Slashdot Mirror
The Future of e-Commerce and e-Information?
An anonymous reader writes "The Washington Post has an interesting article on what they label 'The Coming Tug of War Over the Internet. From the article: 'Do you prefer to search for information online with Google or Yahoo? What about bargain shopping -- do you go to Amazon or eBay? Many of us make these kinds of decisions several times a day, based on who knows what -- maybe you don't like bidding, or maybe Google's clean white search page suits you better than Yahoo's colorful clutter. But the nation's largest telephone companies have a new business plan, and if it comes to pass you may one day discover that Yahoo suddenly responds much faster to your inquiries, overriding your affinity for Google. Or that Amazon's Web site seems sluggish compared with eBay's.'" Seems like the idea of the 2-tier internet is really catching on with the market-droids.
In the long run, the company that can give the browser what they want in 3 clicks or less from any information platform will lead.
HTML should be put on the back burner. WAP, interactive video and audio-on-demand will be the big channels.
AI-driven interfaces predicting user desires based on billions of aggregated and sorted decisions will reduce clutter and confusion. Users who ever notice the interface will be unhappy.
If I'm in transit and need a Widget, I should have near instant access to not just price comparisons but real delivery times. Maybe a local retailer I never heard of has a Widget in stock 5
minutes away from my current location.
I'd love to see Google (or someone) provide free and simple to install search tools for business inventories, libraries and even garage sales.
Seems like all the news today is Slashdot asking us if something will happen.
I haven't thought of anything clever to put here, but then again most of you haven't either.