisplayinginformation,eventhoughtheapplicationsthatrunontheserver—thatdothepricing,inventorylookups,shippingestimates,invoicing,etc.—arestillcreatedwithvariouslanguageswhicharespecifictothevendororsystem.Theweb server applications have also become very monolithic; i.e. in order to fulfill theexpectations of customers on theweb the application has to do thewhole job. Soup tonuts; present the right price, confirm if the item is in stock, calculate shipping, andconfirmthestatusoftheorder.Increasingly,customerswanttogetaccessdirectlyintothesupplychainandseeexactlywherethingsstand.Inshort,applicationsaregettinglargerandmorecomplicated—harder,noteasier.

TheApplicationWebThe application web (web services is the technical name) will possibly be the

biggest change in information technology in decades.Today companies build all of thefunctionsthattheirwebsiteneeds.Iftheyaresellingtheirgoodsandservicesviathewebtheyhavetodevelopsoftwarethatcantaketheorder,docreditchecks,checkinventory,lookthroughthesupplychain,arrangeforpayment,chargethecustomer,clearcreditcardtransactions, etc.Adding all of this functionality into awebsite takes ahuge amountof

time, effort and skills. If they choose to buy the software instead of making it theytypicallyacquirewhattheyneedfromasinglevendoreventhoughthatvendor’ssoftwaremaynotbethebestatalloftheindividualfunctionsneeded.Wouldn’titbeniceiftherewere companieson thewebwhichofferedmanyof thewebapplication functions (webservices) needed andyou could just linkyourwebsite into those services anduse theminsteadof creating themyourself orbuying them fromone source? Just like in the realworld,Idon’tcutmyownhair,Ilookintheyellowpagestofindabarbershopandthengohaveabarberperformthatserviceforme.

For example, suppose that a company called American Specialties Inc. (ASI)specializesinsellingAmericangoodsfordeliverymostlyoutsideofAmerica.Theywantto create an application to sell their products on the web. The trickiest part of theapplicationisdeterminingthebestwaytoshiptheproducttoensureitgetstherewhenthecustomerwantsitandatthelowestcost.ASIdoesn’thavetheskillstowritethisparticularpartoftheapplicationandtheyhaven’tbeeabletofindavendorwithasoftwarepackagethatcandoitandwhichiscompatiblewiththerestofASI’ssoftware.

There isanothercompanycalledRatesandCosts Inc. (RCI),whichspecializes inthe calculation of optimum routes and the associated costs for shipment to placesanywhere in theworld.RCIoffers the calculation as a service on theweb and it is theexact functionASIneeds to incorporate into theirwebapplication. Inyesterday’sworldASI and RCI would not be aware of each other. In the new (NGi) world, ASI coulddiscoverRCIinauniversaldirectory(theapplicationweb)thatisaccessibletoanyoneontheweb.ItislikeaYahoo!forapplications(thebarberintheYellowPagesofferinghaircuts). Since RCI “published” their application using the new (web services) standards,ASIwasabletonotonlyfindRCI’sservicebutcanalsoeasilyseethespecificationsforRCI’sservice–whatinputsarerequiredandwhatoutputdoesitproduce.RCIcouldhavecreatedthecalculationserviceusingwhateverprogramminglanguagetheywantsincethestandardsassurethatthingscanworktogether.

TheprogrammeratASIlikesRCI’sprogrambecauseitperformsexactlytherightfunctionthatASIneedsandthesoftwarehasalreadybeenwrittenandtested!ASIfollowsthe web services standards to incorporate RCI’s service into their web application.WheneverausergoestoASI’swebpageandneedsshipmentrouteandcostinformation,alink is made behind the scenes to RCI’s web server to get the information. ASI’scustomers don’t know, nor will they care, that part of the job is being done by RCI’sserver;notASI’sserver.ASImakesanarrangement topayRCIeach timeoneofASI’scustomersusestheRCIwebservice.

Creatingprogramsbylinkingtoprogramswrittenbyothers–withoutregardtowhat programming languagewas used to create the others’ programs—represents a whole new paradigm. It is one of the information technologyindustry’sholygrails.Standardsorganizationshavebeenattemptingforyearsto create a “neutral” programming environment. TheUNIX vendors – HP,DEC, Sun, IBM,DataGeneral, and others – formed various organizations,councils and consortia over the years attempting to bring things together.Progresswasmadebutnoneof these initiativesachievedrealopennessandtrue compatibility across the information technology industry for several

reasons.

Microsoftwas out therewith a dominantmarket share on the desktop andpromises that theywouldbringforward the“ultimate”operatingsystemforthe server.As long as that threatwas there the industry didn’t believe thattherewouldbeanindustry-widestandard.Therewasalsocertaindistrustthateven the handful of UNIX vendors might not stay unified in their owncommitmenttoopenstandards.

Theotherreasonisthatnoneofthepriorattemptswerebasedonalanguage-neutralapproach.Javawasastrongattemptatuniversalcompatibility.IntheearlyyearsofJavaitwaspositionedasthesingleprogramminglanguageforall platforms, desktop or server. The promise of Java for the desktop,however,couldnotstandupagainstMicrosoftandhasessentiallydiedasfarasastandardforthedesktop.Ontheserver,however,ithasgainedsignificanttraction and is believed by many vendors to be the best programminglanguage for connecting heterogeneous back-end processes in a secure andproductiveway.Still,Javaisaprogramminglanguageanditisnottheonlyprogramminglanguageevenifitisaverygoodone.

Standardsforwebserviceshaveattractedalargeanddiversebacking.Justasthe web has standards that make it easy for people to create web content(HTML), find webpages (DNS – Domain Naming system) and connect towebsites(HTTP);thekeystandardsforwebservicesbringthissameeaseofusetodevelopersforthepublishing,finding,andutilizingwebapplications.Theweb services standardsweredrivenbyAriba, IBM,andMicrosoftandmore than two hundred other companies have endorsed them. The basicprotocolstopublish,find,andutilizeapplicationservicesareWSDL,UDDI,andSOAP.

The next generation of scripting languages, such as Sash, will be able toutilize“connectors” that calluponweb servicesusing these standards.Thiswill result in webpage developers being able to invoke sophisticatedprogramming – things which formerly could only be done by the “highpriests”.

Moredetailonwebservicescanbefoundat

http://www.uddi.org/andhttp://www.ibm.com/developerworks/webservices/

AnEvenFasterEvolutionOfE-BusinessThe web services model is the first language-neutral and vendor-neutral

programmingmodeltobedeveloped.Itallowsapplicationstobemoremodular.Thenewweb services standards give complete independence to the programmers who createapplications.Applicationscannowbebrokendowninto“Legoes”andeach“Lego”ofanapplicationcanbewritteninadifferentlanguageandcanberunningonadifferentserver.Application developers can create applications that combine core competencies thedevelopermay have but allow the e-sourcing (web services version of out-sourcing) offunctionsthatsomeoneelsemaybebetterat.Thewebservicesstandardsenabletheweb

toevolvefromawebofcontent toawebofcontentandapplications.Webservicescanenable server-to-server interaction in addition to browser to server interactions. Serverswill negotiate with other servers via web services and even complete transactions bythemselveswithnodirect human intervention.These interactionswill replace thepaperformsandfaxesthatflowbackandforthfromcompanytocompanytoday.

E-businesshasevolvedrapidlybutwebserviceswillspeede-businessdevelopmentand finally create the interoperability between businesses that has been a decades longdream.Historyhasshownthatadoptionofstandards leads toanexplosionofusageandthat will surely be the case with web services. With the standards in place for webservices,thee-businessfunctionsforentireindustrieswillbeabletobebroughttogetherin central directories. These application webs will facilitate the formation of e-marketplaces and enable them to build useful portals. Users of all kinds, business andconsumer,willbeabletoestablishinteractionwithmarketplacesmoreefficiently.Thee-marketplaceswillbeabletodeliverbusinessfunctionstoabroadersetofcustomersandpartnersandpursuenewbusinessmodelsbycombiningapplicationsinnewways.Smallcompanies will be able to e-source to dozens of other companies for public relations,legal, payroll, and other functions they would rather not perform themselves. Largecompanieswillhaveamuchgreaterrangeofchoiceoverwhattheybuildandwhattheye-source. Virtual corporations comprised of a federation of smaller ones will form andenable“hypercompetition”onaglobalscale.

PenguinToTheRescueOnelastfactorthatmayplayahugeroleinmakingthingseasierisLinux.Itishard

tomissmention of Linux in themedia – it has gotten a lot of attention and for goodreason. It has thepotential to radically impacthow information technologygets createdandused.AstudentinFinlandnamedLinusTorvaldsstartedLinuxinAugust1991.HisgoalwastocreateaUnix-likeoperatingsystemwhichwouldworkonaPC.

AlmostallPC’sat the timeusedanoperatingsystemcalledDOSandonly largermoresophisticatedcomputersusedUnix.Unixwasappealingtomanystudentsbecauseofits sophistication – in particular its networking capability.What started as a hobby forLinusTorvalds turned out to become appealing tomanymore than just the students asmajor information technologycompanies including IBM,HewlettPackard,andCompaqhaveputtheirfullsupportbehindthesoftwarewiththePenguinmascot.

LinusTorvaldspickedthepenguinastheLinuxlogo.HeoncetookatriptoAustraliaandwascaptivatedbya ten-inchhighpenguin.Linussaid itwas,“loveat first sight”.A fewyears laterpeoplewerediscussingwhatkindoflogopeoplewantedforLinux.Manywantedaboring,commercialone.Linuxdecidedonthepenguin.“I’mmuchhappierbeingassociatedwithafunandslightlyirreverentlogothanwithsomethingstaticandboring.”

ThreeShiftsI’veseenthreemajorshiftsduringmymorethanthreedecadesintheinformation

technology industry. In the early 1980s it was the introduction of the PC. In the early1990s itwas theemergenceof theInternetasaseriouscommunicationsnetwork. In the

late1990sitwasLinux.Allthreeexistedbeforethoseparticulartimeframesbutthosearewhen,frommyperspective,thebigshiftstarted.Eachhadsomethingsincommonwiththeothers.Inallthreecasessmartpeoplelefttheirjobsatcompaniesanduniversitiestoget involvedwith these new technologies— and venture capital followed them. In allthree areas there was a lot of grass roots activity and the formation of a genuinecommunity. They were not tops down initiatives of major companies or organizations.(Even thePCeffort at IBMwas ledby an independentbusinessunit thatwas a sort ofskunk works.) All three areas were very standards oriented. They were either built onstandardsoractuallycreatednewstandards.Andonelastthingthatallthreeshiftshadincommon— some people in the information technology industry said, “Who needs it”?Thereisalessontobelearnedinthisreaction.

WhoNeedsIt?In 1980, Digital Equipment Corporation had a number of “personal computer”

projects underway (some may remember the Rainbow) but there was not a realcommitment.Their firstPC-likeproductwas calledan“applications terminal and smallsystem”.Ineffectthecompanysaid,“PC?Whoneedsit”?AlthoughIBMintroducedthefirst standardsbasedPC therewere those in the company that,when it came to seriouscomputingneeds,ineffectsaid,“PC?Whoneedsit”?

InthemidninetiesitwasclearthattheInternetwasgoingtotakeovertheworldasfarasanetworkingstandard.IwasatanInternetSocietymeetinginPragueinJune1994andagentlemanfromChryslerCorporationgaveapresentationonhowhiscompanywasgoingtostandardizeonTCP/IPforallnetworking.IamsurethereweresomeatChryslerthat thought this was radical and even some attendees of the Internet Society meetingthoughtso.Atthattimethereweremanynetworkingstandardsoutthere–arguablymanyof them were superior to the Internet standards. But, it didn’t matter. The shift wasunderway and the Internet standards are used by virtually all companies in the world(oftencoexistingandinteroperatingwithotherpriornetworkingstandards).Meanwhile,anumber of companies that owned those other standards said in effect, “TCP/IP? Whoneeds it”?AndthencameLinux.1999was theyear thatLinuxbeganto lookserious inspite of a numberof shortcomings in scalability, reliability, security, andmanageability.SunMicrosystemsineffectsaid,“WhoneedsLinux,wehaveSolarisanditisbetterthanLinux.Microsoftineffectsaid,“WhoneedsLinux,wehaveWindows2000anditisbetterthanLinux”.AlongcameIBM,whichhadquestionedtheneedforbothPC’sandTCP/IPforseriousbusinesscomputing,andsaid ineffect,“EverybodyneedsLinux”.Perhaps itgoestoshowthatonlythegreatestsinnersknowhowtorepent!

TheCommunityThe real power of Linux is not derived from IBM or any other company or

organization;itisthepowerofthecommunity.Linux,justlikethePCandtheInternet,isbuilt in an open fashion so that all can see how it was done. The communities thatemergedtosupportthemaddedvaluetowhatwasdevelopedbythegrassrootseffortsandthenawholeindustrygrewuparoundthem.Thatmaybewhatsomeofthecompaniesthatdidnotembracethoseshiftsintheearlydaysdidnotrealize.Theythoughtitwasallaboutcomparing whether the PC, the Internet and Linux were better than the proprietary

approaches.Intheearlydays,PC’sweremuchinferiortominicomputersandmainframes;the Internet was much inferior to IBM’s Systems Network Architecture or Digital’sDecNet;andtodayLinuxisinferiorinmanywaystoWindowsandSolaris.Butitdoesn’tmatter for two key reasons. First, when a major e-business or an e-marketplace has achoicebetweenproprietaryofferings,orofferingsbuiltaroundcommunities,communitieswillalmostalwayswin.Youcouldsayitisthepowerofdemocracy.IrvingWladawsky-Berger, of the Presidential Information Technology Advisory Committee, says, “Inproprietaryofferings,itis‘everymanforhimself’.Incommunitybasedofferings,itisthecommunity collaborating in setting standards and building common technologieswhichwillbeavailabletoall,andthenitis‘everymanforhimself’inbuildingontopofthat,orleveragingthecommunitybase”.

Thesecondreason thatproprietaryofferingsultimately loseout is that there isnoway that a singlevendorcancompeteagainst awell-organizedcommunity. In theearlystages, when the community is not yet well organized, it cannot make progress, andindividualvendorscanstepinanddoverywell,evenestablishingnaturalmonopoliesasthey bring order to chaos. In fact, people have argued that this is the onlymodel thatworks in information technology, namely the economy of scale and setting of de factostandardsthatalwaysresultsinmonopolies.But,oncethecommunitygetsorganized,andcanstartmakingprogress,thegameisover.Darwinianevolutiontakesover;thebestideassurviveandtheweakonesfallbythewayside.Thereis justnowayasinglevendor,nomatterhowpowerful,canhaveaccesstoastalentedandasmanyskillsasthecommunitycanbringtotheeffortallovertheworld.

IsItReal?IfyoustillhavedoubtsabouthowrealLinuxmaybe, thereare two tests thatare

easy to apply. First is to visit a bookstore or the web and see what is available aboutLinux.The200bookson Java seemed likea lotbut forLinux therearemore than500books! The second test is to visit the campus of any college or university that teachescomputer science and ask the students.Youwill find that theyvirtually all knowaboutLinux and are comfortable using it. There is amyth that Linux and other open sourcesoftware isacult; that it is90%aboutculture,10%serious. It is just theopposite; it is90% discipline and high quality, 10% culture. Developers who make high qualitycontributionstothecommunityriseintheunofficialhierarchy;thosethatcontributepoorqualitygetsent to“programmer’sHell”nevertobeheardfromagain.Veryhighqualitysoftware is produced as a result of this self-managing process. That’s why people areinterestedinLinux–itisacommunity.

Linux has become a “movement”. Although there is no central managementstructureforLinuxithasevolvedrapidlybecausealmostanyonecancontributetoit.Thismightincludealargesoftwaresub-systemcontributedbyIBMorsomesoftwaretoenableanewgadgetthatastudentinEasternEuropecontributed.AsystemadministratoratXYZCompanymaybelookingforacertainkindofsoftwareandmakestheneedknownontheInternet.Meanwhile,someoneinanotherpartoftheworldhadjustwrittensuchsoftwareandwashappytogiveitawaytoanyonewhoneedsit.Intheorysuchglobalcollaborationshouldn’tworksowellbutitdoes.Developerslikethefactthatiftheyfindabuginthesoftwaretheycaneitherfixitorreportittoothersinthecommunity.Intheendtheyknow,

since the software is open for all to see, that it will be fixed and it can be inspected.There’sacommunitybehinditthatiscommittedtoit.

TheothermythaboutLinuxisthatitispopularbecauseitisfree.TherearefreeversionsofLinuxavailableandthismakesiteasyforstudentstolearnit,butanyorganizationthatisgoingtouseLinuxforseriouspurposeswillbuyLinuxfromacompanythatspecializesindistributingandsupportingLinux.In addition, companies like IBM and others will enable all of their ownsoftwaretorunonLinuxplatforms,andthesecompanieswillnotbegivingthatsoftwareawayforfree.

TheUltimateTestThe ultimate test of course is not what an information technology company or

informationtechnologyusersaysaboutLinuxbutratherhowtheyvotewithrealmoneyandcontributionsofsoftwareintotheLinuxcommunity.Inlate1999the24thlargestsupercomputer in theworldwasbeing installedat theUniversityofNewMexico. It isbeingbuilt using 256 Intel servers from IBM, linked together in what is called a “cluster”,running Linux. In early 2001 The National Center for Supercomputing Applications(NCSA) at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign announced that they would beinstallingthelargestandfastestLinuxclusterinacademia.TheirtwoIBMLinuxclusterswillbeabletoperformtwotrillionoperationspersecondandwillbeusedbyresearchersto study some of the most fundamental questions of science, such as the nature ofgravitationalwavesfirstpredictedbyAlbertEinsteininhisTheoryofRelativity.

Linux is also beginning to move into the commercial environment – for realproduction applications. At the end of 2000 Shell International Exploration andProductionannouncedthattheywouldbeinstallingthelargestLinuxsupercomputerintheworld.Linuxclusterswillbecomemoreandmorecommonine-businessapplicationsasthe demand from large numbers of users and transactions expands. Telia, the largesttelecommunications company in Scandinavia, announced that it would be replacingdozens of Unix computers with a single mainframe computer running Linux! Themainframe has an operating system that in turn can enable tens of thousands of virtualLinuxoperatingsystems–thousandsofsystemsallrunningononecomputer.Justthesefew examples show that Linux is no longer just for students – it is coming into themainstream.

WhenwethinkofinformationapplianceswemaythinkofsmallthingslikeMP3players,personaldigitalassistants,andvariouswirelessdevices.Thereisanotherkindofappliancethatismoresignificantinsizeandscope–serverappliances.Thesespecializedboxesdoasubsetofwhatnormalinformationtechnology systems do. They provide printing services, manage largeamountsofstoragecapacity,handlenetworksecurityfunctions,etc.Theseareall things that information technology systems can do generally but, bymaking server appliances that do only these certain functions, the result ismuch greater reliability. Server appliances using Linux will haveextraordinary stability and reliability and that translates intomaking thingseasiertomanage.

EmbeddedComputingAttheotherendofthespectrum,Linuxisfindingitswayintoverysmallcomputing

devices. TiVo is a personal TV service that transforms your television-watchingexperience.Itallowsyoutoautomaticallyrecordyourfavoriteshowseverytimetheyair—withoutsettingatimerorusingvideotape.ThenyoucancontrolyourTVwatchingbypausing, rewinding or instantly replay any program, anytime. TiVo is an easy to useconsumer device. Under the covers is a PowerPC microprocessor running Linux. InTaiwan there is a flurry of activity going on in what is called “embedded Linux”.EmbeddedmeansthatLinuxisembedded“underthecovers”sothattheuserdoesn’tevenknowitisthere.Taiwanhasdevelopedprominencebasedonmanufacturingefficiencyforindustry standard products in the information technology industry. They now plan toduplicate that prominence by putting their own designs into products using Linux. Iattended a Linux seminar at National Taiwan University in Taipei in June 2000. TheseminarwasfocusedonembeddedLinuxforallkindsofhandheldandInternetattachedappliances. The opening keynote speaker was very bullish about Linux. He said thatexistingindustrystandardoperatingsystemsforPCsare“big,expensive,andunreliable”but that Linux was “small, inexpensive, and reliable”. Since no one company controlsLinux,itisavailabletoallcompaniesintheworldtouse,contributeto,andexploit.WecanexpecttoseeAsiancountriesapproachthisopportunityveryaggressively.

At the extreme end of the spectrum, IBM researchers have built a “smartwatch”, running Linux, that can communicate wirelessly with PCs, cellphonesandotherwireless-enableddevices,viewcondensedemailmessages,provide users with calendar, address book and to-do list functions. Futureenhancementswillincludeahigh-resolutionscreenandapplicationsthatwillallow the watch to be used as an access device for various Internet-basedservices such as up-to-the-minute information about weather, trafficconditions,thestockmarket,sportsresultsandsoon.DickTracy’swatchisfinallyhere!

MakingThingsEasierTheindustrycommitmenttoLinuxisgrowingrapidly.IBMisbettingitsfutureon

Linux and has said publicly it will invest nearly $1 billion in Linux in 2001. Fifteenhundred engineers at IBM are working on adding Linux capability to the company’sproducts and services.HP, IBM,andNECare settingupanOpenSourceDevelopmentLabinPortland,Oregon.Thisindependent,non-profitcenterwillprovidetheopensourcecommunity a place to test enterprise-class Linux software. This will help ensure thatLinuxwillbe“hardened”andreadyforseriouse-business.Over timeLinuxwilldo foroperatingsystemswhattheInternetdidfornetworkingandcommunications–makethemtrulyopenandinteroperable.

A lotof effort is expended inorganizations todayonanactivity called “porting”.Portingmeansmoving an application from one software “platform” to another: from amainframetoWindows,fromWindowstoLinux,fromUnixtotheMac,fromtheMactothemainframe,etc.Thisactivitydoesnothingfortheuserandyetitrequiresscarceskillstoget it done.AsLinuxbecomesmoreandmoreprevalent theportingcandeclineand

thosescarceresourcescanaddmorevalueforusers.

Inaddition,manyinformationtechnologyservicescompanies,includingIBM,seeabigopportunityinmakingthingseasierforcompanieswantingtoexploitLinuxandtheyare opening new services practices to capitalize on it. The combination of mainstreamacceptance, continued contributions of software from many organizations around theworld, the widening availability of skills and services, and the high quality of LinuxsoftwarewillallcontributetowardmakingthenextgenerationoftheInterneteasier.

So isLinuxgoing to replaceall theotheroperating systemsanytime soon?No,but isLinuxadisruptive(in thepositivesense) technology?There’snoquestion about it. In the market for server operating systems, Linux isgrowing the fastestandsteadilygainingshare.Windowsstilldominates thedesktop operating system market but Linux is even making some inroadstherewithseveralopensourceinitiativesincludingGnome,KDE,andEazelthat are creating personal productivity applications and making the Linuxdesktopeasiertoinstallanduse.

O

CHAPTER10

TrustedOnDecember16,1994,sixIBM,DEC,andafewothercompaniesstaffmetatMITwithTimBerners-Lee,theinventoroftheWorldWideWeb.Oursmallgroupco-founded theWorldWideWebConsortium(W3C), theorganizationthatcreatedandmaintainsstandardsforhowthewebworks.Wemadealistonawhiteboardofwhatwasmissingfromtheweb.Atthetime,mostofwhatwe have todaywasmissing. The list included the need for tables, differentfonts and colors, and various technical capabilities needed to create andpublishsharedwebdocuments.WhenIsuggestedweaddprivacytothelist,Igotstrangelooks.SirBerners-Leegotitimmediatelyandendorsedaneffortto develop privacy standards. Facebook is still grappling in developingpublicallyacceptedprivacycontrols.Partofanetattitude isrespecting theprivacyofothers.Thischapterexplainedwhy.

ThislastchapterofPart2describedtheelementsofprivacyandsecurity.Aswith the Internet,web, andXML, I explainedauthentication, authorization,non-repudiation,and thecriticalelementofencryption,what theywereandhowtheyworkedinlaypersonterms.

Many of the issues about Internet security have to do with policy andprocedures.Thesehavetodowithnetattitude.Idescribedtheimportanceofauserbeingable toestablishon theweb theyarewho theysay theyare. IwasconfidenttheprinciplesofdigitalsignaturesIdescribedwouldbewidelyadoptedbynow.ThisisthebiggestgapofanytopicinNetAttitudebetweenthenandnow.InJuly2015,IwenttoIntuit.comtochangemyemailaddressfromjohn@patrickweb.com to john@attitudellc.org. After filling out a webformwith the new information andmy contact information for verificationpurposes,Iwasaskedtouploadanimageofmydriverlicense.Thepurposewas to establish I amwho I said I am. This chapter offeredmany insightsaboutwaystomakeourinteractionsonthewebsecure.

falltheissueswhichwillaffectthefutureoftheInternet,thesafeguardingofourpersonalinformationwhenittravelsonorovertheNetislikelythemostimportant

becauseitisattheheartofTrust—andwithoutTrusttheNetwillnotbeabletorealizeitsfullpotential.Thismeans that informationaboutan individualneeds tobehandled inaway that is consistentwith theprivacy and security expectationsof the individual— ifnot,therewillbenotrust.

PrivacyMyFamily.com is a very useful site for families to share information, calendars,

photos,andtolearnaboutgenealogy.Aspartoftheregistrationpeopleareprovidingthesitewiththeirregistrationinformationandalsothename,emailaddress,and(optionally)thebirthdaysoftheirchildren.Thisrepresentssomeveryseriousinformationthataperson

is entrusting to this website. Themanagement ofMyFamily.com is committed to theirprivacypolicybutwhathappensifMyFamily.comgetsacquired?Whatassurancedowehave that the policywill survive?Howdowe know that the site is safe fromhackers?HowdoweknowwecantrusttheI/Tstaffnottolookatourpersonalfamilyinformation?TherearenumerousquestionsofthisnaturethatarenotPrivacyPolicyperse—theyareactually more about security in many cases— but questions about which people willeventually get worried when they begin to think about the fact that they have placedpotentiallytheirentirefamilyhistoryandphotogalleryonawebsite.

OneelementofprivacyontheNetisOptinversusOptout.Whenyouregisteratawebsite you will often see a small box to be checked giving you the “option” to beincluded or not included in subsequent emailsmaking offers to you.Opt inmeans youproactively choose to be included.Opt outmeans you are included by default and youhavetotakeactiontoberemovedfromthelistofthosewhowillautomaticallyreceivetheemails.Insomecasesyouhavetoreadthewordsverycarefullytodeterminewhichcaseisthedefault.ThisispartofTrust.Isthesitereallyopeninguptoyouandmakingitveryclearwhat your options are, or are theymaking thewords a bit fuzzy and hoping youwon’tfigureoutwhatthedefaultactuallyis?

Citibankrecentlyintroducedanewservicecalledc2itthatenablesthesendingandreceiving of cash via e-mail. You simply visit the c2it site, specify which of yourchecking,savings,orcreditcardaccountsyouwantthemoneytocomefrom,andenteranemailaddressforsomeoneyouwanttosendthemoneyto.Thatpersonthenreceivesanemail,isaskedtoenrollinc2it,andthencanacceptthemoneyfromyoudirectlyintotheirchecking,savings,orcreditcardaccount.ThisseemedlikeapotentiallyusefulservicetomewhenIlearnedaboutandsoIenrolled.OnlyafterIenrolleddidIfindoutthattherewere fees involved. Then I discovered that incoming amounts are not credited to youraccountforfivetosixdays,whichislongerthanifIhadreceivedacheckanddepositeditmyself.Then Idiscovered that there isno fee to receive into aCitibankcredit cardbutthereisafeeifitisanotherbank’screditcard.Iamnotsayingthefeesareunreasonable–thecompetitionfromPayPalandotherserviceswilldeterminethat.

The issue is trust. Itwouldbeeasy toget the feeling thatCitibankwasnotbeingforthcoming about their offering. Now comes the good part – Affiliate Sharing. Theenrollment page on thewebsite said “CitibankFSB is allowedby law to sharewith itsaffiliatesanyinformationaboutitstransactionsorexperienceswithyou.Pleasecheckthisbox ifyoudonotwantCitibank toshareamong itsaffiliatesanyother informationyouprovide to us or that we get from third parties”. We are talking about a sweepingallowancetoprovideabroadandundefinedamountofinformationaboutyouwithabroadandundefinedaudience.Shouldthedefaultbe“checkthisboxifyoudonotwant”this?Seemedtomethatthiswasanobviouscasewhereitshouldhavebeenoptinnotoptout.Trustmightwaneabitfurther.

Thencomes theMarketingOffers.“Citigroupmaystillsendyoumarketingoffersbytelephone,mailande-mail.Ifyoudonotwanttoreceivesuchmarketingoffers,pleasewritetotheaddressbelowandincludeyouname,address,socialsecuritynumberandtellus youdon’twant offers bymail and/or phone and/or email”.Write to us?This highlyautomatedwebsitethatcantransfermoneyinandoutofanyaccountcan’thaveonemore

checkbox;preferablywith“checkhereifyouwouldlikeustomakeofferstoyou”?Isenttheletterandamnotsurehowlongitwilltaketoget“processed”.Inthemeantime,Iamalready receivingunsolicitedmarketingoffers.Citigroup is a superbmarketingorientedcompanybut theapproachwith thisnewInternetofferingmaynotbuild trustwithnewenrolleeseventhoughthecompanyisahighlytrustworthyorganization.

AWorldWhereEverythingIsConnectedWheneverycomputerisconnectedtoeverycomputera lotof thingsarepossible.

Some of them are not pretty. Trust will become critical. Brands will become moreimportantthaneverbecausetheywillsignaltouswhatleveloftrustwecanexpect.Howwillweknowwhetherwecanreallytrustawebsite?Trustgoeshandinhandwithgoodsecurity andprivacy.Offeringgood security and a solidprivacypolicywill be thebareminimum but we will also follow how an e-business acts over time. What is theircommitment?Do they listen to their constituencies?Do they respond toconcernsaboutprivacy andmake things better?These actionswill separate the goodguys and the badguys.

Brand used to be a feeling conjured up by how a company’s product wasphysically packaged or how you imagined yourself using it. Increasinglybrandisafeelingconjuredupbyyourexperienceonthatcompany’swebsite.IttiesdirectlytoTrust.Companiesthathaveawebsitethatprovidesanend-to-end positive experience and which enhances people’s quality of life bysavingthemtimewillgainenhancedbrandequity.Theconversewillbecomeobvious.

Privacy,Confidence,AndTrustAllGoTogetherIn a December 2000 speech in New York, Lou Gerstner, chairman of IBM

Corporationsaid,“Weknowthat trust isa fundamentalelementofeverypositivebrandexperience. It is fundamental toall consumerbehavior, to thewillingness tobuyand tobrand loyalty. All of it is based on trust.”Websites already have a repository of hugeamountsofpersonaldatathatrepresentthebyproductofnotjustourregistrationsbutalsooursurfinghabitsandourpurchases.Inthenearfutureourmedicalrecordswillbeonawebsitesomewhereandbeyondthatwillcomerealtimedatastreamedfrompacemakersandothermedical instruments thatareattached toourbodies.Allof thisdatacanbringsignificantbenefitstousbutonlyifweareabletotrusttheholdersofthedataandhaveconfidencethattheywillprotectitandrespectourpreferencesabouthowandwhenitcanbe used.LouGerstner summarized itwellwhen he said, “The answer heremust beginwith a responsiblemarketplace.Throughour policies andour practices, industry has tosendanunambiguousmessagethattellspeople:‘Youcantrustus.Youhavechoices.Theywillberespected.Andyou’llknowinadvancehowanyinformationthatyougiveuswillbeused.’”

TheCookieMonsterWhenyouclickona link toawebpage,a request ismade toretrieveadocument

fromaserverandtheserversendsthedocumenttoyourbrowser.Ifyouthencomerightbacktothatserverforanotherdocumentitisanindependentrequest–theserverhasno

knowledge that itwasyou thathad just requested thedocument.This is fineforsurfingbutfore-businesstherearenumerousreasonswhytheserverdoesneedtoknowthatyouweretheonethathadjustmadetherequest.Someoftheearlywebpioneershadrealizedtheneedtobeabletoretaininformationaboutwhohadmaderequestsoftheserverandtheyalsosawtheneedtomaintain the“state”of thingsgoingonat theserverso that ifthereweremultiplestepstoane-businessprocessorifauserbecamedisconnectedfromtheInternet,theywouldbeabletoreturntothesiteandpickupwheretheyleftoff.Thetechnicalinventiontomakethispossiblewascalledthe“cookie”.

Whenyouvisitasite theserversendsacookietoyourPC.Thecookieisasmalldatafilethatcancontaininformationaboutyouandthetransactionyouareparticipatingin.Whenyoucomebackthatsecondtimetheserverreadsthecookie,looksupsomedataaboutyouinadatabaseifneededandthenallowsyoutocontinue.Thecookiewasagreatideaandmostwebsitesusethem.Infact,cookieshavefacilitatede-business.However,insomecasestheuseofcookieshasbecomeaninvasionofourprivacy–atooltobeabletotrackoureverymouseclick.Cookieshavebeenusedbysomecompaniestoanalyzeyourwebvisitsandthentargetadvertisingatyoubasedonwhatsitesyouhaverecentlyvisited.Somepeoplelikethisandothersfinditalargeinvasionoftheirprivacy.

FromtimetotimeIseeaneditorialorstorysuggestingthatanonymityshouldnot be allowed on the Internet. The motivation is usually associated withconcernsoverpedophilia.This is certainly an important concernbut so aretheconcernsofthosewhofeeltheyneedtobeanonymous.Abatteredwifeoranalcoholicthatareseekinghelpandfindingit indiscussiongroupsontheInternethaveaveryvalidreasontobeanonymous.Wehavetobecarefulthatwe don’t react to “bad things” that happen on the Internet with a cry forregulation. There are laws that address many “bad things” and lawenforcement agencies need to use the Internetmore effectively as a tool toenforce the laws thatalreadyexist.This ishappeningbutmoreneeds tobedone.

PlatformForPrivacyPreferencesA new standard has been developed called P3P, the platform for privacy

preferences,whichprovidesasimple,automatedwayforuserstogainmorecontrolovertheuseofpersonal informationonWebsites theyvisit.At itsmostbasic level,P3P isastandardizedsetofmultiple-choicequestions,coveringallthemajoraspectsofawebsite’sprivacy policies. Taken together, they present a clear snapshot of how a site handlespersonal information about its users. P3P-enabled websites make this informationavailable inastandard,machine-readable format.P3Penabledbrowserscan then“read”this snapshot automatically so that theuser cancompare it to their privacypreferences.P3Penhancesusercontrolbyputtingprivacypolicieswhereuserscanfindthem,inaformuserscanunderstand,and,most importantly,enablesusers toactonwhat theysee.P3Pwillallowyoutoestablishthedegreeofprivacyyouwanttohave.Someofusmaywanttobeanonymous.That’sokay.Somemayconcludethattheyreallyliketheideaofgettinge-mailsandpersonalizedwebpages.Somemayevenliketheideaofane-businesswhichsortsthroughpastwebpurchasesandthenmakesbuyingrecommendationsbasedonthehistory.Theymaybeverybusy anddon’t have time to shop so if somebodycanmake

suggestionsforthemitmaybeavaluableservice.That’sokaytoo.P3Pwillenableusalltoexpressourpreferencesinthebrowserandthenhelpustofindthoseservicesthatmeetourindividualprivacyrequirements.Ifawebsitedoesn’tmeetourprivacyrequirements,wewillbeadvisedandhavethechoicetomoveontoadifferentsite.

PartofTrustcomesfromseeingpeopleupcloseandpersonal.Lookingintotheir eyes.Observingwhether they look back into yours.Body language. Ioftenget askedwhether the Internet asanewmediumwill reducepeople’sdesiretogettogetherinpersonorwhetherpeoplewilljustsitinfrontoftheirPCandnevergoanywhere.Idon’tthinkso.Perhapstheultimateproofpointis websites for seniors like SeniorNet (http://www.seniornet.org) andThirdAge (http://www.thirdage.com) that have been responsible, at least inpart,fornumerousmarriages.Peoplewillhavealotofe-meetingsbutIdon’tthinkpeoplewillgiveuponmeetinginpersonasaresult.Thereistoomuchthatwouldbemissed.

InternetSecurity–TheGlassIsHalfFullNotHalfEmptyMentionthewordTrustandmanypeopleimmediatelythinkofsecurity.Wehearso

manynegativequestionsaboutInternetsecurity.Isitstrongenough?Whatwillhappentomy credit card number?What about hackers?Wewould like to implement this or thatapplicationbutwecan’tbecauseof“security”.The listgoeson.This isoneareawheresome “old fashioned” attitudes are actually healthy. Security is critical and needs to betakenveryseriously—butnotinarestrictivesense.InfactthequestionthatbusinessandgovernmentleadersshouldbeaskingisabouthowsecurityontheInternetcanbecometheenabler of global commerce, the enabler for meeting peoples’ expectations, and theenablerforTrust.

Inonesense,theInternetisactuallycompletelyinsecure.It issimilartoa“party”telephone line (for those old enough to remember them) where multiple parties areactuallysharingthesamenetwork.Youmightpickupa“party”phonelineandfindoutyour neighbor is already using it. The Internet is a shared network also. Our emails,webpages,andIP telephonycallsarebrokenup into“packets”,containing5,000-10,000zeroesandoneseach,andthepacketstraveloverphonelineshoppingbetweenspecializedcomputers called routers to get from their origin to their destination.A clever “snoop”couldusevarious“sniffers”to“listen”tothepacketsandiftheyareverycleverassemblethembackintotheemail,webpage,orIPtelephonycall.

Enterencryptiontechnology;oneofthemostpowerfultechnologiesonearth.Usingverysophisticatedmathematics, thecontentsofpacketscanbescrambled(encrypted) insuchaway thatonly the intended recipient is able tounscramble (decrypt) thepackets.Millionsofpeoplehavediscoveredthatthistechniquehasenabledthemtoputtheircreditcardnumberintoasecurewebtransactioninawaythatonlytheserverattheotherendisable to read it. In factmoreandmorepeopleare realizing that theircreditcardnumbermaybesaferontheInternetthanitiswhentheygiveittoatotalstrangeroveratollfreenumberortoawaiterinarestaurant.The“strength”ofencryptionisincredible.Thereisnoknowncaseofanyone“breaking”fullstrengthencryptionorevenapracticaltheoryforhow to do so. At some point in the future theremay be some combination of people,networked computers, and schemes thatwill enable information encryptedwith today’s

technologytobedecodedbutbythenthestrengthoftheencryptiontechnologywillhaveadvancedeven further.Thebottom line is thatusingencryptionenablesus todo thingsverysecurelyusinganinsecurenetwork.

It’sNotTheTechnologyThe real issue with regard to Internet security has to do more with policy and

procedures and these in turn have to do with attitude. I spoke with a group of CEO’srecently and one of them askedmewhat a firewall is? I said,well that’s a specializedcomputer that stands between your company and the Internet, and it allows youremployeestobeabletogoouttotheInternetandseewhat’soutthere.Italsoallowstheother 200million people out there to come into parts of your business you don’twantthemtocomeintoif it isn’tsetupandmanagedproperly.BythewayIasked,“Doyouknowthestateofthemoraleofthepersonwhoadministersyourfirewall”?Whendidtheyget their last salary increase? Are they a disgruntled employee? A security study onceshowed that themost commonpassword for operating firewalls is theword ‘password’which comes shipped as the default password when getting new firewall hardware orsoftware!

Weallknowhowwefeelaboutenemployeewhocheatsthecompanybyclaimingreimbursementforamealortravelexpensetheydidn’tactuallyhave.Wedon’ttolerateit.Endofdiscussion.Howdowefeelwhenanemployeeputsastick-onmemoontheirPCscreenorundertheirmousepadwiththeirpasswordonit?Weshouldfeelthesamewayas with the expense fraud because that employee has compromised the security of thecompany. Is it condoned for employees to share passwords? How about the physicalsecurityofyourserverroom?Isitoktoleavethedooropenifitgetswarmintheroom?Canvisitorsgetintotheserverroom?Doestheauditdepartmentmakeperiodicattemptsto“breakin”totheserverroomandseeiftheycanturnsomethingofforwalkoutwithsomebackuptapes?

OneofthefastestgrowingbusinessesatIBMisthe“ethicalhacking”group.Forafee theywill try tobreak intoyourservers from the Internet. If successful they tellyouhowtheydiditandofferadviceforhowtopreventitinthefuture.Unfortunately,theyareusuallysuccessful.AtPCForum,anexclusiveI/Tindustryconferenceoftopexecutivesfromaroundtheworldseveralcompaniesvolunteeredtobeguineapigswhilea teamofIBM “ethical hackers” attempted to break into their servers. This was done on thecondition that the company name would not be revealed. An IBM expert stood at thepodiumwhile talkingover a speakerphonewith the “ethical hacker” team thatwas at atechnologycenterfaraway.Thediscussionwasbroadcastedoverthesoundsystemtotheaudience. The first break-in took eleven minutes after which the IBM engineers werelooking at thedriver’s licenseof thedaughter of theCEOof the company.The secondcompany attempt took seventeen minutes after which the engineer had access to thecompany payroll file. These were not failures of technology. They were failures ofprocess, procedure and, audit. The source of the problem is attitude about security. Itshould not be feared – it should be embraced. The right attitude will not restrict theopportunitiesbutinfactwillenablemoreopportunitiesandenablethemtobehandledinamoresecuremanner.

WhoAreYou–Really?TherewasacartoonbyPeterSteinerintheJuly5,1993issueofTheNewYorker

showingadogataPCspeakingtoanotherdogwatchingfromthefloor.Thecaptionwas,“OntheInternetnobodyknowsyou’readog.”Verytrueandinfactnobodyreallyknowsforsurejustwhoyouare.Nordoyouknowwhoisattheotherendofachatsessionore-commerce transactioneither. In theNGiwewill haveDigital IDs thatwill change this.Therehasbeenaprevailingattitude thatdigital IDswouldmean that the“government”wouldissueanIDthatwouldthenenablethemtospyonus;readouremail,trackwhatwedoontheweb,orinvadeourprivacyinsomeway.Abitofknowledgeplusahealthynetattitudewouldactuallyinsteadleadustoaverypositiveview—thatdigitalID’sarenotto be fearedbut in fact shouldbe embraced.They represent the empowerment that canunleashthefullpotentialofe-business.Theywillallowusestablishthatwearewhowesayweareand tovalidate that thewebserverwearedoingbusinesswith is reallywhotheysaytheyare.Securityisnottheissue.Authenticationis.

It is true that large numbers of people have learned that security technology canencrypttheircreditcardnumberinsuchawaythatonlythewebserveratthedestinationisabletodecryptit.Whenpeopleseethesolidlockorkeyatthebottomoftheirbrowserthey implicitlyknow that their credit cardnumberor other private information is beingencryptedusingthepublickeyoftheserverattheotherend.And,sinceonlythatserverhas the corresponding private key then only that server is able to decrypt the privateinformation.Animportantquestionhoweveriswhoisthatwebserverontheotherend?Howdoyouknowit really is themerchantoruniversityorgovernmentagency that theserver’shomepagesaiditwas?Answer?Youdon’t.Itcouldinfactbeahackerwhohas“spoofed”thewebsite;i.e.thesitecouldbeanimposter.Likewisethewebsiteattheotherenddoesn’treallyknowforsurethatyouarewhoyousayyouare.Whatwearetalkingabouthereisauthentication.ForthemostpartwedonothaveitontheInternettoday.Yet,itisoneofthecorecapabilitiesneededtoachievetheultimatepotentialoftheInternetandenableusalltofeewecanTrusttheInternet.

TodayweusetheloginIDandpasswordasasubstituteforauthentication.Wealluse them every day but the problems with them are nontrivial. First is the passwordsharingproblem that enables someone else to be you. If you leaveyour passwordon astick-ononyourPCorunderyourmousepadthenoneofyourchildrenoracolleaguecanbecomeyou.Theycangetintoyourbankaccount,buyabookatAmazon,orengageinachatsessionasyou.Assumingyoukeepyourpasswordtoyourself,thereisanothersetofproblems.Websites have different rules for login Ids and passwords. Some require thatyouuseyouremailIDasyourlogin,somerequireyoutouseyoursocialsecuritynumber,othersallowyoutopickanythingyouwantaslongasitisatleastsomanycharactersorinothercasesas longas it isnomore than somanycharacters.Forgood reasons theyallrequire thatyourIDbeunique.Sorry,but jjones isalready taken.Thesamething is thecase for the password. Some require at least so many characters, some require that apasswordmustcontainatleastonenumericcharacter,somerequirethatitbeallnumeric,and others require that contain no numeric characters. The variations are vast and theresultisthatyouendupwithalotofdifferentIDsandpasswords.

DigitalIdsToTheRescue

There are basically twoways to dealwithmanaging this problem and neither ofthemisagoodsolution.FirstistodeviseanID(andpassword)thatconformstonearlyallwebsiterulesbutwhichisalsounique.MaybeyoudesignanIDorpasswordsomethinglike k7jyt14s that seems to work just about everywhere and surely nobody else willalreadyhaveit.OnthesurfaceyourmultipurposeuniversalIDorpasswordseemstobeagoodideauntilyourealizethatifoneofyourwebmerchantsturnsouttobeascofflaworifsomeonesomehowstealsyourIDandpasswordheorshenowhasaccesstoyourbankaccount, brokerage account, and every other website where you have registered! Bymaking things simple for yourself you have compromised yourself with every webrelationshipyouhave.

Theotherpotentialsolution,whichmanypeopleuse,istocreateasmalldatabaseofallyourIDsandpasswords.Wheretoputit?Onapieceofpaper?Wheretoputthat?Onthedesk.Thenitfallsoffofthedeskanddogeatsit.YounowhaveNoidsorpasswords!ThenyoudecidetogetseriousandbuysomedatabasesoftwareandcreateaPCdatabaseof your IDs and passwords.Hmmm, this is a really important database—.maybe youneed an ID and password for your ID/password database?Hmmm.Maybe you need abackupandrecoveryscheme?Youhavenowbecomeadatabasemanager!

Incaseyouaren’tdiscouragedaboutIDsandpasswordsyetthereisonemoreperil.WhateveryourIDandpasswordare,whenyousendthemtheyarealmostalwayssent“intheclear”;i.e.notencrypted.EvensitesthatuseencryptionforalltransactionsnormallydonotuseencryptiontoreceiveyourIDandpassword.Thismeansthatanunscrupulouspersonmightbeable to“sniff”your IDandpasswordfromthe Internet.Theywouldn’tneedtoevenknowwhoyouare.Theyjustknowtheyhaveawaytogainaccesstomanywebsitesasanimpersonatorofyou.Therehastobeabetterway.Fortunatelythereis.

InthenearfuturemostpeoplewillhaveadigitalIDalongwithanaccompanyingbiometric link such as a fingerprint, face print, voiceprint, iris or retina scan. ThecombinationofdigitalIDandbiometricmatchwillenableyoutoestablishyourselfasacompletelyuniqueperson.Atlastyouhavetheabilityinthedigitalworldtoestablishthatyouarewhoyousayyouare justasyoucanin thephysicalworld!Steponeis togetadigitalIDfromsomeonethatknowsforsurewhoyouareandwhoistrustedbyothersasareliablesourceforauthenticatingyou.Andwhowouldthissomeonebe?TheCertificateAuthority,orCA,is theplace.TheCAwillaskyoufor informationtovalidate thatyouare who you say you are. The degree of certainly they require will depend on yourintended use. For routine things like email perhaps asking your mailing address andmother’smaidennamewillbeadequate.IfyouaregoingtouseyourdigitalIDtomakemillionsofdollarsworthofpurchasesforyouremployerthenapersonalappearancemayberequiredwhereyoushowmultipleformsofidentificationandthentheCAgivesyouadisketteorotherformofdigitalID.

OvertimetherewillbemanyCAs.Governmentswilloperatethemaswillbanks,companies,andinstitutionsofallkinds.IntheorytherecouldbeoneCAthatauthenticateseveryoneandyouwouldhavejustonedigitalID.Intheoryyoucouldhavea“national”drivers’ license in your wallet (actually, most countries outside of America do) or a“universal”creditcardandthatonecardcouldbeusedforallpurposes.Intheory,butnotinpractice.CanyouimaginethatVISAorMasterCardorAmericanExpresswillgiveup

theirlogoonthecardandbepartofagenericID?Idon’tthinksoeither.Notonlydotheynotwanttogiveuptheirmarketingpresenceonthecardtheyalsodon’twanttotakeontheliabilityforprovidingageneralpurposedigitalIDthatyoucouldpotentiallyusetogotothehospitalforalegamputation.Ifthehospitalhappenstotakethewronglegoffofthewrong person the credit card company will surely not want to be liable for havingvalidatedthatyouarewhoyousayyouare.JustlikewehavemultiplephysicalIDsinourwalletwewillhavemultipledigitalid’s.

TheimportantthingisforaCAtobeabletobequitecertainthatyouarewhoyousay you are before they issue you a digital ID. This can happen in various ways. Forexample,Equifaxisaconsumercreditreportingcompanythathasinformationabout200+millionpeople.Theyknowyourname,yourlastfewaddresses,yourphonenumber,andinmanycasesyourmortgagebalance!Sowhentheyaskyouforcertaininformationtheycancompareittowhatisintheirdatabaseandifthereisamatchtheoddsareveryhighthattheycanindeedbesurethatyouarewhoyousayyouare.WiththisassurancetheycanissueyouadigitalIDorprovidetheinformationtoanotherthirdpartywhocanTHENissueyouthedigitalID.

DigitalIDsareactuallybeingissuedalreadyinsomepartsoftheworld.SingaporeandTaiwanhave establishedguidelines that provide forCA’s.Europehas established adirective that will enable CA’s across the continent. In fact theMinistry of Finance inSpainissuesdigitalID’sthatallowcitizenstomaketheirtaxpaymentsovertheInternet.ASpanishcitizencan logon to thesitebyentering theirpassword into theirbrowser.ThedigitalIDisstoredinthebrowseranddoesnothavetobepassedovertheInternetintheclear. Once authenticated, the Spanish citizen can pay taxes or check the status of taxpayments.TheU.S.governmentinJuly2000passedlegislationthatwillallowCA’stobeestablishedthatcanenabledigitalsignaturestobeusedanywhereinthecountry.

OnceyougetadigitalID,wheredoyoukeepitandhowdoesitwork?TherearetwopartstoyourdigitalID;apublicpartandaprivatepart.Thepublicpartissomethingyouwanttomakeeasilyavailabletoanyone.Thiswillbedescribedinmoredetailalittlebit furtheron.Theprivatepart of your ID is somethingyouwill keepveryprivate andnevershare itwithanyone.Wherewillyourdigital IDbestored?Therewillbea lotofchoicesincludingonourPCharddrive,inourmobilephone,insmartcardsinourwallet,inaPCMCIAcard,inanelectronicringonourfinger,orinatokenweweararoundourneck. A company called KeyNetica is developing products that will enable a broadspectrumof Internet users - everyday peoplewho do everyday things like banking andshopping-tomoveamongmanydifferentInternetaccessdevicesduringthecourseofadayusingaportablepersonalidentificationtoolthattheycanuseonalmostanycomputerviaa“USBflashmemorykey”.SinceallPC’sshippedtodayhaveaUSB“port”usedtoplug in printers, digital cameras, and other devices, the USB flash memory key couldenable you to plug your digital ID into any PC anywhere.Wherever you keep it, thedigitalIDisaveryempoweringcapability.

Does a digital IDmeanwe loseour privacy?No, quite to the contrary.ByhavingaDigitalIDyoucanestablishnotonlywhoyouarebutwhatprivacypreferencesyouwanttostandby.Ifyouchoosetobeanonymousyouwillbeableto.

Authentication(YouAreWhoYouSayYouAre)There are five important attributes in a world of digital IDs. The first is

authentication.OnceyouhaveadigitalIDyouwillnolongerhavetosendyourloginIDand password over the Internet. Your password goes no further than your smart card,token,oryourPC.Insteadyouwilluseyourpasswordtoenableanencryptedexchangeofdigital data between your PC (or phone or other information appliance) and the otherparty.Theresultoftheexchangeisthatbothpartieswillbeabletoconfirmthattheotherpartyisindeedwhotheysaytheyare.Ifyouhavealsoprovidedbiometricdatathepersonwill know not only that it was your ID but that it was actually you who initiated thetransactionandnotsomeonewhomayhave“borrowed”yourlogin/password.DigitalIDsarestoredinadigitalcertificate(hencetheoriginofthecertificateauthority)andduringtheinitialexchangeofinformationyouwillseesomeofthedatathatisstoredintheotherparty’scertificate.Forexample,youwillseewhoissuedtheIDtothemandyoucanusethis informationasanadditional input todeterminewhetheryouwant to trust theotherparty.Authenticationisthebeginning.Ifyouwanttobereallysureyoucanexaminetheotherparty’s“fingerprint”.Thisisanalogoustothesmallkeynumberembossedonyourhouse or car key. Your credit card statement, for example, may have the “fingerprint”printedonthestatementsoifyouwantedtoyoucouldcheckitagainstwhatappearedonthewebpagetobe100%certainthatthecreditcardcompany’swebsitewasindeedthem.

Authorization(WhoCanDoWhat)Now that you have established that who you are who you say you are (been

authenticated), various service providers such as banks, merchants, and others canauthorize you to do various things. This might include reading a subscription to apublication,banking,investingatanon-linebrokeragefirm,establishinganaccountwitha merchant so you can buy things without having to register each time you purchasesomething, or voting in local or national elections.Authorization goes deeper however.Sinceyouareauthenticated,youcanbeauthorizedtoauthorizeothers!Let’ssupposeyourcompanyhasanintranetapplicationthatallowsyoutoenrollannuallyforvariousmedicalanddental benefits.Supposeyouwanted to allowyour spouse todo this for you.Howwould thatwork? In today’sworld, unfortunately,manypeople don’t think twice aboutgivingtheirpasswordtoafriend,colleague,orrelative.Intomorrow’sworldthatisnotagood idea. A digital ID gives each of us great power and enables us to establish ourprivacy at the same time. Sharing our password with others dilutes that power. Analternativeapproachissimplytohaveawebapplicationthatallowsapersontoauthorizesomeoneelse todosomethingon theirbehalfwithoutgivingup theirown identity.Youauthenticateyourself and thenyouauthorizeyour spouse tobeable toenrollor changeyour medical and dental plan benefits. Then the health care provider or insurancecompanyknowsnotjustthatavalidIDandpasswordwereusedtoenroll,butthatinfact,thepersonusingtheapplicationwasauthorizedbyanauthenticatedperson.

Ifyoureadthefineprintaton-linebankingsitesyouwillfindthatyouagreethataslongasyourIDandpasswordwasusedtoexecuteatransactionthattheyarenotliableforitnotbeingyou.IfoneofyourchildrenfindsyourIDandpasswordandsellsyourportfolio(ordoublesthesizeofitonmargin)theon-linebrokerageisnotliable.Itwasyou!

Confidentiality(OnlyTheIntendedRecipientCanReadYourMessages)Thekiller application on the Internet is arguably still email.Unfortunately of the

trillionsofemailssenteachyearmostaresent“intheclear”.Inotherwordstheyarenotencrypted.Thinkaboutwritingyourmostsensitivepersonalthoughtsaboutsomeoneonaplainpostalcardanddroppingitinapostalboxortheslotatthepostoffice.Youwouldhavenoideawhomightbeabletoreaditasittravelsfrompostalboxtopostofficetopostofficetomailroomtointendedrecipient.Thatishowitiswithalltheemailsyousend!Youreallyhavenoideawhocanreadthem.WhenweallhaveDigitalIDstherewillbeabetterway. Ifyouwant to send Josef averyprivatemessage thatnobodybut Josef canreadyouwillgotoaCertificateAuthorityandgetacopyofJosef’spublickey.Youwillthen use your email program or other encryption software such as PGP (Pretty GoodPrivacy)toencryptyourmessagetoJosef.WhenJosefreceivesthescrambledmessagehedecrypts it using his private key.Nobody has Josef’s private key but Josef so you andJosefbothknowthatnobodybutJosefwasabletoreadthemessage.

Integrity(YouBothKnowNothingGotChanged)HowdoesJosefknowthattheemailreallycamefromyouandthatitwasn’taltered

insomemanneronitswaytohim?Aby-productofusingtheencryptionkeysisafunctioncalled “hashing”.A calculation ismade based on all the characters in themessage youcreate.This calculation is encryptedalongwith themessage.After thedecryption takesplace,thecalculationiscomparedtotheonethatwasmadeatthetimeoftheencryption.IftheyagreethenyoursoftwarewillineffecttellbothyouandJosefthatthemessagewasnotaltered.Also,themessagewas“signed”byyouusingyourprivatekey.JosefgetsyourpublickeyfromtheCAanddecryptsyourdigitalsignaturetoconfirmthatitwasactuallyyouwho“signed”it.

Non-Repudiation(NoOneCanDenyAConversationOrTransaction)Haveyoueverbeen told,“Wedidnot receiveany request fromyou tomake that

stock sale”orhaveyouhad to say, “Ididnot receive that confirmationnotice”? Ifyoureceiveanencryptedmessagefromsomeonethat is“signed”with theirDigitalID(withtheirprivatekey)andyouareabletodecryptitwiththeirpublickeythenyouknowthatthemessagemusthavebeen signedwith theirprivatekey.Only theyhave theirprivatekey,so theymusthavesigned it.Theycannotdeny it.Thisworks inbothdirections,ofcourse.Manymajorcountriesoftheworldhavenowpassedlegislationthatmakesdigitalsignaturesasgoodassignatureswithink.Theywillstandupincourt.Soonwewillrealizethattheyareactuallymuchbetterthanink.

Digital signatures are not perfect. Bruce Schneier, founder and CTO ofCounterpane Internet Security Inc., has pointed this out in great detail invariouswritings.This is because computers and computer software are notyet perfect. In order to trust the digital signature, we implicitly trust thehardware and software that enabled us to use our digital ID to create thedigitalsignature.Inspiteoftheimperfectionstherearemanyinstanceswheredigitalsignaturesareadequateandinfactaclearadvantageinefficiencyandeffectivenessversuscurrentmethods.Wherethedollarvaluethatdependsonthe signature is very high, strict security measures need to be taken in

proportion.

BackToTheGEWireTransferRemembermysagawithGECapitalintryingtowiremoneytomyattorney?Let’s

contrast that process with how it might have worked using a public key infrastructureapproachwiththefivesecurityfunctionsdescribedabove.

Authentication.Yes, Iwasauthenticatedby thebank.They lookedatmydriver’slicense and put a rubber stamp on the fax request form. The only difference was thatinsteadofamouseclickortwoitwasaharrowingfortyfiveminutesrunningaroundthestreetsofNewYorkonahotsummerday.

Authorization.Yes,IwasauthorizedbyGECapitalbecauseoncetheyreceivedtheauthenticationtheycouldlookupmyaccount,seethatIhadadequatefunds,andthereforeauthorizethefundstransfer.

Confidentiality. Sort of. If I call GE Capital and the person I am talking to isstanding at a fax machine and I am standing at a fax machine and I say “Ok, here itcomes”andtheysay“Ok,Iseeitcoming”thenarguablywecouldsayitisaconfidentialtransfer of information. In reality faxes tend to go from an outbox to an assistantwhotakesittoafaxmachinewheresomeonecouldbelookingovertheirshoulder.Andthenthedocumentisfaxedtoanumberandreceivedina“faxroom”tobereadbyanyonewhohappenstopickitup.Andofcoursetherewasthehassleoffindingafaxmachineandthetimedelay.Hardlyamouseclick.

Integrity.Definitely not.This is the real flaw in themanual paper based process.WhenthefaxwastakenbymeorsomeoneelsetothefaxroomImayhaveplacedinonatable and made a quick run to the men’s room or gotten distracted by a phone call.Meanwhilesomeoneseesthewiretransferformandchanges$500to$50,000.Thentheformgetsfaxed.Whatamountgetswired?$50,000.Nointegrity.

Non-repudiation. You bet. The transaction will stand up in court. As far as GECapital is concerned I requested the wire transfer of $50,000. I was authenticated, thetransaction was authorized and the fax form was transmitted “confidentially”. If IcontestedthetransferIwouldprobablyloseincourt.

Sowhatismissing?Whycouldn’tIhavedonethistransferonthewebwithafewmouseclicksormobilephoneclicks?Technologyproblem?No.Securityproblem?No.ItistimefortheleadershipofinstitutionsofallkindstomoveforwardtomakedigitalIDsavailabletotheirconstituenciessothatTrustcanbeachieved.

OpenStandardsNeedToContinueToRuleAnotherdimensionofTrusthastodowithstandards.TheInternetistheonlythingI

knowofthatworksthesameeverywhere.Mostthingsworkdifferentlyindifferentpartsoftheworld.Thesideoftheroadwedriveon,thesideofthecarwedrivefrom,thewidthof the railroad tracks, theplugs thatweput in thewall; allworkdifferently around theworld.Butnot theInternet; itworksexactly thesameineverycornerof theworld.It isbasedonstandards.TherearealotofdebatesduringtheprocesswhileInternetstandardsare being developed but once published as a standard every vendor implements the

standard. The vendors compete on how well or how fast they are able to implementstandards but they do not compete by changing an Internet standard.As an applicationdeveloper,whenanapplicationisbuiltwithopenstandardsyoucanhaveahighdegreeofTrust that theapplicationwill interoperatewithotherapplications, that technicalsupportwill be available in the event of problems, and that there will be flexibility to changevendorsifappropriate.

An open standard means a standard that is supported on all informationtechnology platforms. XML and HTTP, for example, work withWindows,Unix, Linux, Apple, IBM, HP, and all PC’s. There are other importanttechnologies like IBM’s mainframes or Microsoft’s Windows that aredominant in various ways. They support open standards, like XML andHTTP,buttheyarenotthemselvesopenstandards.

SoManyIssues;SoLittleTimeThefinalelementoftrustcomesfrompublicpolicy.Therearemanypolicyissues

that will affect the Internet — taxation, trade rules, jurisdiction over transactions,protection of intellectual property, privacy, and others. Although the Internet istransferring “Power to the People” there is still an important role for governments andglobal organizations. Generally speaking, regulations are not needed but thoughtfulstandardsandcooperativepolicyworkare.Theprivatesectorneedstoprovideaggressiveleadership.Wecan’tdelay.Wehavetoanticipatetheimpendingissuessuchasprivacyandrunhardandfast toaddress them.Thealternative is towaituntil thepoliticalpressuresresultinregulationthat,inmanycases,maybedifficultandcostlytoimplement.

M

PartThree

AttitudesforsuccessPart3oftheoriginalbookwasallaboutattitude.Technologyandappshavechanged dramatically since 2001, but the need for a net attitude has notchanged. If you want to be ahead of the competition, the need for a netattitudeisgreaterthanever.Theprinciplesbehindanetattitude,sofar,aretimeless.

In the firstchapter ofPart3 I described in detail the culture behind a netattitude. What is it? How do you get it? The second chapter was aboutorganizingtogetthingsdone.ThethingsIdescribedabouta“skunkworks”approach to innovation continue to servemewell.The ideaof small teamsworking together in which it is okay to fail is fundamental to success.Mymantrawasandstillis,“Thinkbig,actbold,startsmall,anditerateoften”.This simple mantra is often re-tweeted by those who are believers.Healthcare.govhasshownwhathappenswhenyoudonotfollowthismantraIt was reported the management behind healthcare.gov purposely did notwanttogetthesiteoutthereearlyforfearofpoliticalcriticismofbugs.

ThesecondchapterofPart3isaboutkidsandseniorsgettingatasteoftheculture.Theybothprovidedmanylessons.Thefinalchapterwasaboutwhatto do once you get a net attitude. It contained a checklist of actions andphilosophiesmanagerscanadopttoleverageanetattitude.ImodifiedthelistinHealthAttitudesomewhattoincludenewertechnologies,buttheprinciplesremainvalidandaremoreimportantthanever.Iwouldsayhowyoumodifiedit.

y first keynote speech about the future of the Internetwas at InternetWorld inDecember1994.Comparedtotodaythewebatthattimewasverycrude.Itdidn’t

make the dramatic change in one big step though. It evolved. Seems like everymonththere has been a new technology, a newversionof a browser, the introductionof Java,JavaScript,streamingaudio;alotofthingsthatcumulativelyaddeduptowhatwethinkofastheInternettoday.ThatsamepathiscontinuingtohappentothenextgenerationoftheInternet.Asbreakthroughsaremade in the laboratoriesof companies,governments anduniversities thatprogressgets incorporated into the Internetand it therebymorphs itselfinto a commercial version of the prototypes that are in the labs. And then the processrepeats.ConstantevolutionisthehallmarkoftheInternet.

Meanwhile, the Internet has transferred “Power to the People” and theirexpectationsare risingby theday.Moreandmorepeoplearecoming to theNetbutanincreasingnumberarenotsatisfied.TheNGi isunderdevelopmentand thefast,alwayson,everywhere,natural, intelligent,easyand trustednewmediumwillprovidemanyofthecapabilitiesthatcansatisfypeopleinnewandexcitingways.ButthereisabigIF.Thetechnologywillonlydothejobifitisappliedintherightcontext–callitattitude–that

lines up with the cultural aspects of the Net. Mastering the technology and the newbusinessmodelsisdifficultbutachievable.Thehardpartismasteringtheattitudethatisnecessarytobothattractthetalentneededandtosatisfytheexpectationsofcustomersandall the other constituencies. Getting the people on board to help build successful e-businessesande-marketplaceswillrequirethatsameattitude.Onceyourecruitthemtheattitudebecomesevenmoreimportantsothatyoucanmotivateandretainthebesttalent.

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CHAPTER11

GettingAnAttitudeThischapterdescribedhowtogetanetattitude.Someofthecharacteristicsofanon-existentnetattitude,unfortunately, still aboundon thewebsitesofmajor organizations of all kinds. Some websites and emails still use ALLCAPS because they want to place EMPHASIS on something. FUNDSRECEIVED. ACCOUNT PAST DUE. Most people don’t like getting ALLCAPSintheirface.Itisunpleasanttoreadandhardontheeyes.

In my book Health Attitude, I wrote about the difficulty of truncatedabbreviationsused in explanatory sectionsofhealthcarebenefit statements.These statements showing only truncated abbreviations make the benefitexplanation statements almost impossible to understand.13 The reasons fortheunreadabledocumentsarepartly technical,butIattribute itmostly toalack of net attitude in the people who are responsible for designing thestatements.Itappearstheydon’tthinkitisimportanttomakethemeasierforcustomerstounderstand.

Theclassicexampleofapoornetattitude, thecall center,which Iused14yearsago,stillhasn’timproved.Thepre-recordedvoicebeginswith,“Pleasepayattentionbecauseourmenushaverecentlychanged.”Ifyoupress“0”,yougetaresponsesaying,“Youhavepressedaninvalidkey”.“Pleaseenteryour16digitaccountnumber” isoften followedby,“What isyouraccountnumber?” These annoying, often repetitive responses are not due to atechnicalproblem.Theyareduetoalackofnetattitude.

This chapter explored the dimensions of Netiquette. Netiquette is acombinationof“Net”and“etiquette”.Netiquettehasevolvedovertheyearsbut its role to make electronic communications more pleasant, as well asmore effective, continues to be a key element of net attitude. Many otherexamplesofNetiquettealsowerediscussed.Thevocabularyofnetattitudeismore important than ever as users find it easier than ever to change to acompetitor’swebsite.

etattitudemeansthinkingaboutthingsinawaymuchdifferentthanthewaymanyofusgrewup.WeneedtothinkalongthelinesofthedevelopmentoftheInternet;

tothinklikethosewhowerepartofthegrassrootsdevelopmentoftheInternet.Weneedtothink more “outside” than “inside”. Thinking big is important but starting simple andgrowing fast are even more important. Good security starts with attitude – not withtechnology.Weneedtoutilizetherigidsixsigmaqualitythinkingforsomeprojectsbutleaveitatthedoorstepothersandadoptajustenoughisgoodenoughapproach—trialbyfire–forothers.Weneedtolearnhowtogetrequirementsdirectlyfromthemarket–notfromcomplicatedprocessesandstudies.Weneedtobelieveinsmallteamsandgivethemmaximum freedom of action. We also need to think differently about informationtechnologysystems;inparticulartoadoptanattitudeforrapiddeploymentandintegration

ofapplications.TheNetmakesitpossibletocommunicateinnewwaysandanattitudeofover-communicationsisusuallytherightone.Lastbutnotleastahealthynetattitudecanbestbeadoptedifyougetarealtasteoftheculture.Thebestwaytodothatistotalktoyourkids.

ANewVocabularyIsNeededBusiness vocabulary needs to change in a hurry. “Please call during our normal

businesshoursofninetofiveMondaytoFriday”doesn’tevencomeclosetotherealitiesof a connectedworld.The sourceof theproblem is usuallybasedon an attitude that iscentered in thepast–andmanyyearsofhabit. It is ingrained intobusinessvocabulary.EvensomenewInternetstartupshavesomehowadopted theold language.Youfind theoldvocabulary innewspapers,you find iton thedoorsof stores,andyou find iton theweb.Youwon’t find it onmany homepages but if you drill down far enough onmostwebsites youwill eventually get to something that essentially says “Oh, if you need toknowthat,thencallusninetofiveMondaytoFriday”.

Companiesshouldbantheoldhoursofoperationfromtheirwebsites.Make24x7servicethemantra–faxesbyspecialrequestonly.Sendthesignalthatyoure-businessisprogressive and ready to serve customers around the clock and using moderncommunicationsmethods.Somemaysay,“Butnine to five is reallywhenweareopen.This iswhenwehavealwaysbeenopen.”Theyarethinkingaboutwhentheyarein theofficeinsteadofwhenpeopleareoutthereontheweblookingforhelp.Somecorporatemanagersevensaythattheycan’taffordtheextralaborcosttohandlealltheinquiriesthatmaycomefromanaround theclockwebsite.Peoplewithnetattitudesalivateabout thepossibilityofsuchaproblem!Asmoreandmorecustomerscomeonlineitmaycallforarestructuring ofwork hours. Carefulmonitoring ofweb traffic can be used tomap theavailability of on-line chat support to the pattern of web visits. Support resources cantelecommutetoprovidethesupport.

Thenthereisthefax.Hereafax;thereafax;everywhereafax.Thevocabularyofthefaxisequallyingrainedasthehoursofoperation–thewordsjustrollofthetongue.Even businesses that have email systems routinely ask for your fax number when yourequest information. It is a habit that is hard tobreak.Emailmessages surpassed “snailmail”messagesinthelastmillennium.Gettinganemailaccountisafreeserviceofferedbymanysourcesandemail isstill themostpopularuseof theInternetandyet,when itcomes to the “forms” of theworld, the fax continues as amainstream communicationstool. The information that gets delivered via fax often gets entered into a computer;sometimes the same computer that the information came from! It’s habit and attitude.Makeemailinformationdeliverythenormandofferfaxbyspecialrequestonly.Changethevocabulary.Highlighttheavailabilityofpricequotes,productinformation,andsupportrequestsbyemail.Thinkofemailasanadvertisingmedium.MostemailprogramsnowsupportHTMLmail,whichmeansthatanemailcanlooklikeawebpage,completewithcolor,graphics,andmultimedia.Everyemailcanhaveanepiloguewithcompanyspecialsor additional product information. Get rid of the old medium and pizzazz to yourcommunications.

The concept of a “maintenancewindow” for a website is also an old habit. Thevocabulary is ingrained – “down for maintenance”. If the site is not yet up to 24 x 7

standards technically, then at least express a net attitudewhen explaining to customers;“Weapologize toanyofourvaluedcustomers inpartsof theworld thatare seeing thissystemoutagewhilewemakesomenecessaryimprovements”.

JustSayNOToALLCAPSPartofvocabularyconsistsof thewordsweuseandpart ishowwepresent those

words.Asinformationgetsrelayedbetweenbuysandsellersinthesupplychainitoftengetsconvertedtoalluppercaseletters.SomepeoplecreateALLCAPSbecausetheywanttoEMPHASIZEsomething.Mostpeopledon’tlikegettingALLCAPSintheirface;itisunpleasanttoread.FUNDSRECEIVED.ACCOUNTPASTDUE—andotherunfriendlysnippets.Somecompaniesevensendyouemailinthesamemanner.GREETINGS.GETRICHQUICK.TypinginallCAPITALSislikeshoutingoryellinginsomeone’sear.Itistime tomakeuser-friendly text the ruleanduseupper-casewordsonly tomakeapointand,eventhen,tousetheminaveryrestrainedmanner.Ifyou’dliketoemphasizecertainwords,considerhighlightingthemwith**asterisks**.

Some of us can rememberwhenmessagingwas still amatter of sending a FEWALPHANUMERICCIPHERS from one dumb terminal to another. And, of course, wewroteinALLCAPS—acharmingholdoverfromtheindustry’srootsintheoldkeypunchdays,beforelowercaselettersexisted.Properuseofletters,abbreviations,andsymbolsispart of Netiquette. As the term implies, Netiquette is a combination of “Net” and“etiquette”. Netiquette has evolved over the past few years and its role is to makeelectroniccommunicationsmorepleasant,aswellasmoreeffective.

DavidSinger, senior technical staffmember andguardianofNet culture atIBMCorporation,offerssomeadditionalbasics:

Thebasicruleofnetiquetteistoshowconsiderationfortheotherparty.Stopandthinkhowtheotherpersonislikelytoreceiveyourcommunication.

Usewhitespacetomakethingseasiertoread.Don’trunyourentiremessageintoonelongparagraph.

Ifyou’rereplyingtoamessage,onlyquoteasmuchofitasyouneedtomakeyourpoint.Don’tquote theentiremessageandthenaddaoneor twowordcomment like “I agree”. You ca also preface paragraphs with the sender’sinitials.

Bebrief.Yourrecipientsareprobablyasbusyasyouare!

“Emoticons”canbeusefulbut, ifyousaysomethingnot soniceand try totake thestingoutof theremarkbyusinga<g> to representagrinor :-) torepresentasmile, itusuallydoesn’twork. Ifyou thinkyourphrasingmightoffendthereader,fixthelanguage—don’trelyona“smiley”toconveyyourfeelings.

Abbreviations,likebtwfor“bytheway”orimhofor“inmyhumbleopinion”or iac for “in any case” can be helpful and save typing, but should not beoverused.

Therearetimestousee-mailandtimestousethephone.E-mailisgenerally

NOTgoodforsolvingconflictorforemotionallychargedsubjects.Messagesshould be concise and to the point. Think of your memo as a telephoneconversationthatyouaretypinginsteadofspeaking.

Communicate,Communicate,AndCommunicateIn1993anumberofuswere talkingabout theInternetat IBMandsomeonesaid

“HowdowemakemoneyontheInternet?Weallagreedwehadnoideabutonethingweall knew for surewas that Internetwas surely thegreatest tool ever for communicatingbothtoouremployeesandtoourexternalconstituencies.Goneforeverwerethewordsinan internal announcement “For more information see your manager” or for externalannouncements “For more information, please contact your IBM MarketingRepresentative”.

Effective communications is a challenge in any organization, large or small.Keymessagesfromthetopoftenget“filtered”ontheirwaydownthechainofcommand.Anemail, on the other hand, can go directly from theCEO to all employees to personallymakeapoint, introduceanewidea,explainashift incompanystrategy,orcongratulateandrecognizeasignificantaccomplishment.Theemailcanberepletewithhyperlinkstowebpages on the company intranet.The email becomes the “push”mechanism to drivepeopletotheintranetwheretheycanfindmuchmoreinformation.

InJuly1995IBMmadeahostiletakeoverofLotusDevelopmentCorporation.Theannouncementwasmadetothepressatteno’clockinthemorningandatthatverysamemomentanInternetwebsitecamealivetoenableLotusemployeestoseeapictureofLouGerstner, IBM’s chairman, and hear his words through a recorded “webcast” as hedescribedIBM’svisionforacquiringLotus.Theemployeesdidn’thavetoreadtheWallStreetJournalortheBostonGlobetogetareporter’sversionofwhatLouGerstnersaidatthepressconference–theycouldgetittimelyand“straightfromthehorse’smouth”!Allmajor companies have issues that arise from time to time;mergers, product liability oremployee suits, government investigations, or financial surprises.There is no substituteforgettingtheinformationtoemployeesfirsthand.

Thewebcast has emerged as a powerfulway to communicate. The concept is tocapture theaudioandvideoofa speech, convert it todigital form (encoding), and then“stream” it (webversionofbroadcast)over the intranetor Internet.Manyorganizationsdon’t takeadvantageofwebcastingbecauseof fearsof inadequatebandwidth todeliverthecontentwithgoodquality.Thisisoftenavalidconcernbuttherearecleverwaystogetaroundtheproblem.Awebcastdoesnothavetobelive.Chancesarealltheemployeesarenotavailabletowatchitliveanyway.AtIBM,speechesarecapturedandthenstoredina“videojukebox”.WhenamajorspeechbytheCEOorotherexecutiveistotakeplaceanannouncementgoesoutviaemailandencouragesemployeestoparticipateinitiftheyareable but if not to visit the video jukebox andwatch it at their leisure. During the livewebcast,thenumberofemployeesallowedto“getin”tothewebcastislimitedjustlikeseats inanauditoriumare.Thisallowsforcontrolledbandwidthusageandgoodqualityfor those who are able to get in. Others watch it later in the day or the next day orwhenevertheygetachance.Thevideojukeboxbecomesaninvaluablelibraryofcontentovertime.

Apersonalwebsitecanmakeyourlifeveryinteresting.In1995IwasgettingalotofcallsfrompeopleaskingforacopyofthepresentationIwasgivingatInternetWorldandvariousplaces.Idecidedtobuildawebsiteofmyownandlaunchedwww.ibm.com/patrickasaplacetoputcopiesofmypresentations.Itevolvedtobecomeanefficientwayformetoshareandbecomepartofthecommunity at large. There is a lot to be learned by being “out there” –activelycreatingcontentforyourownsiteandespeciallyfromthefeedbackpeoplegiveyou.Itisalsoagoodfeelingtobeabletolendahandtopeoplewhocometothesitelookingforsomething.My“Gadgets”sectionhasalotofthingsinitbuttheonethathasgottenthemostattentionforsomereasonisthePepperBall (an ingenious gadget that grinds pepper as you squeeze itstwohandles).NumerouspeoplehavesentmeemailaskingwhereIboughtitandmorethanonehavesentmemailaskinghowtorefillitwithpepper!Onewomanwrote“Mr.Patrick-thankyouforrespondingaboutthepepperball.Ihavebeensearching theworldoverforhowtorefill itandno ideaIwouldfinallygettheanswerfromavicepresidentatIBM.”

StayingConnectedToTheRealWorldNumerousnewspaperstorieshavecommentedaboutemployeesatcompanieswho

arespendingtoomuchtimeontheweb.Chartsandgraphshaveshownthehoursperdayorweekthattheseemployeesaresurfing,theimplicationbeingthattheyarewastingtime.IhaveheardmultiplemiddlemanagersandCEO’ssaythingslike“Idon’twantourpeoplesurfingtheweb.Wehaverealworktogetdonearoundhere!”Thepresumptionisthatthepeople on the web are shopping or trading stocks or chatting with friends or a familymember. If that is true (and surely it is to some degree) is it bad? Do people bring anewspapertoworkintheirbriefcase?Dopeopleeverdoanyshoppingontheirlunchhouronthephone?Ordotheytakeevenmoretimeawayfromworkbydrivingsomewhereforanerrandtheycoulddoonthewebinstead?

Inabigorganizationitissoeasytospendallofyourtimetalkingoremailingwithcolleagues.That ishowbigcompaniescan lose touchwithcustomersandmarkets.TheInternethastransferredpowertopeople.Theycannowcommunicateacrossmanagementlayers,havediscussiongroupsabout technologiesorproducts, learnwhat isgoingonatcompetitors,findoutwhoishiringwhatskills, learnofnewresearchinitiatives,explorenewproductideas,providereal-timefocusgroupstogetaleadonrequirements,andlinkdirectlytoanycompanyoftheirchoosingtofacilitatesalesorpurchases.MoreimportantthantheuseoftheNetasanewmediumforefficientcommunicationsisthatbyspendingtime on the web they stay connected externally and generally become much betterinformedaboutwhatishappeningintherealworld.Mostofthepeopleintheworldareoutside the organization. Let people in your organization stay connected to them. ThealternativeistocutoffInternetaccessforemployees(whichsomecompaniesactuallydo)andineffectputallheadsinthesand.Worryifyourpeoplearenotspendingenoughtimeontheweb.

“Outside-In”The concern over employees spending toomuch time on the Internet is a classic

“Inside-out”attitude.Itisafocusonwhatisgoingoninsidethecompanyororganization.There are still many executives and managers who don’t realize that the key to beingeffective inmarkets is understanding the competition,knowingwhat is goingonat keyuniversitiesintechnologyareasthatareimportanttotheirbusiness,andexperiencingnewtrendsandnewbusinessmodelsfirsthand.Isitpossiblethatifexecutivesfromthemusicindustry, or financial services industry, or publishing industry had spent more time“outside” than “inside” that theymay have developed newmodels for their businessesinsteadoflatergettingonthedefenseaboutthewebandinsomecaseslosingfocusandspendinglargeamountsofmoneytryingtostopthenewmodels?

Inside-out isapharmaceuticalcompanywebsite thatcontains informationaboutanewdrugonlyfromtheperspectiveofwhatthecompanywantsyoutoknow.Allthelinksonthesitearetocompanypublicationsandcompanyperspective.AnOutside-inapproachwouldacknowledgethat therearesourcesoutsideof thecompanythatmaybeofvalue.Anoutside-insitewouldprovidelinkstokeyuniversitieswherejointworkisbeingdone,independent healthcare sites, and even discussion groups that are focused on thecompany’sproducts.Thereisinfactalotofinformationouttherethatmaybeusefultocustomersandiftheproductistrulyagoodproduct,itsmeritswillemergeindiscussionbyothersandaddcreditabilitytostatementsmadebythecompany.Providinganexternallinkshouldnotimplythatthecompany“suggested”thatyougothereandshouldnotmakethecompanyliableifapersongoestoadiscussiongroupandtakesanactionthatresultsinnegativeconsequencesfor theperson.Providingexternal linksshouldbeviewedasaserviceandanacknowledgementthatthereisalotofinformationoutsideofthecompany.

ThereisalotbeingsaidonwebsitesandInternetdiscussiongroupsaboutvirtuallyevery subject and organization. Do you know what people are saying about yourorganizationandyourproducts?Akeydecisioniswhatapproachdoyoutaketodealingwiththeinformationthatexists.Oneapproachistojustmonitorit,butamoreproactiveapproach is often better. By participating directly an organization can gain greatcreditability–assumingyouarealwayscompletelyforthcoming.Anyattempttoputoneover on a discussion group will be detected almost immediately and recovery from itwould take a very long time. Interacting, listening hard, empathizing, explaining,describingactionsthatwillbetakentoresolveproblemsdiscussed,etc.canleadtoaleveloftrustthatcanendure.

NameThatProductThere aremany dimensions toOutside-in versus Inside-out. Product naming is a

good example. I have always wondered about the model names of various consumerelectronicdevices.AnybodyeveraskyouwhatmodelDiscmanorBoomBoxyouhave?YoutakealookandfinditistheModelQLP-5810CSi.Nowthereisamemorableuser-friendlymodelnumber!Itwasnamedinside-outinsteadofOutside-in.Thereareprobablysomegoodinternalreasons,perhapsbasedonengineeringordistributionchannelfactors,forthemodelbeingcalledtheQLP-5810CSi.ItiswhatsomeoneInsidewantstocallitinsteadofwhatsomeoneOutsidecanremember.ItmakesperfectsensetopeopleInsideandnosenseatalltopeopleOutsidethecompany.AppleisagreatexampleofOutside-inthinkingintheirproductnaming.IsuspecttherewereatleastsomeproductdevelopmentengineersatApplethatthoughtnamingtheirneatnewcomputerafterafruitwasareally

stupididea.

Thereare currentlybillionsofwebpagesout there.Which is easier to remember?http://23.124.65.129or netattitude.org?TheDomainNameSystem (DNS)was inventedso that people would not have to remember the Internet Protocol address (like23.124.65.129)butrathercouldjustuseaname.ThenameisOutside.TheIPaddressisInside. Part of communications is giving names to people that they can remember.TheshoppingsiteatIBMis

http://commerce.www.ibm.com/content/home/shop_ShopIBM/en_US/home_840.html

Hardly something anyone can remember. The printed ads of the company referpeopletoibm.com/shop.TherearegoodInsidetechnicalreasonswhytheURLmayneedtobe longandugly.Comingupwith simplealiasesallowvisitors to think in theirownterms,notthetermsoftheserveradministratororsystemspeople.

TheCallCentersWeLoveTheultimateininsideoutmentalityistheautomatedcallcenter.Whatisgoingon

withcallcenters?TheyareInside-out.Thecallcenterisincharge.Themenusfrominsidearecontrollingyou.Don’tdare tosecond-guess themenusoryouwillwasteevenmoretime.Thecompanyissavingtime.Youaregettingfrustrated.Thereishopeonthehorizonandinfactmanycompaniesaremovingfast tointegratetheircallcenterswiththeweb.Theintegrationisabigsteptowardtheoutside-inmodel.AtIBMthereisanautomatedcall center for annual enrollment in the employee medical and dental plans. It hascountlesschoices,options,andmenus.IusedtodreadthattimeofyearwhenIwouldhavetogo through theenrollment. In theyear2000an intranetapplicationwas installed thatshows all the options on awebpage.You look them over, check the options youwant,clickforhelpasneeded,andclicksubmitwhenyouaresatisfiedwithyourchoices.Youknowwhatyouwantandthewebpageletsyouhavecontrolovertheprocess.Outside-in.

Groovin’WithPeer-To-PeerPerhaps themostprofoundOutside-inmodelwillbepeer-to-peercomputing.The

adventofpowerfulPC’splusanAlwaysonInternetmakes thisnewmodelpracticalformany purposes. There is no central authority. While the peer-to-peer model lacksconnections and integrationwith thevast amount of enterprise data and is only a smallpieceofthefullcollaborationneedsoftheenterprise,itwillclearlyhavevalueformanypeople.Muchlike thePCandLocalAreaNetworksallowedusers in theeighties toby-passtheCIOandmeettheirownneeds,peer-to-peercomputingmayenableuserstosharefiles and documents without “permission” from any central authority. The hype in themediamaybeoverdoneonpeer-to-peerbutitclearlyrepresentsanewcomputingmodelthat will add value. Many CIO’s had the attitude that PCs and LANs were not “realcomputing” and they ignored what was happening. By the time they were forced toembraceit,alotofcontrolhadbeenlostandittookmorethanadecadetogetthingsbackundercontrol.The Internethasshownus thatnewmodelscanemergequicklyandsoagoodnetattitudewouldbetotakeanynewcomputingmodelseriously,getanearlypilotgoing,andevaluatethepotential.

Peer-to-peerisacaseof“It’sallinthename”.Whilepeer-to-peerisveryreal

asapotentiallyemergingshift in informationtechnology, it isn’tquitewhatmeets the eye. While various kinds of computer files can be transferreddirectly from one PC to another, most of the peer-to-peer technologiesactuallyhave some relianceon a server.Napster uses a server toprovide adirectory of who has music to share and Groove has a central server forregistration and to provide users the latest version of their software. DanPowers, a former I/T manager and now director of early stage Internettechnology at IBM says, “There is no such thing as pure peer-to-peer. Ihaven’tfoundacaseyetwheretherewasn’taserverinvolved”.

ThinkGloballyAndActLocallyTheInternetistheultimatedecentralizedsystem.Itisoftensaidthatthereasonthe

Internet works so well is that nobody is in charge! Many organizations still run theirwebsites in the sameway.Organizationswithnumerousdivisions, groups, departments,etc.oftenwant toallowforautonomyin thecreationofwebcontent.Thereareobviousmerits to enabling autonomy but the results can backfire in a major way. While theInternet provides the best ever method of communications, the autonomous sites maycreatemultipleimages,multiplemessages,orworseyetconflictingmessagesaboutwhattheorganizationin total isabout.Someorganizationsdon’tsee thisasaproblemandinfact do not want any overall identity but increasingly organizations are finding thatconsolidatingandcentralizingofferseconomiesofscaletheycan’taffordtopassup.Itcanalsoenablethemtobemorecompetitive.

Fortunately,theInternetcanletyouhaveitbothways.Decentralizethecreationofcontentbutcentralizethewaythatcontentgetsplacedontheweb.Creatingtemplatessothatalldepartments,divisions,etc.willhaveanidenticallookandfeeltotheirwebpagescandothis.Thisresultsinastrengthenedandconsistentimageoftheorganizationoverall.There is a caution, however. Avoid thinking Inside-out. Regardless of your internalwranglesandinconsistencieswithinanorganization,someonehastohavethepresenceofmindtohaveempathywiththepeoplevisitingthesiteandsay“whatdowewantpeopleto think of our company?”— how should it look to the outsider? Templates give theuniformitythatgivestheimpressionof“onevoice”,butitrequiressomeeditorialcontroltoensurethatconflictingmessagesaren’tbeingpresentedinsideofagreatpagestructureandcolorscheme.

Actually,theoperationoftheInternetismoreorganizedthanyoumaythink.Although no one “owns” the Internet there are in fact a number oforganizationsthatproposeanddevelopstandardsthatmakeitallwork.

OneoftheoriginaldesignprinciplesoftheInternetwastomakeitworkevenifpartsofthenetworkweretofail.Aslongasbothendsofacommunicationssessionremainconnected,thesessionwillsurviveinternalfaultsinthecoreofthenetwork.BrianCarpenter,formerchairmanoftheInternetArchitectureBoard and now chairman of the Internet Society, says “That was anengineeringchoice,butbytheLawofUnintendedConsequences,itturnsoutthatasaresulttheInternetdoesn’tneedcentralmanagementinthesamewaythat(say)thetelephonenetworkdoes.Sooperationally,nobodyisincharge”.Thousands of Internet Service Providers compete and but also collaborate.

Hundreds of hardware and software vendors supply technology to the ISPsandusers,millionsof systemsget plugged together—and somehow, it allworks.This doesn’t happen entirely by chance.There are technical standards suchthatwhen two, or twomillion, boxesget plugged together, thepackets canflow and applications can interoperate. The technical standards come frommany organizations, including the International Organization for Standards(ISO)andtheInternationalTelecommunicationUnion(ITU),bothinGeneva,Switzerland.

ThebasicstandardsthatdefinehowtheInternetactuallyworkscomefromagroup called the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). The IETF isunusualbecauseitisnotalegalentitywithdefinedmembership-itissimplya world-wide group consisting of a couple of thousand very committedengineers from many companies and universities from all over the world,whomeet threetimesayear inperson,and365daysayearbyemail.Theyargue, debate and ultimately agree on the basic technical standards of theInternet. The motto of the IETF is “rough consensus and running code”,meaning that rather than taking a formal vote, the IETF’s working groupsmake decisions on the basis of argument and practical experience. BrianCarpenter says, “This isn’t always the fastest or simplest way to make adecision,butitdoesleadtogoodengineeringchoices”.

A unique feature of the IETF is that it is self-governing: its managementcommittees (the Internet Architecture Board and the Internet EngineeringSteeringGroup)arenominatedbytheactivemembershipoftheIETF,notbystakeholders such as governments or companies as inmost other standardsorganizations. The IETF’s standards are published in what are called“RequestsforComments”knownintheindustryasRFCs.Thenamereflectstheopen-mindednessoftheIETF.RFC1wasissuedinApril1969andRFC3001inNovember2000.

Another important source of Internet standards is the World-Wide WebConsortium (W3C). This is a more traditional organization with corporatememberships.TimBerners-Leeandahandfulofcompanies,includingDigitalEquipmentandIBM,foundeditin1994.TheW3Cconcentratesonspecifictechnology standards for theweband these standardshavea lot todowithhowwebpagesactuallylookandwhattheycando.OthermajorcontributionsoftheW3Chaveincludedstandardsforprivacyandfortheratingofcontent.

SotheIETFandtheW3Careincharge?“Hardly”,saysCarpenter.Therearedozens of technical organizations around the world that help to keep theInternetaliveandwell.

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CHAPTER12

OrganizingToGetThingsDoneThischapteroutlinesnetattitudeswhichcanhelpmanagersaccomplishworkmoreeffectively.Anetattitudeismorethanawayofthinking.Itisawaytogetresults.Idiscussedtheimportanceofhavingaskunkworksforinnovationandhowtousesmallteamswithmaximumfreedomofaction.Idescribesomeadditionalnetattitudeprincipleswhichcontinuetobeinvaluable:“Failandfail often”, “Just enough is good enough”, “Avoiding the one-size-fits-allapproach”,and“Trialbyfire”.Eachwasdescribedwithexamples.

hemostimportantingredientstoaccomplishinggreatthingsasane-businessaretofind, attract, recruit, hire,motivate, and retain really great people. Every year the

crop of students gets better so you have to continually raise the bar— look at everymovementofstaffandaskyourselfifyouareimprovingyourhand.Everyonehastonotonlybring something to the tablebut bringuniquevalue to theoverall equation.Whenthingsareworkingrightthewholeorganizationbreedsandfeedsonitself.Ifthecaliberofyourteamishigh,there’samuchgreaterlikelihoodofbeingabletoattractadditionalhighcaliberpeople.Onceyouhavethemitiscriticaltonurtureandsupportnetattitudeandtohavecreativeprogramstotakeadvantageoftheirskills.

TheSkunkWorksEveryCEOIhavemethasaskedhow tomakee-businesswebprojectsgo faster.

EveryCIOIhavemetworriesaboute-businesswebprojectsgoingtoofast.TheCIOhasspent decadesgetting information technologyunder control andmaking it reliable.Fastmovingprojectsaresometimesinconflictwiththatgoal.Thesolutiontothedilemmaismultifacetedbutonekeyelementistohavea“SkunkWorks”whererapidprototypingisthemodusoperandi.

As far as I can tell, the origin of the term Skunk Works was at the LockheedCorporation.Foroverahalfcentury,theSkunkWorksbuiltareputationthatisuniqueintheworld.Almost routinely, this elite group has created breakthrough technologies andlandmarkaircraftthatredefinedthepossibilitiesofflight.

The Skunk Works was created to design and develop the P-80 Shooting Star,America’sfirstproductionjetaircraft.Sincethentheyhavecreatedastringoffirsts.Inthe1950’swastheU-2,whichtothisdaydefinesthepossibilitiesofhigh-altitudejetaircraft.ThentherewastheSR-71Blackbirdwhich,withitstitaniumairframeisstillthefastestjetaircraft in the world. The F-117A Stealth Fighter, which incorporated low-observabletechnologyintoanoperationalattackaircraft,createdarevolutioninmilitarywarfare.ItscapabilitiesweredemonstrateddramaticallyincombatduringtheGulfWar.

The company, nowLockheedMartin, says the key has been to “identify the bestindividualtalentsinaviation,blendandequipthemwitheverytoolneeded,thenprovidecompletecreativefreedomsotheymayarriveatanoptimumsolutioninshortorder.“Thissimpleformulaishighlyeffectivenotonlyforcreatingstateoftheartaviationbutalsofor

anykindofcorporateendeavor.

LockheedMartinSkunkWorkscontinuestoserveasawellspringofinnovationfortheentireorganizationandastheybuildadvancedaerospaceprototypes,andcontributetotechnology research and systems development. Lockheed Martin says this happensbecausetheyare“notbigontitlesorprotocol-justgettingthejobdone,regularlymeetingschedulesontimeandunderbudget.”

TheSkunkWorks got its name from the “SkonkWorks” ofAlCapp’sL’ilAbnercomic strip,where theyhadahidden still in a secludedhollow.Thenamestillfits,becauseexcitingthingscontinueto“brew”there.

SmallTeamsWithMaximumFreedomOfActionProduct development is typicallymanaged in a very structured organizationwith

multiplelevelsofmanagementandalotofcontrols.Thiscanbeeffectiveinmanycasesandisprobablynecessaryforextraordinarilycomplexprojectslikeputtingamanonthemoonbutthisapproachwilllikelynotbringanybreakthroughs.TheSkunkWorksusesadifferent model. Small teams with maximum freedom of action, very flat managementstructure,andminimalcontrolscanleadtobreakthroughideas–ifthepeopleareallowedtoworkbelowtheradartrackinglevelofthelargerbureaucracy.(Smallteamsofreallytoppeoplearealsomoreproductive,andhavemorefun,thanasignificantlylargerteam.)

SkunkWorksarealsogoodatfiguringoutwhatkeyproblemsthereareinexistingsystems—becausetheSkunkWorksmembershavenovestedinterest inthesuccessorfailureofthosesystems.Theycanoftensolveproblemsthatthelargerorganizationcan’tsolve because the larger organization is too close to the origins of the problem. It isusuallybesttolettheSkunkWorksfigureoutwhatthingstheyshouldworkonasopposedto “assigning” problemsor projects to them.Problems the organization thinks aremostimportant may not be optimal ones for the Skunk Works to invest in. The formalrequirements processes typically used to determine what should be developed don’talwaysanticipatesomeofthemostprofoundissuesandproblems.TheSkunkWorksoftenjuststumblesintoprofoundthingsifyoutrustthemandgivethemfreedomofaction.Theinstantmessagingsystembeingusedbyover200,000peopleatIBMdidnotcomeaboutbecause anybody asked for it or because a strategic planning or requirements processcalled it out. A few Internet software engineers stumbled into it, tried it out, built aprototype,andthennurturedit.Inacoupleofyearsitbecameanindispensableapplicationforthecompany.

AsubtlebutcriticallyimportantelementinasuccessfulSkunkWorksisexecutivesupport, or “air cover”.Thereneeds tobeawell respectedandhighlyplacedexecutivewhotruststhe“lunatics”whoareoutontheedge.Attimestheexecutivewillbescaredtodeath that aproject theSkunkWorks is pursuingwill fail, but has tohave thenerve toplaceabetonitandtrusttheteamtocomethrough.Visitingtheteamlateatnightoronaweekend,bringingpizzaandsoda,showingthatheorshecaresandhasaclueaboutwhatthe team is working on, even if they don’t really understand the details, are criticalingredients.Thelittletouchesmotivatetheteambeyondbelief.

ImpedanceMatching

OneofthebiggestchallengeswithaSkunkWorksisfiguringouthowtotaketheprototypesdevelopedbyasmallteamwitha“justenoughisgoodenough”mentalityandintegrate it with a more disciplined development process of the larger organization. Ineffectyouhaveatinygearspinningathighspeedtryingtosynchronizewithamuchlargerandslowerturninggear.Oneapproachtosolvingthisdilemmaistousean“impedance”matcher.Thinkof itasplacinga third in-between-sizedgearbetween thesmalloneandthelargeone.Ratherthanagear,ofcourse,itisasmallgroupofpeoplewhosemissionisto adapt the prototype to the standards of the larger organization. Their focus is notdeveloping itbut ratheradapting it, smoothingover the roughedges,andgetting it intogoodenoughconditionthatthelargerorganizationwilllookatitandsayitisgoodenoughtobeadoptedandtakentomarketorputintoproduction.Theresultisaspeedtomarketthat is a little slower than pure prototype butmuch faster than the full-blown process.Without the impedance matcher the larger organization is more likely to view theprototypeasavirusandseektoeradicateit.

FailAndFailOftenAsuccessfulorganizationhastobewillingtohaveprojectsthataregoingtofail.A

process designed to keep failures from happening is antithetical to a net attitude forinnovation. But you need to be able to declare a failure,move on, and not punish theparticipants for being assigned to (or even creating) the failure. A good processencouragespeople to submit ideas into themill asquicklyandasoftenaspossible andallow others downstream to figure out which ideas are worth pursuing further. Thereshouldbenopenaltyforputtinginanideathatgetsrated“close-noactionrequired”.

SkunkWorks are a vehicle for developingnew things, or for bringing alternativeideasforward–theyarenotauniversalanswertoallproblemsofinnovation.ForSkunkWorkstosucceed,thecompanyatsomepointmayhavetobecannibalistic.Childrenthatcome to life through the Skunk Works have to be able to eat their parents. In manycompanies there are countless examplesofbrilliant ideas and technologies that came tolife in Skunk Works fashion but were then squashed by the mainstream part of thecompany.Thesesame innovationsareoftensuccessfulwhen theyarebrought tomarketoutsideofthecompany.

alphaWorksThere are a number ofSkunkWorks scattered around IBMResearch laboratories

and other parts of the company. One thing they have in common is the challenge offindingapath tomarket forsomeof their ideaswhichhavenocleardestiny.Duringanearly 1996 visit to one IBM’s Research laboratories, Irving Wladawsky-Berger, thengeneralmanagerof IBM’s InternetDivision,noticedaparticularly interestingstreamingaudiotechnologythathadpotentialuseforInternetapplications.Infacthesawnumeroustechnologiesthatseemedtohavepotential.Whilethetechnologieswerequiteimpressive,therewasnoclear“businesscase”totakethemtothemarket.Irvingaskedmetofigureout how to reinvent the process of getting these research-phase (often referred to as“alpha”) technologies out of the lab and into the market. I thought about it all thatweekendandthenithitmelikeatonofbricks—allthebellsandwhistleswentoffinmyhead.Put these technologiesonawebsite andoffer themas freedownloadsand let the

market tell uswhat they think the technologies are good for.We could put basic legalprotections in place, create an easymechanism for feedback, and perhaps even build acommunity around these early stage technologies.Without much planning, reviews, oranalysis,wedecidedtoimplementalphaWorksquickly.

Therewerealotofquestions.Aren’twegivingupcontrolofthetechnology?Howabout if someone takes our idea and turns it into a big business? By putting greattechnologies on the Internet for anyone to download, are we giving up intellectualproperty and will we later regret it? Yes, it is surely giving up some control but webelievedtherewasmoreupsidethandownside.ThetechnologycandidatesforalphaWorkswere in some sense “orphans”. If the business case was clear for them they would beadopted by a product line of business and would be developed into products. Theseorphansseemedtobebrilliantideasbuttheapplicationforthemwasnotclear.Ifalotofpeople download them and find them useful wewill get feedback onwhat they foundthem useful for. This could help us go the next step toward product development. Ifnobodydownloadsthemorthefeedbackisnegativewecouldkilltheprojectandredeploytheresourcestoothermorefruitfulareas.

Therewasnoformalorganization;itwouldjustevolve.Thatishowmostimportantideasflourish.Ifthereisconvictionintheidea,justdoit,don’t’studyit.Don’tfocusonwho reports towhom. Just focus on getting something into themarket and then let themarkettellyouwhatisgoodandwhatisn’t.Iftheideatakesholdyoucanbuildamoreformalorganizationlater—organizationcankillanentrepreneurialideaifitisformalizedtooearly.

Afull-blownwebsiteforalphaWorkswasbuiltinweeks.Acoupleofcollegeinternswhodidn’tknowthingslikethisweresupposedtobehardcreatedaveryimpressivesite.Thelegalteamcreatedaverysimpleagreementthatsaidthatifsomeonedownloadedourtechnologytheycoulddowhatevertheywantedtowithit–exceptsellit.Aprocesswasput in place to enable IBM researchers to introduce one of their technologies ontoalphaWorks.Executive“aircover”wasinplaceandalphaWorkscametolife–downloadsstartedhappeningandfeedbackstartedtopourin.Outside-in.

alphaWorksmorphedfromasitefor“coolorphantechnologies”toaneffectivewayto surface emerging technologies and create paths tomarket for them.A community ofhundreds of thousands of early adopters, entrepreneurs and innovators emerged thatprovided “headlights” to enable the company to see how people are thinking about thetechnologies,whatchallengestheyface,andwhatfeaturesandsupporttheywouldliketohave.As a byproduct of reaching out and forming a community the company receivedpositivepresscoverageandwasabletobuildmindshareaboutitstechnology.

WeAreAllInThisTogetherOneimportantpieceofanetattitudeisaverypeople-orientedthought:“Weareall

inthistogether.”Asystemorawebapplicationisn’tasuccessifonlyoneparticipantinthetransactionwins—therehavetobebenefitsforallsides.Customersandcompaniesaren’tatwarhere—customersbenefitfromfasteraccesstodata,andcompaniesbenefitbecause it costs them less todeliver the information.Becausecustomers see speedas adirect benefit to them, they’re likelier to come back— and the company gets to save

money. Similarly, a doctor with a net attitude won’t feel threatened if patients use theInternettofindoutmoreabouttheirconditions—infact,thedoctorcanworkbetterwithaninformedpatient,andagain,bothpartieswin.

Unfortunately, many companies don’t have a net attitude — they view theircustomersas resourcesatbest,adversariesatworst.Yousee thiswhenyouencounterawebsiteorapplicationwhichasksmanyquestionsjusttogetinthedoor,andthenburdensyouwithmore“required”fieldswhenyouorderorrequestsomething—fieldswhichareonlyrequiredsothatthecompanycanbestexploityourinformation.

One way to focus on “we are all in this together” is to spend time and moneylistening to your customers—your partners.That doesn’tmean a “contact us!” link isenough,either—youneedtolistentosubtleinput,suchasunansweredorbogusfieldsonyourforms(youdon’treallybelievethathalfofyourcustomersarenamed“BugsBunny”,doyou?)..

PlanningAdNauseaTherearefourphasesofe-businesstoconsider.Planningforane-business,building

ane-business,running(operating)ane-business,andusingane-business.Wehavetalkedabouttheimportanceofplanning.Itstartswithsortingoutyourbusinessstrategy,figuringoutwhatyourvaluepropositionandbusinessmodelare,committingyourselftomeetingtheexpectationsofpeoplewhovisityoure-businessandfinallyestablishingaframeworkthat provides for an e-business which is scalable, manageable, available, reliable, andsecure.

In a world where so much is possible, it is really important to think big. Thechallengeis toboth thinkbigbut tostartwithasimple implementationandgrowit fasttoward the big idea.Manyorganizations have planners. Planners like to plan— that istheir job.Newideasrequireaplanbefore theycanbe implemented.Theproblemis theplanexpandsandexpandstoencompassthebigthought–theentirevision.Theresultinmanycasesisthattheplangetssobigthatitcan’tbeimplementedorbythetimeitdoesthewholeworldchangedand then theplanshave tobe scrappedand thingsgoback tosquareone.

Prior to the Internet becoming commercialized, the model for creating new I/Tapplications was Plan, Build, Deliver— eighteen-month cycle. With technologies andmarketsnowchangingatInternetspeed,thenewmodelhastobebasedonanetattitude,SenseandRespond–18hourscycle.Sensewhat ishappeningwith theprojectoryourwebsiteandrespondtoit.Seekfeedback,listentoithard,andactonit.Iteratewithbabystepsbutonafastcycle.Evolveasfastaspossibletowardthebigthought.Thetraditionalmodel yields a second releaseof theproduct a year or two after the initial release.Netattitude takes you down a different path.Deliver a release .1 product.Amonth or lesslater,deliverarelease.2product.Afterayearyouareat“Release1.0”.ChancesaregoodthatyourRelease1.0afteroneyeariswayaheadofwhereatraditionalRelease2.0wouldbeaftertwoyears

JustEnoughIsGoodEnoughThisshouldn’tbetakentomeantodosloppyworkorthrowsomethingagainstthe

wallandhopeitsticks.Itisafineline.You’vegottoknoworevensensewhento“JustShip It”, and when to be sure things need to be really well engineered. Many newtechnologies that have been introduced on the Internet including streaming audio, Java,andeventheprotocolsoftheInternetitselfwerearguablyinferiortoalternateapproachesthatcouldhavebeendevelopedoreven thatalreadyexisted.However, theyall“did thejob”.Justenoughturnedouttobegoodenoughtogettheideaoutthereandenablepeopletostart tobenefit fromit.Earlyadoptersarehappy togetaholdonnewthingsandarevery willing to spend hours providing their feedback on bugs and suggestedimprovements.Thissamenetattitudecanbeapplied toprojectsofallkinds inanysizeorganization. You can actually use the model and culture of how the Internet wasdeveloped to develop any idea – using the Internet itself as the platform for feedback,review, collaboration, and communication. There have been many examples of thisapproach on the Internet over the past five years. When the National Center forSupercomputingApplicationsreleasedthefirstalphaversionofMarcAndreessen’snewwebbrowser(called“Mosaic”)inFebruary1993,itwasabitcrude.LikewiseonMay23,1995,whenJohnGage,directorof theScienceOffice forSunMicrosystems,andMarcAndreessen,thencofounderandexecutivevicepresidentatNetscapeannouncedthatJavatechnology was real, it was hardly ready for prime time. Ditto for many othertechnologies. In all cases the early adopters greeted the technologies with open arms,provided feedback and reviews to the developers, and actually collaborated with thedevelopers to iteratively improve things until they were usable by larger numbers ofpeople.

AvoidTheOne-Size-Fits-AllApproachWhileexplosivedevelopmentsinallaspectsoftheInternetwerehappeningoutin

the public domain there were an equally important set of things happening inside oforganizationsofallkindsaroundtheworld.InternalnetworksusingTCP/IP,theprotocolsof the Internet,wereconstructedand firewallswereerected toprotect againstunwantedintrusion from the Internet. The internal networks became known as intranets. Webtechnology is relatively low cost and relatively easy to implement and this enabled theintranetstomushroom.Theywereinitiallyusedtopublishinformationsuchasreferencemanuals and employee directories. As the web application tools have become moresophisticatedtheintranetapplicationshavetoo.CIOsoforganizationshaveembracedtheuse of web applications and many have also begun to apply the disciplines of moretraditional information technology application development including requirementsplanning, system architecture, design specifications, development, testing, systemsintegration,etc.Thisisgoodontheonehandbutpotentiallycanimpederapidprogressiftakentoofar.

Forsomeapplicationsthe“quickanddirty”approachoftheearlywebdaysisstilladequate. A good net attitude is to avoid a “one size fits all” approach. A payrollapplication that allows an employee to set up deductions on thewebneeds all possiblerigors.Anapplicationtoenableanemployeetosignupfornextweeksblooddrivedoesn’t.Theriskofharmto theorganizationor to thecustomerneeds tobeweighedagainst thetimeandefforttoapplyalltheprocessestocreatingtheapplication.

Inadditiontosensingandrespondingit isalsoagoodideatobeproactive.

Many organizations have put everything but the kitchen sink on theirwebsites.Thisisnotallbadbutitistimetocleanitup.Irecommendhiringacollege student for a few afternoons per week whose job is to scour yourentirewebsiteandfindallthethingsyoucan’tdo.Whiletheyareatit,havethem find all the instances of “fax me the form” or “call us nine to fiveMondaytoFriday”.

TrialByFireAfewthingsarecertainaboutanewwebsite—youdon’tknowhowmanypeople

aregoingtovisit,youdon’tknowwhentheyaregoingtovisit,andyoudon’tknowwhattheyaregoingtodowhentheydovisit.Inthe“olddays”ofthesixties,seventies,eighties,andearlynineties,itwasrelativelyeasyfortheCIOtotestthingsbeforeputtingthemonline.Most of the users were “hard wired” to the mainframe or central mini-computer.SincetheCIOactuallycontrolledtheapplications,heorsheknewexactlyhowmanyuserstherewere and knewwhich applicationswould be used andwhen theywould be used.Withthewebitismuchmoredifficulttoplan.Inmanycasesthebestapproachistoputsomething out there and see what happens, gain some feedback from users on theirexperienceonthesite,monitorconstantly,measuretheperformanceunderload,andthenusealltheinputtobuildatrulyscalableandreliablesystem.

Trialbyfireisdangerousbecauseyoureallydon’tknowwhatisgoingtohappen.Thereforeitisreallyimportanttosetexpectations–andsetthemlow.In1999Victoria’sSecret, a retailerofwomen’sundergarments,proudlyannounced itwasgoing tohavealivewebcastofmodelsshowingoff their latestproductsduring theSuperBowlfootballgame. Talk about setting high expectations! The number of people who watched thewebcastwasa recordbut thenumberswhoweredisappointedwasprobably larger.Thesitejustcouldnothandletheload.Anotherapproachwouldhavebeentoannouncethatanexperimental prototype of amodelingwebcastwas going to be introduced “in the nearfuture”.Plentyofpeoplewouldhave“discovered”thewebcast.No“announcement”wasnecessary.InstantmessageswouldhavebeenflyingaroundtheInternet.“Yo,Bill,checkouthttp://victoriassecret.com”.

Goodcommunicationstosettheexpectationsarecritical.“Thiswillbethefirsttimesuchaneventhastakenplaceonthewebandweareproudtointroduceit.Becauseoftheexperimentalnatureofthiswearenotsurehowmanyvisitorstheremaybeandwhattheresulting performance may be. We look forward to your feedback and apologize inadvanceifyouareanythingbutdelightedwiththeexperience”.Basedonthefeedbackandmeasurements of system load and performance a more aggressive marketing approachcouldbetakenonthenextwebcastaftertheappropriatesystemsdesignwasincorporated.

Kasparov1,DeepBlue0,WebsiteInTheDitchIn1995IBMbegantoexperimentwithsportingeventsontheweb.Everythingthey

didwasafirstofakind;neverdonebeforeforlargeaudiences.Itwasperpetuallearning.OneofthefirsteventswastheU.S.Openin1995whenasmallteamofInternetengineersworked inaconstruction traileratFlushing,NewYorkandput the tennis scoreson theweb.Theyalsousedlivevideocamerasonmultipletenniscourtsandgatheredreal-timedatafromradargunsthatmeasuredthespeedofthetennisballsastheyflewacrossthenet

(notNet).Therewasnobasis,notextbooks,nodatafromwhichtoplanforsucheventsontheweb.Itwaspuretrialbyfire.Aftereacheventtheteamwassmarter—theylearnedthe effect on the serverwhen something excitingwas going on and a large number ofpeoplestartedinteractingwiththewebsite.Thisenabledthemtooptimizethestructureofthedatabasesandfinetunetheserver.

ThatsameyearwasthefirstmatchbetweentheworldfamousGaryKasparovandasupercomputer from IBM namedDeepBlue.An advertising agency inNewYorkCityhosted thewebsite because the Internet teamwas busy getting ready for the followingsummer’s Olympic Games. After the first chess match the headlines proclaimed“Kasparov1,DeepBlue0,websiteintheditch”.Noonehadanyideathatachessmatchonthewebwouldbesopopular.Thewebsiteattheadagencywasnotwelldesignedandthe system thatwas running itwasnotprepared for scalability.The IBM team raced toNewYork,gatheredupalltheinformationforthesite,andtookitbacktoIBM.Theythenwent to the head of the supercomputer division of the company andmade a request toborrow a supercomputer. After thirty non-stop hours of frenzied programming andsystemswork,theteambuiltareplacementwebsiteandthechessmatchcontinuedofflineonthechessboardandonlineontheweb.DeepBluewonmatch#2.Afterthethirdgame,theheadlinewas“Game3chessmatchadraw;IBMsiteup”.

ThechessmatchesenabledIBMtolearnalotabouthowtobuildscalablewebsites.Theydevised amethod for handling large andunpredictable numbers of incomingwebrequests by deploying software that could intelligently distribute the requests acrossmultipleserversinordertobalancetheload.Thisinturnenabledthesitetoprovidestableandreliableperformance.ThetechnologydevelopedthatweekendlaterbecamecrucialtotheAtlantaandNaganoOlympicGamessites(bothofwhichheldworldrecordstraffic)andthenwentontobecomepartofIBM’sflagshipWebSpherewebapplicationsoftwareproduct. Itmayhavebeenpossible to invent it in a laboratory environmentbutusing atrialbyfireapproachcertainlygotittomarketfaster.

Anotherattitudinalaspectofwebsiteshas todowithregistration.Moreandmoresitesrequirethatyouregisterinordertoexplorethesiteortoreceiveanemail newsletter. The motivation is to get demographic information foranalysisandmarketing.Thereisnothingwrongwiththataslongasyouhavea really solid privacypolicy that you adhere to.The flip side is tomake itreally easy tounsubscribe.Some sitesmake it nearly impossible.The rightnetAAttitudeistonotjustmakeiteasytounsubscribebuttomakeitreallyeasy—atleastaseasyasregisteringinthefirstplace.Peoplewillremember.(Besides,thepeoplewhowanttobesubscribedaremorelikelytobetheoneswhowillacceptoffers,promotions,etc.)

MakeEasyThingsEasy!Makingthingseasyisakeynetattitude.Itdoesn’tcomenaturally,youhavetoplan

for it, test it, and refine it. Some of the hardest things are subtle. Most of the peoplevisitingwebsitesaregoingtobedoingsimplethings–clickheretobuy,makeapayment,checkthestatusonsomething,andotherbasictransactions.Itisimportanttomakethosethings easy to do. One simple idea is to make URLs easy to remember and type. Forexample, it would be nice if ups.com/trackworked, but it doesn’t— ups.com/tracking

doesn’t work either. The URL that does work is ups.com/tracking/tracking.html.Fortunately,youdonothavetotypethehttp://wwwNottopickonUPS–therearemanyexamples around the web – but hitting the Enter button on theups.com/tracking/tracking.html screen gets you a screen where you can enter moretracking numbers instead of giving you tracking information for the numbers you’vealreadyentered—especiallyifyou’veonlyenteredonenumber.

Makingthingseasierappliestoyouremployees,too.Partofnetattitudeistreatingyourownpeople’stimeasvaluable—timetheyspendfightingyourinternalwebistimetheycan’tspendworkingoncustomerproblems.

Oneway to findoutwhatusers reallywant is touse focusgroups.Focusgroupshaveservedtheworldwell.Getaspeciallyselectedgroupofpeoplebehindaglasswallandvideotapethemwhiletheyareinterviewedorshownapresentation.TodaytheInternetallowsafocusgrouptobeselfselectedinrealtime.Peopleonthewebwhoparticipateindiscussion groups are brutally honest. Get out there proactively and talk to them. It ismuchmorerealworldthantheoldfocusgroups.Youmaynotlikewhatyouhearbut itwill likelybe the truth.Peoplewho take the time togive feedbackareusually themostdiscerningusersandhavethemostvaluableinput.

ThinkIntegrationApplication integration is the Holy Grail of e-business. Designed separately at

differentpointsintimeondifferentplatformsthepreponderanceofsystemscan’ttalktoeachother.Mostofthetransactionsonthewebtodayarebetweenpeopleandservers.Bythinking Integration an e-business can be built where servers talk to servers. Today’stypical approach to solving the integrationproblemhasbeen toutilizebusinessprocessreengineering(BPR).BPRiscertainlycriticallongtermbuttheproblemisthatittakesalong time to get the resulting new systems implemented. Most organizations, forcompetitivereasons,don’thavetimetowaitforaBPRsolution.Fortunately, thereisanalternative.

BPRwilleventuallyresultinanupdatedhotelandairlinereservationssystemsthatincorporatethefrequentguestorfliersystemssothatthingsaretotallyintegrated.Inthemeantimethere isanapproachcalledMessageQueuing(MQ)thatenables incompatiblesystems to communicatewith each other.Going back to the hotel reservation scenario,recallthatIhadmadeareservationforahotelroomandwantedtopayforitwithfrequentguest points. Imagine the reservations system sending a “message” – think of it as anemail–tothefrequentguestsystem.“IhavethisguyherewhojustreservedaroomforonenightinNewYorkCity.Hewantstousehispointstopayforit.Hisguestnumberis1234”.Amessagegoesback fromthe frequentguest systemto the reservationssystem.“Yes,guest1234isavalidaccountandhehasabalanceof125,000points.TheNewYorkCity room would cost 30,000 points”. The reservations system now sends anothermessage. “Ok, please deduct 30,000 points from guest 1234 and confirm”. A finalmessagegoes from theguest system.“Pointsdeducted”.Thisallhappens in less thanasecond and then your webpage gets updated and it says, “Your reservation has beenconfirmed.30,000pointshavebeendeductedfromyourguestaccount.Happytravels”!

Neither system was reengineered. They were just enabled to communicate with

each other. Each system could have been operating in a totally different softwareenvironment.Theintegrationtookplaceinthewebserverthatprovidestheinterfacetothecustomer. Implementing the messaging is not trivial but it is much simpler thanreengineeringthetwosystems.JapanAirlineshasusedthisapproachtoenabletheirgateschedulingsystemandtheirflightarrivalsystemtocommunicate.Theysolvedaproblemthat greatly annoys large numbers of people. Sometimes you order something that isn’tcomingdirectlyfromthemanufactureror thedistributorandthedelaycanbeextensive.Typically you will get quoted four to six weeks for delivery. The long lead-time isn’tbecausetheitemisnotavailablebutbecausethesupplychaininvolvedingettingittoyoudoesnothaveintegratedsystems.Oneparticipantmayfaxaform;asecondmayenterintotheir automated system that then generates something which gets mailed to a secondparticipant.Thatparticipantthenfaxesittoanotherparticipant,etc.Incompatiblesystemsare at the root of the problem.Utilizingmessage queuing interim to, or in some casesinsteadofBPR,isaformof“justenoughisgoodenough”.Itcanmeantransactionsthatmakeourlifeeasierandresultinuswaitinglessorstandinginfewerlines.

BuildOnAFrameworkTosenseand respondat Internet speed iscriticalbut todosoby throwing things

against thewallandhoping theystick isnotagood idea.E-businessesmustbebuilt to“scale”.Rememberweare3%or soof theway into the Internet.Thebiggest potentialproblem facingmany e-businesses is success! The infrastructure technology that existstodayisn’treadyforwhatiscoming.WearegoingtoseetentimesmorepeopleusingtheNet,onehundredtimesmorenetworkspeed,1,000timesmoredevicesandamilliontimesmore data! Expectations of the users are going to be very high and so the informationtechnologyplannersinallkindsoforganizationsaregoingtohaveverylargechallenges.

Thingsarecompoundedbythefactwebsitesareoverwhelmedwith“maintenance”of theirsoftware.Manyof thee-businesses,eventhestartups,havebuiltahugebaseofprogramming and content over the last six years of theweb’s evolution.Manyof themdecidednottostandardizeoncommercialproductsandarchitecturesandthewebservicesmodeldidnot exist.They adopted an approach, somewhatout ofnecessity, of “wecanbuilditbetterfromscratchourselves”.Thisisnotagoodattitudeforthelongterm.Whatmany of them have now as a result are incredibly complex systems based on theirhomegrown system. One of the results of this approach is that now many of thesecompaniestakeaverylongtimetofixthingsandaddnewfeaturestotheirsites–theyaretoobusyperformingmaintenanceofwhattheyalreadyhave.Thecostofdevelopmentandtimetomakechangeshasgoneexponentialonthem.

Like thesportssitesdiscussedearlier,e-businessesaregoing to find that they toodon’tknowhowmanypeoplearegoing tocometo theirsite,whentheywillcome,norwhattheyaregoingtodowhentheygetthere.Peakperformanceneedswillbeveryhardtopredict.Having themanydevices thenextgenerationof the Internet is facilitating isgoingtoexacerbatethis.Peoplewithdevicesofallkindsthattheycanusewherevertheyarewillgreatlyincreasethenumberoftransactions.Scalabilitywillbecomeparamountinimportance.The typicale-business todayputs insomedatabasesoftwareandsomewebserversandwhendemandsincreasetheyaddmoreservers.Thiswillworktoapointbuteventuallythemanagementofthelargenumbersofserversbecomesaproblem.

Buildingane-businessisabigjob.Thewebsiteneedstobecomprehensive–builttohandletheend-to-endneedsoftheconstituencies.Inadditionitneedstobeconnectedtoandintegratedwiththeexistinginformationtechnologysystems—bringingthe“frontend” (the web) together with the “back end” (the existing systems). Stability must bemaintainedwhile this is done– andwhile transaction rates andnumbers of visitors aregrowingrapidly.Itislikechangingthetiresonacarwhileitisspeedingaroundacurveontwowheels.Thesolutiontothechallengeistobuildthee-businessonanarchitecturethatprovidesaSMARTinfrastructure.ASMARTinfrastructureincludesScalableserversthatyou can not outgrow, Management tools to allow you to identify and fix problems,Availability options that provide self-healing failsafe operations, Reliability for all thecomponents so theweakest linkdoesn’tbringyoudown,andTotalSecuritysoyoucanprotectallthedataforyouandforyourconstituencies.

Various information technologyvendorshaveblueprintsorarchitectures thatmeettheseneedstovariousdegrees.WhateverarchitectureyouselectitisessentialtopickonethatembracesopenstandardsincludingtheInternetstandardsandthewebstandardsoftheWorldWideWebConsortium.AsnewideasevolveontopoftheInternettherearemoreandmore proprietary implementations.Wherever open standards exist, however, it is agoodideatodemandthatyourinformationtechnologyvendorsupportthem.Standardsareevolving rapidly and it is important to have someone in the organization responsible tocloselyfollowthestandardsprocessesandtotestthecommitmentofvendorstocontributetothemandfollowthem.

WhereIsTheLeadership?Leadershipisacorenetattitude.Itisallaboutmakingithappenversuswatchingit

happen.IamlookingforwardtothedaywhenIcanhaveallofmymedicalrecordsontheInternetwhereIwillknowthatatlasttheywillbesafe.IwenttoYaleUniversityMedicalSchoolformyannualphysicalandwhilecheckingin(fillingoutformswithinformationthatIhadfilledoutduringeachoftheprioryears)Iobservedthelargenumberofmanilafolderscontainingmedical records. Iwonderedwho thepeoplewerewhohadaccess tothemandonwhatbasis.Iwonderedifthesonordaughterofmynext-doorneighbormightworkthereandwhethertheyhavebeenreadingmymedicalrecords.Iwasthinkingabouthow referralswork.Your doctor suggests you see a specialist about some condition.Acopyof yourmedical recordsmaybe forwarded to the specialist in amanila envelope.Whoopenstheenvelope?Whowillbeabletoreadthecontents?Noidea.IwonderedifIborrowedmydaughter’sstethoscopeandputonawhitejacket,ifIcouldwalkbehindthecounterandpickoutadozenortwomanilafoldersandwalkoutwiththem.

Supposemymedicalrecordswereencryptedwithmyownpublickey.Thatwouldmeanthattheycouldonlybedecryptedwithmyprivatekey.OnlyIhavemyprivatekeysoonlyIcouldenableaccesstomymedicalrecords.Ispoketomydoctor(nowretired)about it and he said he thought it would be hard to capture the “real” conditions andobservationsbecauseeachdoctorlikestorecordtheinformationintheirownuniqueway.Ifmychoicewas tohave encrypted information coming fromamarginal doctor versusunencryptedhandwritteninformationcomingfromagreatdoctorIwouldofcoursetakethelatter.Butisn’ttheresomewaywecouldhaveboth?Isn’titpossibletorecordmedicalconditionswithvoicerecognitionandtocapturebloodpressuredata,testresults,andeven

adoctorshandwrittennotesandmakethempartofadigitalrecordthatisencryptedandsecurelystoredonanInternetserver?

Whydon’twehavedigitalID’sthatcanallowustokeepourmedicalrecordsontheInternet,towiremoneywithamouseclick,toopennewaccountswithouthavingtofaxforms, make online funds transfers, online vehicle registrations or driver’s licenserenewals?Isitalackoftechnology?No.LackofleadershipwithNetAttitude?Yes,andatmultiplelevels.

Thegovernor of amid-west state once toldme that he believes that the votes hemaylosefromconstituentsdisplacedbyon-lineserviceswouldbemorethanoffsetbythevotes he would gain from constituents who were delighted with new Internet basedservices. That is leadership and net attitude. Unfortunately thismay still be aminorityopinioninmanyjurisdictionsoftheworld.

YouAreNotNormalHow about financial services? I had lunch with the CEO of a major insurance

companyanddescribedtohimhowtheonlythingstandingbetweenmeandbeingreallysatisfied with his insurance company was his agent! When I want to do business theinsurance agent is not working. When he is working I don’t have time to focus oninsurance.IdescribedhowIwouldliketoseeawebpagewhereIcouldcheckoffallofmy needs for coverage; cars, house, liability, etc. and then I would like to iterate onvariouscoverageoptionsuntilIgotwhatIwanted.Hesaid,“Youaren’tnormal”.IthendescribedhowIhadahomeinonestateandavacationcottageinanotherstatebutIhadtohavetwodifferentagentsandIcouldn’tunderstandwhyIcouldn’tjustdealwithone.Hesaid,“Well,therearesome‘regulatory’issues”.

IfIweretospeaktothefirmsinvolvedinmywiretransferaboutwhywiretransferscan’tbedoneonthewebIamsureIwouldhearaboutmore“regulatoryissues”.WhenIaskedFirstChicagowhyIcouldn’t transferashareofstockwithouta“goldmedallion”signaturefromabank,theytoldmeabout“regulatoryissues”.

There are “regulatory issues” for sure, but I think the real problem is lackof netattitude.There is fearandmisunderstandinganda lackof leadership tomake ithappen.Majorinstitutionshavebeendealingwithregulatoryissuesfordecades.Theyhavefoundways to educate and influence regulators to enable them to do business in developingcountries,breakintonewmarkets,getapprovalfornewproducts,andgetinvestmenttaxcredits.Buttheycan’tconvinceregulatorsthatitisagoodideatoautomatewiretransfersorsecuritiestransfersusingdigitalsignatures?

EntrepreneursDon’tKnowItCan’tBeDoneCleverentrepreneursareattackingthe“regulatoryissues”withavengeance.Oneof

themosthighlyregulatedareasofcommerce is theorderingandshipmentofwinesandliquors to consumers.Every statehasdifferent regulations andmost of themarehighlyrestrictive.Somestateshaveregulationsthatspecifythatliquororwinecanonlybesoldtoaconsumerbyaretailer,whointurncanonlyobtaintheliquorfromawholesaler.Itisaformofprotectionism.Nevertheless,entrepreneurialcompaniesarefindingclever(andlegal) ways to get around the regulatory restrictions by using various distribution

intermediaries.

WhenCaliforniapassedadigitalsignaturelawin1999E-TradeproclaimedthatthiswouldenablethemtoopennewsecuritiesaccountsforanyoneanywheresinceE-TradeisaCaliforniacompany.TheWallStreetJournalquotedNewYorkattorneyssayingthattheywerenotsosure.Couldtheyhavebeenpartoftheestablishedfirms?CharlesSchwabhasaMoneyLink feature that allows their customers tomovemoney to or from a Schwabaccountandanybankaccount–24x7,nofaxes,nophones.Idon’tknowofanybanksthatdothesame.

IntheU.K.,allthebanksaremembersofTheBankingAutomatedClearingSystem (BACS) that does funds transfers between any bank and any bankevery night. It has been running for years.You can deposit a check at anybank and it goes to your own bank account at your own bank. The U.S.banking system has a long way to go. It is not a technology or securityproblem.

Escrow.comhasa simplewebpageapproach for settingupanescrowaccount forsellingyourcartoastrangeroranyotherpurpose.Youfilloutanon-lineformwiththeconditionsanditisemailedtotheotherparty.Whentheyagreetheescrowisestablished.When the conditions aremet themoney is released.All on-line.All secure. The fee is$100.Seemslikeitshouldbeprofitableforthem.Iamsuretherewere“regulatoryissues”butsomeentrepreneurstooktheleadershiptomakeithappen.

Establishedinstitutionshavethechoicetostandbyandwatchthingshappenortousetheirconsiderableinfluencetoacceleratetheprocessofregulatoryreformandmakeithappen.Everyonewould benefit. If they don’t the entrepreneurswill gainmarket sharefromtheestablishedinstitutions.

OrganizingtogetthingsdoneinthefastpacedworldoftheNGicannotbedonebythetextbook.Ittakesanewwayofthinking–netattitude.Movingoutabitclosertotheedge–wherethingsaresomewhatuncertain;whereyoudon’thavethecontrolyouwouldliketohave,butwhereinnovationishappeningcontinuously.Ontheedgeisnottheplacetolivebutaplacetovisitoftentogetasampleoftheculture–oratleasthavesomeoneassignedtovisitthereforyouandkeepyouabreastofwhatishappening.

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CHAPTER13

GetATasteOfTheCultureThere is a lot of culture underpinning a net attitude. It is partly a way ofthinking.Youlearntheattitudebyhangingoutwith thosewhohaveit.Thisnexttolastchapterdiscussedwhereyoucanfindthosewhohaveit.Oneofthebest sources is youngpeople.Youdon’thave tobeyoung tohaveanetattitudebutyouaremorelikelytofinditinthem.Thischapteralsodescribedsome ideas on how to recruit the right people into your organization. Itfinishedwithasourceofnetattitudeyoumaynothavethoughtof–seniors.Seniors represent a fast growing segment of the economies of the world.Many seniors have the time and motivation and have learned the skillsneeded to be proficient on theweb. They have high expectations based ondecadesofexperience.

nMay 1994 a colleague, Dave Grossman, and I gave a presentation to a group ofseniormanagersatIBM.Itmaysoundhardtobelievebutbackthenmostpeoplehad

notyetseentheweb.WeshowedanartificialhipsimulationfromamedicalsiteatCornellUniversity,somepicturesfromtheVaticanLibrary,somedinosaurpicturesfromHonoluluCommunityCollege,andtheveryfirstreleaseofibm.com.ThesewereallimpressivebutthemostimpressivepartofthedemonstrationwasAndrew’swebpage.AndrewisDave’ssonandatthetimehewassevenyearsold.AfterDaveshowedhimthedinosaurpicturesat home one night Andrewwanted tomake his own webpage. He drew a picture of adinosaurandgaveitthename“thorcolervo”(afterthenameofarobotinabookhehadjustread).DavehelpedAndrewscanthepictureandturnitintoawebpage.Andrewthenrecorded a sound byte; “Hi, this is Andrew and you are looking at my drawing of athorcolervo”.Thistotallyblewpeopleaway.SeeingapictureofdinosaurcomeacrosstheInternetandgetdisplayedonthescreenandthentohearavoicecomeacrosstheInternetdescribingitandthentofindoutitwasdonebyasevenyearold!In1994Andrewthoughtthatmakingwebmakeswasnormal.

When Lou Gerstner saw the new IBM homepage, his first question was,“WhereistheBUYbutton?”Theterme-businesshadnotyetbeeninvented—therewasnobodybuyinganythingonthewebbackthen—andherewastheCEOofIBMaskinghowpeopleweregoingtobeabletobuythings!Hehadtheinsightandintuitiontoseewhatwaspossiblelongbeforemostmajorcompaniesof theworld.LaterhewasthefirstCEOtopubliclysaythat theInternet is for business; not email or surfing, but for business transactions.Another firstwas the audio recording on the homepage that said, “Hi, I’mLouGerstner.Welcometoourhomepage.Ihopeyouwillcomebackoften.”

AfewyearslaterIwastalkingtoDaveonedayandaskedhowthekidsweredoing.He said the familyhadaniceweekend skiingand thatduring the trip to themountainsAndrewhadagreattimechattingwithhisbuddiesbackhome.Iaskedwhathemeant.HedescribedhowAndrewwasinthebackseatoftheirvanwithaThinkPadconnectedtothe

Internet using awireless adaptor andhewasusing IBM’s “instantmessaging”programand his “buddy list” to have an on-line chat session with his friends. So as Dave wasdriving seventy miles per hour to the mountains, Andrew was having an on-line chatsessionwithhis friendsandAndrewthought thatwasnormal.Thiswas in1996.At thetimea lotofpeoplewerestillamazedthat theInternetworkedatallandherewasa tenyearoldusinginstantmessaginginacarandhewascompletelyunimpressed.

Dad,YouShouldKnowMoreOnedayathomeIwastryingtogetanewSoundBlasteraudiocardworkinginmy

PC.ForavarietyoftechnicalreasonsthatIwon’tgointohereitwasprovingtobequitedifficult. Ithad todowithdeep technicalparameters thatmostpeopledon’tknowexist(and shouldn’t have to). I got myself totally confused and frustrated trying to get theparameterssetproperly.TomygreatreliefmysonAaronarrivedhomefromschool.Hewas15at the time. I toldhim theproblem.Hewalkedover tomyPCand in about15secondshadeverythingworking.After I thankedhim,Aaronsaid, “YouknowDad, forsomeoneatyourlevelinIBM,youshouldreallyknowmoreaboutPCs”.Thekidswonderwhywethinktechnologyissohard.Iwanttoknowless.HethoughtIshouldknowmore.Hethoughtitwouldbenormaltoknowmore.

Visiting colleges and universities is a great way to learnwhat is going ontodayandmore importantlywhere thingsareheaded.Occasionally Igetaninvitation tovisitacampusandspeakabout theFutureof theInternet.Onesummer I visited Lehigh University (my alma mater) and spoke at acombined session of the ACM and IEEE membership – a very technicalaudience. I askedhowmanywerewriting Javaprograms and all thehandswentup.ThisbecameanimportantproofpointformeasskepticsaboutJavaemerged.ProfessorRonLaPorteoftheUniversityofPittsburghinPittsburgh,PennsylvaniainvitedmetovisittheCollegeofEpidemiology.RonisleadingaterrificprojectcalledtheGlobalHealthNetwork.Igotthechancetomeetsome wonderful and creative graduate students who are collaborating toimprovethehealthoftheworld.DuringthisvisitIlearnedhownon-technicalpeopleweregettingasmuchoutoftheInternetasthetechnicalpeopleIwasused to spending timewith.Avisit toTheJLKelloggGraduateSchoolofManagementatNorthwesternUniversitywasnostalgic since Ihadattendedtheirexecutiveprogramsomeyearsago.MoreimportantlyIgottomeetwithagroupofstudentsandheartheirquestionsduringanextendedQ&Asession.Theystimulatedmythinkingaboutwherethingsaregoing.Similarsessionsat MIT, the University of Pennsylvania, and Stanford have inspired megreatly.ThereisnoformaltrainingprogramorcompanyexperiencethatcancomparewithanhourofQ&Awithbrightstudents–theyaskquestionsthatreallymakeyouthink.WhenIleaveoneofthesesessionsIalwaysfeelthatIhave gained at least as much as they have. I tell them they are the mostfortunate graduating class inmany years because they are about to enter anetworkedworld of e-business and they can be the technical and businessentrepreneurswhocanhelpcreateit.

WhatIsNormal?

Whatweconsideresotericorevenbizarreourkidsconsidernormal.Whenwethinkofaninsuranceagentwethinkofaperson.TheythinkofaJavaapplet thatrunsontheInternet finding the optimumdeal for insurance coverage.Whenwe thinkof opening abankaccountwemight thinkofsitting in frontofadeskwhilesomeone is fillingoutaform.Theythinkof“clickheretoopenanaccount”.WhenwehearsomeonesaytheyhadachatwithafriendwearethinkingofthemdoingsoinpersonandthekidsarethinkingofinstantmessagingontheInternet.ThekidstalkaboutNapsterandGnutellaandwedon’tevenknowwhattheyaretalkingabout.

Thereissomuchwecanlearnfromthekids.Theyrepresentthewaye-businessisgoingtobe.IrecommendtoCEO’sandCIO’sthattheyhireastudentforafewafternoonsaweekandmakeittheirjobtoreviewthecompanywebsiteandlookforthingsthatyoucan’tdo.Thereareplentyofthem.Listentothestudents;askfortheirsuggestions.Theythinkaboutthingsdifferently–likemostofyourcustomersarebeginningtothink.

ExtremeBlueInearly1999,anInternetengineeratIBMnamedRonWoanhadanideatobringin

a group of a couple of dozen computer science students to be part of a really uniquesummerprogram.Ron’s ideawas togoout to the top tenComputerScience schools inAmerica and recruit the best of the best students. His idea was to create leading edgeprojects for the students to work on and to set up a mentoring program whereby thestudents would work closely with IBM’s best technical leaders; Senior Technical StaffMembers,DistinguishedEngineers,andIBMFellows.AfurtherpartofRon’sideawastogive the students the latest IBM technology to use, provide housing for them, andgenerallymaketheirlifeasfantasticaspossible.Weallthoughtthiswasagreatideabutquestioned whether we could actually pull off the administration, find the budget, andmanageallthedetails.ThereweredoubtingThomasesbutinthemainmanyofusthoughtit was a great idea. Themanagement team;DaveGrossman, from a technical point ofview,andJaneHarper,fromanoperationalpointofview,believedinRon’sideaandmadethecommitmenttomakeithappen.

TheprojectbecameknownasExtremeBlue.WiredMagazinewroteastoryaboutitcalled “BigBlueReinvents Internships”.The visionwas to enable someof theworld’sbrightest computer science students a chance to spenda fastpaced summerworkingonreal, cutting-edge IBM projects. Not running the copying machine or “make work”projectsbutrealprojects;thingsIBMwasactuallyquiteinterestedinmakinghappen.Thestudents were split into teams of three and each team had amentor whowas a seniortechnicalleaderfromaproductgroupsomewhereinIBM.Thementorhadaveryspecifictechnicalprojectthatmayhavebeenontheirdreamlistbutforwhichheorshehadnotbeenabletogetfundingorskills.

Gettingsometopcomputersciencestudentstotacklethechallengewouldhaveallupsideandnodownside.Thestudentsexceededeveryone’sexpectations.Thethingaboutstudentsisthattheyhaveno“baggage”.Theydon’tknowallthethingsthatdidn’tworkinthe past or all the reasonswhy something can’t get done in a short period of time.Noblinders.Totallyuninhibited.Theyhavethesummer–alloftwelveweeksorso.Whateverittakes,theywillgetthejobdone.Studentsarefearlessandtireless.Yes,IamsuretheylearnedalotaboutIBMandfromtheirmentorsbutIthinkIBMlearnedevenmorefrom

the students. How they think andwork together. Their attitudes about technology. Thetrends they see. Their view of the future. It is so uplifting and enriching to talk to thestudentsandlearnfromthem.

TalkToTheKidsSo, talk to your kids. Look over their shoulder. Ask them what they do on the

Internet. Talk to them about their values. What do they think of intellectual propertyrights?WhatdotheylikemostabouttheInternet?Whatdotheylikeleast?Whatsitesarereallywithit?Whicharebrain-dead?WhatdotheythinktheInternetwillbelikeinfiveyears?Howdotheyexpecttheywilluseitaftertheygetajob?Ifwhattheytellyoumakessense,thinkabouthowyoucanincorporatesomeoftheirkindofthinkinginyourbusinessorinstitutionalplanning.Ifwhattheysaydoesn’tmakesenseoryoudon’tagreewithwhattheysay,talktoyourkidssomemore.Ifyoudon’thaveanykids,borrowone!Ifyoucan’tfindanykidstotalktothentalktosomeThirdAgers.

ThirdAgersIfyoucan’tfindanyteenagerstovalidateyourbusinessplansfortheweb,lookfor

some60yearolds.WhenIvisited theHeritageVillage retirementcommunityandwentinto their “web room” I saw a huge banner across one wall. It said “Keeping Pace inCyberspace”.Thatistheirmotto.Theyarenotintimidatedintheslightestbytechnology.Apetiteelderlyladylookedupfromherkeyboardtosayhello.Shewashelpingafriendlearnhow tosendemail tohergrandchild.At theirmonthlymeetinga seventy-year-oldgentlemanmadeanannouncement that the“Hardware”special interestgroup(SIG)wasgoing to start a new projectwhereby each participantwould be building their own PCfromscratchandheaskedifanyonewouldbeinterested.Dozensofhandswereintheairtojointhegroup.

ThirdAgersaregenerallybetweentheageofforty-fiveandsixty-four.TheheartofthegroupismadeupofthosewhoMaryFurlong,founderofThirdAgeMedia,describesasbeingin their“transitionalfifties”.Somearegoingthroughjobchangesoradivorce.Othershaveagingparents,health issues,or are experiencing thebirthofgrandchildren.TheseareallissueswhichchangethelivesoftheThirdAgersandcreateadesiretojoinasupportgroup,gotoaclassorpickupahobby.Inmanycases,explainsMaryFurlong,thechanges“leadtoaquestforamorespirituallifeandmorefocusonone’sinteriorlife.Theresult is that people become more intrinsically motivated”. For all these reasonsThirdAgers are flocking to theweb. They are not intimidated by the technology. Theyhavegoalsand thewebcanhelp themcope.ThirdAgersaregoing toMyFamily.comtosharefamilypicturesandlearnaboutgenealogy.TheyaregoingtoThirdAge.comtogetcareerorhealthadviceorchecktheromantictipoftheday.Thereisnosubstituteforthelossofalovedonebutthesewebsitesarehelpingpeoplefindotherswithsimilarinterestsandenablingthemtocreatenewfriendships.Insomecasesthesehaveleadtomarriages.

ThirdAgersrepresentafastgrowingsegmentoftheeconomiesoftheworld.Theyhave a lot of personal challenges but they also have time, motivation, and decades ofexperience. As the next generation of the Internet evolves as the new medium it willenablemembers of this highly skilledworkforce to come back towork part time fromtheirretirementcommunitiesviatelecommuting.Theymayprovetobecrucial infilling

thehugeskillsshortagethatisfacingtheinformationtechnologyindustrytoday.Forthosewhodon’tchoosetocomebacktoworktheInternetwillenablethemtofulfilltheirlivesinvariouswaysandtofindhelpinmeetingthechallengestheyface.

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CHAPTER14

WhatToDoNextThe lastandmost importantchapterof thisbookexploredwhat todoonceyouadoptanetattitude.Icompiledachecklistofactionitems.Theycanhelpyoustimulateyourorganizationtothehighestpossiblelevelofperformance.The concepts apply whether you are running a small business, a largebusiness,agovernmentorganization,anon-profit,orahospital.Ieditedthelist and included it as the last chapter in Health Attitude because thehealthcare industry desperately needs a change in attitude. The technologyavailabletohelpyoudeployanetattitudethroughoutyourorganizationhaschanged.Socialmediaofferstechniquesnotpracticalin2001.However,theprinciples, the philosophy, and the spirit behind net attitude have notchanged.Theneedforanetattitudeisgreaterthanever.

nceyouhaveaNextGenerationAttitudeandagraspofthecomingtechnologiesofthe Next Generation of the Internet, what do you do next? Here are some very

simpleideas,organizedinfivecategories,thatIhopewillhelpyousurviveandthriveontheInternetinthedays,weeks,andmonthsahead.

FirstAndForemost,Communicate,Communicate,Communicate✓ Leverage the power of email for communication with customers,

suppliers,stockholdersandbusinesspartners.Addstafftohandleexternale-mailona24x7basis,andfindwaystojustifythecostbasedonincreasedbusiness, improved customer satisfaction, and offsets to paper-basedprocesses.Useflexible,pre-draftedresponsesandusesoftwaretocategorizetheemailbydepartmentorproductandbywhetheritisfeedback,aquestion,or a complaint. Automatically route the email to the right part of theorganization. Ensure that every email is answered within 24 hours. Use afollow-upsystemtoensureclosureonissues.

✓ If you use an email form on yourwebsite instead of providing anemail address, give the sender the option to receive a copy of their emailmessage. People often don’t use the email form because they have noconfidence it will get delivered and they have no record of having sent it.Allowthemtoattachadocumentthatmaycontainmoreinformationaboutasituationathand.

✓ Set up an email directory search capability that enables peopleoutside of the organization to find email addresses of employees anddepartments.When some question whether this is giving away proprietaryinformation,remindthemthecompanyswitchboardalreadygivesoutphonenumbersandemailisusuallymoreefficient.Accepttheprincipleofopeningup your organization and allowing outsiders to easily send you e-mail.Becometheeasiestorganizationintheworldtocommunicatewith.

✓ Set up an enterprise-wide Instant Messaging system that providesencryption of messages. Make it available to all employees. Provide theinfrastructuretoenablethemtohavee-meetingsinadditiontomessaging.

✓ Make your website a comprehensive information resource forcustomers, prospects, industry analysts, consultants, editors, and youremployees.Includenotjustpressreleases,butownermanuals,whitepapers,and technical and customer support information about your products andservices.Putsomeoneinchargeofkeepingthingscurrentandmanagingthearchives. Establish a company standard, such as the Adobe portable dataformat(PDF),forpublishingallinformation.(IfyouchooseAdobe,providealinktogetthefreeAdobeAcrobatsoftwaretoenableanyvisitorwithoutonetoquicklybeabletoreadyourcontent.)

✓ Provideexternallinksrelatedtoyourproductsandservices.Includelinkstoyourcustomersandbusinesspartners,touniversitiesdoingresearchin areas affecting your business, to third parties who write about yourproducts or services, and to relevant discussion groups. Don’t make yourconstituenciesfindtheseplacesontheirown.Ifyouprovideplentyof linksawayfromyoursite,peoplewillrememberitandtheywillreturnoften.

✓ Establish an “Experts and Executives Online” program to enableyour constituencies to engage in open electronic dialogue with yourexecutives and subject matter experts. Use electronic forums, discussiongroups,chatrooms,ande-meetings.Haveofflineapproacheswhereanswerscanbestaffedoutandpostedaftertheappropriateexecutivesorexpertshaveapproved them, but also have periodically scheduled online dialogues.Realizethatyoudon’tcontrolthesegroupsandthatyourconversationswiththemarenotprivate.

✓ Use the threads of the electronic dialogues as a sort of electronictown hall meeting from which you can learn first hand what yourconstituencies like and dislike. Use the dialogues to deliver key messagesabout your organizational philosophies, the principles you are dedicated toandtheplansyouhaveforthefuture.

Outside-InAlwaysthinkOutside-in.Outsideiswhereallthepeopleare;theyhavethepower,

walkintheirshoes.

✓ Makesurekeypeoplearewellconnectedoutsideoftheorganization.Encourage product development executives to spend a lot of time withcustomers but also attending conferences where they can learn whatcompetitorsandinfluencersofyourindustryhaveontheirmind.Encouragethem to network outside of the organization. Make trip reports widelyavailableontheintranet.

✓ Use the Internet as the world’s largest focus group. Analyzeincomingemail indetail and take it seriously.Realize that extremeoreven

insulting viewsmay be directed at your organization from the Internet butthat thesemessagesoften represent the leadingedgeofopinion. (PeopleontheInternetarepassionateabouttheirareasofinterest.)Listenreallyhardtowhatpeoplearesaying—youmaysavealotoftimeandmoneyandbeabletoanticipateproblemsthatthemasseswilllaterexperience.✓ Createaprivacyprogramthatenablesyoutoknowwhereyourdata

goesandwho’sresponsibleforit.Haveasolidprivacypolicyandappointanaccountable person who ensures that the policy gets implemented (ChiefPolicy Officers are the rage— and they should be empowered to talk topeopleinsideandoutsidethecompany)

✓ Audityourprivacypolicy.Makesureitisacomprehensiveone,thatyou are following it, and that it has teeth in it from a compliance point ofview.Ensurethatsafeguardsareinplaceoverdatathatbelongstoothers.

✓ Examine how you have linked your brand to your web presence.Make sure the policies and actions on yourwebsite are consistentwith thevaluesandprinciplesofyourorganization.

✓ Employ open standards and require that your vendors do. AssignsomeoneinyourorganizationtofollowInternetandwebstandards.Conductperiodicstandardsreviewstoensureyouarecompliant.

✓ Follow key Internet policy issues in those areas where you haveexpertise or a vested interest. Visit the Global Internet Project athttp://www.gip.org for an overview of some of the current Internet policyissues.

ThinkBigButStartSimpleAndGrowFastUse trial-by-fire, just-enough-is-good-enough, and sense and respond approaches

whereitmakessense.

✓ Inspectallofyourcorebusinessprocessesinmarketing,distribution,orderprocessing,applicationdevelopment,humanresources,etc.Makesurethatyouareusingtheplan-build-delivermodelonlywhereyouhavetoandareusingthesense-and-respondmodelwhereveryoucan.

✓ SetupaSkunkWorkssomewherewhereitcan’tgetsnuffedoutorattacked by the white corpuscles of the organization. Give it top-levelsupport.

✓ UsetheInternettointroducenewproductandservicesideas.Iterateto improve the ones that get good feedback. Stop development or quicklychangedevelopmentontheoneswherefeedbackisnegative.Movefromideatoproofofconcepttoprototypewithasubsetofcustomersasfastasyoucan.

✓ Evaluate the role digital IDs (a big idea) will play for yourorganization. Start a pilot project with a subset of your constituency toexperimentandgetfeedback.Establishlong-termgoals,iteratefromthepilottowardthem,andfine-tunethemasyoulearnmore.

✓ Use incentives, recognition and communications to encourageknowledge sharing. Consider appointing a “chief knowledge officer” withresponsibility to evolve a system that facilitates broad and deep sharing ofknowledgeacrosstheorganization.

InformationTechnologyInfrastructureBuildaninformationtechnologyinfrastructurethatenablesyoutohaveascalable,

manageable, highly available, reliable, and secure e-business on the Internet and theintranet.

✓ Assume your constituencies will be using an Internet that is Fast,Always on, and Everywhere and that those constituencies are going to beinteracting with your e-business 24 x 7. Build or buy or e-source aninfrastructure that you cannot outgrow – one that can handle the spikes ofdemand and is intelligent enough to handle the unexpected, performdiagnostics,andhealitself.

✓ Make your e-business Natural, Intelligent, Easy, and Trusted.Constantlyseekfeedbackfromvisitorsandconstantlyimprovethesitebasedonwhatvisitorstellyou.Doitoftenandinsmallincrements.Makeyourwebinterfaceatleastaseasyforthecustomerastalkingtoareallive,experiencedandwell-informedsalerepresentative.

✓ Select a contentmanagement system to create andmanage contentfor your e-business and intranet websites. Standardize on XML to givecontext to your content and give you the flexibility to publish to themanydevicesthatwillbepartoftheNGi.

✓ Include multimedia capabilities in your infrastructure, includingaudio, video, and animation, to provide constituencieswith product photosandvideos,demonstrations,infomercials,andtutorialsonhowtoassembleorinstallaproduct.Setandmanageexpectationsforwhatyoucandeliverwiththemultimedia.Donotassumethatallofyourcustomershavethecapacitytohandlemultimedia.

✓ Put as much energy into creating a powerful intranet for youremployees as you do for your external customer website. Identify allprocesses from signing up for the blood drive or health care benefits, toorderingbusinesscards,tousinge-meetingsformoreeffectivecollaboration.Encouragetheformationofcommunitieswithinyourorganization.Makesureall employeeshave access to theweb and email—provide training for allnewemployees.

✓ Considerissuinganotebookcomputertoallnewemployeessotheycan be connected when they are at home or traveling. Provide a dockingstationsothatthenotebookcanbeconnectedtoadisplayandkeyboardwhentheyareintheoffice.

✓ Consider awireless infrastructure to enable employees andvisitorstoconnecttheirnotebookcomputerstotheInternetwherevertheyareinthe

organization.Offsetthecostbyeliminatingseparatephonelinesthatpeopleusetoconnecttoday.✓ Lookatallthefunctionsinthecycleofeverythingaconstituentcan

do with your organization – end-to-end. Evaluate how many of thesefunctionsareavailableonyoure-business,prioritizetheonesthataren’t,anddevelopplanstogettheminplace.

✓ Identify key applications that are not integrated (like the hotelreservation system and the frequent guest system, or the gate schedulingsystemandtheflightarrivalsystem)andevaluatetheuseofmessagequeuingto enable your incompatible systems to communicate with each other in aseamlesswaythataddsvaluetoyourcustomers.

✓ Establishaplantoconsolidateallemployeeinformationintoasingledirectory. Do the same for your customers, suppliers, and otherconstituencies.Use thesedirectories as the single“hub”of informationandthenbuildapplicationsthatallusethesamedirectory.Createa“singlesign-on”forallapplications.

InternetCultureLast, but certainly not least, get a taste of Internet culture – and then change the

culture.Ensureithasahealthycomponentofnetattitude.Letpeopleknowyoucareaboutnetattitude.Thiscanbedonetopsdownorbottomsup.

✓ Setup an advisory council composed of some of your new, youngemployeesintheorganization(andmaybeacoupleofsixteenyearoldhighschoolinterns).Meetwiththemquarterly.Givethemassignmentstolookatkeybusinessororganizationalproblemsandhavethemcomebackwithideasonwhatsolutionstheywouldapply.Taketheirsuggestionsseriously.

✓ Hireacollegestudenttoreviewyoursiteonaregularbasisandlookforsignsof“Faxthisform”or“CallusninetofiveMondaytoFriday”.Useyourexpandedemailsupportstructuretoreplacetheoldmethods.

✓ If you are in a position of leadership, establish strong executivecommitment to the new communications program. Electroniccommunications has the effect of flattening the organizational structure,thereby potentially threatening some middle management groups. Thecommitment from the top is critical to keep the grassroots teams energizedandtoavoidbureaucraticresistancetotheimplementationofnewideas.

✓ Eliminatefaxmachinesfromtheorganization.Numerousfax-emailgateway software solutions are available to replace thepaper-based system.Theannouncementofthischangewillsendastrongsignalthatnetattitudeisaliveandwell intheorganization.Ifyoudon’thavetheauthoritytodothistopsdowndo it bottomsup.Get an account at eFax (http://www.efax.com)andthenspreadthewordthroughthegrassroots.

✓ Pickatimeoftheweek,Saturdaymorning,Tuesdaynight,sometime

thatcanbereasonablyconsistentandspendanhouronthewebonaregularbasis.Do thiswhetheryouareaprogrammeror thechairmanof theboard.Trysomethingyouhaven’t triedbefore.UseYahoo!orExciteorGoogleorothersearchenginesandlookforsomethingaboutaproductoraserviceoranysubjectofinterest.Followthelinksandseewheretheyleadyou.LookatsurveyslikeMediaMetrix(http://www.mediametrix.com)thatregularlyrankthe most popular Websites to help you identify the new sites people arevisiting.Exploreandlearn.✓ Get an email account (fromoneof the free Internet email services

suchasHotmailorYahoo!mail) thatdisguisesyour identity and thendoatransaction at your e-business every week. Buy something, look forsomething,oraskaquestion.Ifyoufindanydisappointingresults,conveneameeting to have the responsible people in your organization explain whythingsarethewaytheyareandwhatcanbedonetoimprove.

✓ When you have a meeting with important people in yourorganization,askanunsuspectingpersonwhatthebestthingwastheysawonthe web this week. Chances are they will begin to avoid getting in thatawkwardspoteachweek.Theculturewillbegintochange.

✓ Grassroots support.Many different kinds of skills are necessary toimplement the concepts of Net Attitude. Some are technical, some arecommunications-oriented and some are marketing-oriented. This programmost likely cannot be implemented with only a top-down approach.Grassroots teamwork must be encouraged, nurtured, and supported. Everyorganization has a grass roots contingent somewhere. See if you can findyours.Havelunchwiththegrassrootsleaders.Listentothemandgivethemtops-downsupport.Themostprofoundlong-termpositivechangemayoccurwhenkeyinitiativescomefrompeopleonthefrontlines.

Getting a net attitude can help you energize your organization and allow you totransformittomeetyourvisionfordoingbusinessintothenextcentury.Thechallengesare real, but thebenefits are spectacular – if youget a net attitude. If youwant to findsomeearlyindicatorsofwhate-businesswillbelikeinthemonthsandyearsahead,talktothekids–asoftenasyoucan.Theymaynotknowanythingaboute-businesspersebutthewaytheythink,thewaytheyinteractwiththeirfriends,andtheexpectationstheyhaverepresentthefuture.

A

EpilogueThe epilogue was not about net attitude. It was about giving back to thecommunityinwhichyouhadbuiltorwerebuildingyourcareer.Since2001,thegapbetweenrichandpoorhaswidened.Millionsofpeopleareinneedofhousing, education, health, and assistance. For those fortunate enough tohavebenefitedfromtheadvancesoftechnologyoverthepastdecade,wehavean opportunity to give back to those who are less fortunate. Like theincreasedneedfortheadoptionofanetattitude,theneedtohelponeanotherisgreat.Agivingattitudecanmakearealdifference.

ssumingyouhavebeenwildlysuccessfulinbuildingane-businessyoumightwanttothinkabouthowtogivesomethingback.Ithinkweareallawareofhowwellthe

economy has been doing in recent years. The unprecedented growth has resulted inprosperityformanypeoplebeyondwhattheymayhaveimaginedwaspossible.Formanypeopletheamassingofamilliondollarsofnetworthwasadreamtheydidn’treallyexpecttohappen.Nowmanyofthosesamepeoplelikelydreamof$10million.Thosewith$10milliondreamof$100millionand thosewith$100milliondreamofbeingbillionaires!Muchisbeingwrittenaboutthewealthofsomany–evenafterthehugedropintheearlypart of 2001.At the same time there aremuch larger numbers of peoplewhohave notbeen so fortunate. There are many people who go to bed hungry. Even in “affluent”communities there are long lists of people waiting to gain access to barely habitableFederalhousing.Forreasonsofhealth,location,skills,misfortune,ordisadvantagetherearelargenumbersofpeopleinneed.

Who is responsible— the government or those who are more fortunate? Manywouldagreeitisatleastinpartthelatter?Whatcanbedone?Alot.Forthoseofuswhohavebeenfortunatethereisarangeofwaystohelpout.Basically,therearesomanywaystohelpthattherearenoexcusesfornotdoingso.Themeanstohelpfollowahierarchyasdosomanythings.Atthebaseofthepyramidofhelpingisgivingmoneyanonymously.Thiscanbedone through theUnitedWay,churchesorsynagogues,private foundations,variousnationalappeals,ordirectlytopinpointedcharities.Websitesabound.

Asecondlevelup thepyramid is tonotbeanonymous; todirectlysupportcausesthataremeaningfulorimportanttoyouoryour.friendsandfamily.AcoupleofyearsagoIattendedareceptionoftheSocietyofAlexisdeTocqueville,agroupofcontributorstotheUnitedWaywhoexceedathresholdof$10,000ingivingperyear.AtthereceptionIwasastoundedbothathowmanypeoplewerethereandhowmanypeoplewerenotthere.Itwasinitiallyimpressivetoseeagroupof150orsointheroom.Somequickarithmeticsuggestedthatthegivingrepresentedwasprobablygreaterthan$2million.Ontheotherhandseeing that therewere justaveryfewpeople(literally) fromanyoneof themajorcompaniesrepresented(GE,IBM,MerrillLynch,ChaseManhattan,Texaco,etc.)madeitpainfullyclearhowsmalltheparticipationreallywas.

Giventhatthestocksofallthesecompanies(andmanymore)haveappreciatedsomuch and the additional fact that these companies all provide a corporatematch of theemployee gift shows how much potential there really is. Suppose, for example, an

employeehadoptionstobuycompanystockat$25pershareandthecurrentpriceofthestockwas$50pershare.Agiftof just100sharesofstockwouldbeworth$5,000.Thecompany match would make the gift worth $10,000. The cost of the donation to theemployeewouldbe$2,500toexercisetheoptionsplusacapitalgainstax(assumingthedonatedshareshadbeenheldsufficiently)ofroughly$750minusataxsavingsof$2,000(assuminga40%taxbracket)oranetcostof$1,250.Theleverageofthegift:8to1!

A further extrapolation of the leveraged giving idea is the formation of a privatefoundation.OnOctober21,1998theSenatepassedabillthatmadepermanentthesection170(e)(5)charitablededuction forgiftsofappreciatedstock toprivate foundations.Thismeansthatanypersoncanestablishaprivatefoundationanduseappreciatedstocktodoso. This can be a very useful way to reduce tax obligations in the event of a bonuspayment,retirementpayoutofrestrictedstock,orany“spike”inincome.Atthesametimethefoundationcanbeusedtoprovidecharitabledonationsforsubsequentgiftingoreventoreceiveanddistributecharitabledonationsfromothers.Thereareafewcatchesbuttheyarereasonable.Oneisthatyourfoundationmustgiveawayatleast5%ofitsaveragenetassetsperyear.Anotheristhatyouhavetofileataxreturnforthefoundation.Ifallthisistoodaunting,youcandonatetoanexistingfoundationthatsomeoneelsehasestablished.Somelinkstoresourcescanbefoundathttp://www.jcdowning.org/

TheAlexis de Tocqueville receptionwas hosted by Jane Pauley (NBC) andBobWright(GE),IwasquiteimpressedwiththeshortspeechmadebyJane.Shetalkedaboutthe positive impact people can have by publicly revealing the amount of theircontributions.Putmodestyaside,shesaid,andletothersknow.Itwillchallengethemandspur larger gifts. I think she is right. As the United Way and others publish theirgold/silver/platinumgiverliststhetopcategoriesseemtobegrowing.

Andthenthereisthemostimportantgiftofall;ourpersonalinvolvement.Ourtimeisourmostscarceresourceandgivingevenasmallamountofit isverydifficult.Intheendhoweverthisisthegreatestgiftandthegreatestleverage.Anhouroftimedonatedtoaboardorcommitteemakesthe8to1leverageseemsmall.

Howcanwegetmorepeoplethinkingaboutallthis?Oneideaise-philanthropy.Itisnotjust“clickheretodonate”.Itisalargeridea.Creatingalocalcommunityofinterest,acharityportalthatcanenablecharitiestomaketheirneedsknownandwherethosewithresourcescanmaketheirabilitiesknownwhetheritisananonymousgift,targetedvisiblefunding,orvolunteer time. If the ideawere to spread itmightmeanenablingpeople tocontribute to charitieswhere theygrewup,went to school,orhaveavacationhome. Itmightalsobearesourcetohelppeoplesetuptheirownprivatefoundationsorcontributeto existing ones. Itmight also be away for the smallest of charitieswith no executivedirector,corporatesponsors,noradvertisingbudgetstomakethemselvesvisible.

The bottom line is simple. Incomes and assets are up. So is need of those lessfortunate.Let’sgivee-philanthropyachance.Takea lookathttp://www.greenstar.org/e-philanthropy/

T

AcknowledgementsIn theacknowledgements I thanked theagent, editor, andnumerous friendsandcolleagueswhohelpedmebringNetAttitudetoreaders.Myappreciationcontinues.Iwouldnowliketothankthosewhohavehelpedmemaintainanetattitude over the past 14 years. Irving Wladawsky-Berger, my formermanageratIBM,andIhaveluncheveryfewmonthsandcomparenotesondevelopments in technology. I continue to appreciate his inspiration. MikeNelson,a formermemberofmy team, livesandbreathesnet attitude everyday. I appreciate his active communications in the social media and hisoccasional tweet or post to keep me on my toes. Jane Harper and MaryKeoughwerekeymembersofmyteamwhoweretheoperationalguruswhoenabledtheWebAheadgrouptoinnovate.Iamgratefultoremainincontactwith them. I would like to thank Skip Prichard for his suggestions andencouragement forre-publishing thisnewversionofNetAttitude.Finally, IamgratefulforKathleenImhoff’sinvaluablereviewandediting.

herearesomanypeopletothankformakingthebookpossible.FirstandforemostisNickPhilipson,my tireless editor, forhis countless contributions, corrections, and

helpingtometomakemywritingmorereadable.Hisquestionswerepainfulattimesbuthelpedmetoclarifyandorganizemythoughts.ThankstoJohnDvorakforintroducingmeto John Brockman, my agent. John Brockman appropriately questioned whether I hadanything relevant to write about but I thank him for taking time to visit our InternetTechnologyLaboratory,seetheworkweweredoingonadvancedtechnologies,andtakethetimetolistentothestoryIwantedtotell.IalsothankhimforleadingmetoNick.

Iwant to thank the executives at IBMwhowere in a position to restrainmebutinsteadencouragedmetoliveoutontheedgeoftheInterneteventhoughwehadnoideawhere it would lead or how or even if wewould evermake any profit from it. TheseincludedJimCananvino,FernandSarrat,andDennieWelshin theearlydaysandIrvingWladawsky-Berger over the past five years. Irving, more than anyone, constantlyencouragedmetospendasmuchtimeaspossibleout in themarketplace, learningfromothersandsharingtheIBMvision.

Andthankstomyfriendsandcolleaguesforreadingmydraftsandgivingmetheircandid feedback about where I had gone astray or missed key points. I express mygratitudetoJeffAuger,TimBlair,BrianCarpenter,AndyStanford-Clark,JoeEckert,SaraElo, Dave Grossman, Mark Harris, Mike Maney, Dikran Meliksetian, Mike Nelson,HarrietPearson,DanPowers,DavidSinger,andIrvingWladawsky-Berger.ThanksalsotoMattGraham forhis assistance in researchingvarious trendsand statistics and toSarahJames,apackageengineeringinternatNestle,forcontributingreferencesaboutadvancesinthepackagingindustry.

IwouldalsoliketoacknowledgethenumerousfinecompaniesIhavereferencedinthebook.ManyofthescenariosIdescribeinthebook,notallofwhicharepositive,aredrawnfromrealexperiencesIhavehadwithvariouscompaniesasaconsumer.Mostofthese companies are highly valued customers of IBM. I have chosen the examples to

illustratehoweven themostprogressiveanddynamiccompaniesmaystillhave troubleseeing the true power of the Internet and how it is affecting their relationships withcustomers or, in some cases, see it clearly and are in the process of building out theircapabilities.At thisstageIwouldsaymostcompanies, includingmyown,arewrestlingwith the many extremely difficult challenges that the Internet presents. Hopefully, InInternettime,mostoftheexampleswillbeancienthistorybythetimeyoureadthisbook.

SpeakingofInternettime,theremaybeotherthingsthatchangedbetweenthetimeI finished writing this book and when you started reading it. That is wherehttp://netattitude.org comes in. Once the book was out of my hands and into thepublisher’s,IbegantomakenotesaboutthingsthathappenedsoonerorlaterordifferentlythanIthoughttheywould.TherewerealsonewdevelopmentsthatIhadnotanticipated.Ihave tried to capture all of these changes and post them at http://netattitude.org. Itwillhelp the book stay dynamic. There are various sidebars – I call them “Reflections”—throughoutthebook.Iamsureyouhavemanyreflectionsofyourown.Ifyouwouldliketo share them or any comments with other readers of the book and me please visithttp://netattitude.organdpostthem.

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Patrick,JohnR.HealthAttitude:UnravelingandSolvingtheComplexitiesofHealthcare.PalmCoast,FL:AttitudeLLC,2015.

Patrick,JohnR.NetAttitude:What It Is,How toGet It,andWhyYourCompanyCan’tSurvivewithoutIt.Cambridge,MA:PerseusPublishing,2001.

Scourias, John. Overview of the Global System for Mobile Communications.http://ccnga.uwaterloo.ca/~jscouria/GSM/gsmreport.htmlerloo.ca

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Webmergers.com. Year 2000 Dot Com Shutdowns: AWebmergers.com Special Reporthttp://www.webmergers.com/editorial/010201_shutdownreport.php

Notes(2016)1 JohnR.Patrick,NetAttitude:What It Is,HowtoGet It,andWhyYourCompany

Can’tSurvivewithoutIt(Cambridge,MA:PerseusPublishing,2001).

2 “List of Social Networking Websites,” Wikipedia (2015),https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websites.

3 “Monthly & Annual Retail Trade,” United States Census Bureau (2015),https://www.census.gov/retail/ecommerce/historic_releases.html.

4 “Internet Growth Statistics,” Internet World Stats (2015),http://www.internetworldstats.com/emarketing.htm.

5 Ibid.

6 John R. Patrick, Health Attitude: Unraveling and Solving the Complexities ofHealthcare(PalmCoast,FL:AttitudeLLC,2015).

7 P.J.Parmar,“WhoStillUsesFaxes?TheMedicalIndustryDoes,”KevinMD.com(2014), http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2014/10/still-uses-faxes-medical-industry.html.

8 Patrick,HealthAttitude:UnravelingandSolvingtheComplexitiesofHealthcare.

9 “Company Story,” Stew Leonard’s (2015), http://www.stewleonards.com/about-us/company-story.

10 JustinReich, “MoocCompletion andRetention in theContext of Student Intent,”EducauseReview (2014), http://er.educause.edu/articles/2014/12/mooc-completion-and-retention-in-the-context-of-student-intent.

11 Patrick,HealthAttitude:UnravelingandSolvingtheComplexitiesofHealthcare.

12 Ibid.

13 Ibid.