Moreover, e-publishing's delivery platform, the Internet, has
been transformed beyond recognition since March 2000.
From an open, somewhat anarchic, web of networked computers -
it has evolved into a territorial, commercial, corporate
extension of "brick and mortar" giants, subject to government
regulation. It is less friendly towards independent (small)
publishers, the backbone of e-publishing. Increasingly, it is
expropriated by publishing and media behemoths. It is treated
as a medium for cross promotion, supply chain management, and
customer relations management. It offers only some minor
synergies with non-cyberspace, real world, franchises and
media properties. The likes of Disney and Bertelsmann have
swung a full circle from considering the Internet to be the
next big thing in New Media delivery - to frantic efforts to
contain the red ink it oozed all over their otherwise
impeccable balance sheets.
But were the now silent pundits right all the same? Is the
future of publishing (and other media industries) inextricably
intertwined with the Internet?
The answer depends on whether an old habit dies hard.
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