Internet Progress: The Future

LegacyUser

I would consider myself to be in the top 1% of the country's heaviest internet users. I'm sure most of the people who post in this forum are. Going by this i'd say our opinions should be some of the most valuable in the country.

Many people have yet to learn the benefits of the internet. Both personally (i.e. what can the internet do for me?) and economically (what can the internet do for the country?). Well here's a few points.

I use the internet for shopping. Out of the last 20 CDs i've bought, 17 of those have been purchased online. My computer components, and even some of the household furniture were bought online.

I use the internet for banking. I regularly access AIB's useful, but far from perfect, www.24hour-online.ie.

I use the internet for entertainment. I play online multiplayer games. I read humourous websites. I enjoy web-based games and programs.

I use the internet for social purposes. I use email, telnet, IRC, instant messaging. And that's just a handful of what's available to the online community.

I use the internet for learning. It's amazing what a search in www.google.com for "calculus tutorial" will dig up. I'm inundated with useful articles from www.howstuffworks.com and other such websites - so much so that i couldn't possibly read everything i would like to. In man's pursuit for knowledge, the internet is the ultimate tool.

I use the internet for keeping informed. www.ireland.com and www.washingtonpost.com, as well as the less mainstream www.slashdot.org and www.planetquake.com are among my most visited sites.


Yet access is slow, and cost is high. If cars are stagnant on our roads, we built better, wider, quicker roads (okay, maybe a bad example considering the state of the country's roads). Internet access is stagnant. We need better, wider, quicker access.

But why, you ask, if i can do all that i can do, does this internet need any improving on?

Because so much more can be done, and what can already be done can be done better.

Shopping becomes easier and more accessible, with the ability to stream product display videos from the vendor's site, and a more interactive use of shopping websites. Shopping also becomes safer with a proliferation of secure servers, and they're not a chore to use, because connection speeds are ten times faster. The same goes for banking.

Online entertainment increases onehundred-fold, with high-definition DVD-quality streaming movies, that you can watch exactly when you want to. Games are much more fun, and fairer when everyone's connection speed is blisteringly fast, and free from the lag that plagues online players.

Socialising becomes so much more sophisticated, with the practical ability to make free phonecalls to anywhere in the world over the internet, and the ability for videoconferencing.

Learning also gains an advantage with broadband internet access. Animated interactive How-to's can be used to much greater effect. They say a picture tells a thousand words.


Here's on quick example:
Theoretically, i can conduct my job from anywhere i have internet access. Of course, in practice, i can't, but that would change if cheap, affordable, high-speed, always-on internet connections were commonplace. Working from home has been greatly successful in North America for years now, and has recently become very popular in france. And when more people work from home, less people drive to work. So by increasing internet users' ability, we're alleviating congestion on the roads.
As i said, that's just one example. The possibilities are endless.

LegacyUser

Very Very True.
I think the avg. Irish person as yet to fully realise the immeasurable power of the internet and its wide ranging utility.

WHY YOU MAY ASK??
IMHO....
Its too difficult. Its a virtual maze that ppl concede takes too long to get the hang of. Theres also too much variability in service & cost.
If you compare it w/ TV, the equipment & ease of which you use the service is too difficult. Thats why we need technologies like ADSL & satelite access. Then the interent will become like TV, just plug in & play, no service & cost variances & a whole lot cheaper in line w/ other entertainment mediums

Overall....
JUST EASY!
*cough*
€ircom et al. hope your reading this
*cough

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80p.
SAVE CHIP !!