Internet phones, Internet videophones - they
will be serious competitors and the phone companies are likely
to react once they begin to feel the heat. This will happen
when the Internet will acquire black box features. Phone
companies, software giants and cable TV operators are likely
to end up owning big chunks of the lucrative future market of
the Net.
The Solitary Medium
The Internet is NOT a popular medium. It is the medium of
affluent executives who fully master the English language, as
part of a wider general education.
Alternatively, it is the medium of academia (students,
lecturers), or of children of the former, well-to-do group. In
any case, it is not the medium of the "wide public". It is
also a highly individualistic medium.
The Internet was an initiative of the DOD (Department of
Defence in the USA). It was later "requisitioned" by the
National science Fund (NSF) in the USA. This continuous
involvement of the administration came to an end in 1995 when
the medium was "privatized".
This "privatization" was a recognition of the civilian roots
of the Internet.
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