New users represent revenue to fatten the access and backbone transport infrastructure, fund the information infrastructure and whois++ and other directory services, and provide more Archie and Veronica servers and mirror archive sites. They represent a market that can support development of commercial Internet user software … They represent a marketplace for value-added information services, which also means more money going back into the infrastructure. They help make more of the Internet self-funding without relying on revenue from the government, research or education users. Business and unaffiliated users also bring validation … And they bring a sense of perspective. The needs and desires of businesses and individuals are often different from those of the academic, research and government communities – but the filling of these new needs will benefit the original communities, whose own new users will want ease of use and comprehensive suites of services.
Predictor: Dern, Daniel
Prediction, in context:The 1995 book “Public Access to the Internet,” edited by Brian Kahin and James Keller carries the chapter, “Meeting the Challenges of Business and End-User Communities on the Internet: What They Want, What they Need, What They’re Doing” by Daniel Dern. Dern, an Internet analyst and writer, is the author of “The Internet Guide for New Users” and “The Internet Business Handbook.” He writes: ”The Good News: What Individual Users and Businesses Mean for the Internet: In a word, money for growth and for more nifty stuff. New users represent revenue to fatten the access and backbone transport infrastructure, fund the information infrastructure and whois++ and other directory services, and provide more Archie and Veronica servers and mirror archive sites. They represent a market that can support development of commercial Internet user software – general front-ends like Spyglass Mosaic and Netscape and The InternetAdapter, specialties like SlipKnot, single-apps like Eudora, HTML/SGML editors, and more, as the market explosion of 1994 makes clear. They represent a marketplace for value-added information services, which also means more money going back into the infrastructure. They help make more of the Internet self-funding without relying on revenue from the government, research or education users. Business and unaffiliated users also bring validation … And they bring a sense of perspective. The needs and desires of businesses and individuals are often different from those of the academic, research and government communities – but the filling of these new needs will benefit the original communities, whose own new users will want ease of use and comprehensive suites of services.”
Date of prediction: January 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Information Infrastructure
Subtopic: General
Name of publication: Public Access to the Internet (book)
Title, headline, chapter name: Meeting the Challenges of Business and End-User Communities on the Internet: What They Want, What they Need, What They’re Doing
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
Pages 218, 219
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Guarino, Jennifer Anne