RE: IF IT'S BORING, BUY IN
RE: IF IT'S BORING, BUY IN
Sent: 11/18/96; 8:58:12 AM
From: tony_jacobs@ced.utah.edu (Tony Jacobs)
Hi Dave,
Just wanted to throw my .02 about the web at ya.
I think it caught on like it did for many of the same reasons that graphical user interfaces did, because they're real EASY to use by the masses. The net has been around for many years and those who participated in it loved it and found the vast amount of information and communication quite useful. The Web simply provided a way for the masses to have that kind of access to the internet in a simple, easy-to use fashion. Microsoft wasn't at the forefront of the GUI innovation either, they just came along later and marketed it.
The Web and its browsers also did something very similar to what GUI's did for computers in that they integrated a number of capabilities into a single user interface. GUI's help to "glue" all the individual tools in a computer into a nice Swiss army knife! That's what the web did for all the networking tools.
2) Another big reason that the Web caught on is that some well known national leader started promoting the "Information Superhighway". Well, any time you put that kind of PR to some new idea (real or vapor), it can't help but grow.
3) People just love new gadgets, new technology, wizzy stuff. Web broswers were just the ticket for that.
4) Industry is just services, products, communication, transportation. The Web was a major innovation in the logical connection between all four of those areas. The phone and the phone book/yellow pages served a similar innovation. Isn't the Web just like this huge expanded (multimedia-ized) phone book with the encyclopedia thrown in for added effect?
5) The Web *IS* a virtual reality. It's remote existance. It's the first huge implemtation of VR that the masses can use and find useful.
Anyway, those are my thoughts.
Tone
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