We've also seen it called "I-commerce," for Internet-, and even "e-merce" -- these people are just in such a hurry 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

When e-commerce vendors realize that security is everyone's biggest concern, they'll build in the best possible protections, and we'll be wide open for business. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

"Micro-commerce" is the idea of slicing payments into tiny portions by actual use 

Millicent 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

There's another form of e-commerce that we're all deeply involved with already. We are collectively creating the Web as we go; even just by linking to a page, and then by staying there long enough to read it (even if you took off to the kitchen for that interval), you're 'buying' that page, by paying with your minutes.  

The sites we 'pay' attention to, in turn, attract attention from dollars, and dollars (like units of any currency,) like to go where other dollars are. When you've got dollars following other dollars in your door, you then have a 'business.'  

We've got a lot of dollars interested in our preferences these days, and the Web is getting built accordingly. And that's commerce. 

So, when you're finished reading this, please leave your browser on this page, and, ahh… say, aren't you a little hungry and/or thirsty? Or maybe now would be a good time to water those plants! We'll wait right here. 
  ;- ) 
 

With all the uncertainty over languages and platforms, new but nonstandard technologies, and international legal issues, E-commerce is one of the great no-brainers we have today in our Web world. The only other one in its class is the forthcoming wave of television-style productions on the Web from the traditional Hollywood/ Burbank/ NYC media triangle.  

Start working with them now, because in Ed Sullivan's famous words, they're going to be, "Rrreally big." 

Look at all the home shopping broadcasts on cable, which are basically 3D, animated mail order catalogs. We, the People, like to buy stuff. We like to watch TV. It's only a matter of time before there are home-shopping video channels on the Web, just like, and we mean exactly like, the ones on cable.  

They might even have a few extra functions made possible by the Internet(!) - something like, "Send us an e-mail to say how much you love that new jewelry!" 

It's just a matter of how soon, and in which form - and that, of course, is the tricky part. Consequently, you won't catch us making any predictions too specific. But, by the way, is anybody going back and checking on the accuracy of the people who do make all the predictions?  

"Bubble memory will be 100 kazillion dollar market by 198x." "There will never be more than a niche market for graphical user interfaces." "Token Ring will unquestionably take over as the standard." ('Love to have one of their dartboards.)

Because there's some bank backing it up, with a tradition of safeguarding money - and governmental agencies looking over their shoulders to ensure it. When e-commerce vendors realize that security is every normal person's number one concern, they'll build the best possible protections into their systems, convince the public that they're serious about it, and we'll be wide open for business. 

Of course, it's already rolling - but in its present, simple form, e-commerce is basically a new mail order technique, another element alongside 800 numbers and credit cards. That's nothing to sneeze at - the mail order business model has moved a lot of merchandise over the years, and a steadily increasing amount of that business is going to move through the Net. 

But beyond merely picking up where earlier technologies leave off, there is the possibility that sales over the Net could mean more than just another tactical addition to the mail order cataloguer's arsenal. 

"Micro-commerce" is the idea of slicing payments into tiny portions by actual use. If you stay on a page for three minutes and 17 seconds, you'd pay for three minutes, 17 seconds of looking. DIGITAL's imminent release of the "Millicent" system could enable us to become both 'micro-sellers' and 'micro-spenders' (through our microcomputers).  

Breaking costs down into bite-sized chunks could make the Internet a practical market of communication, where ideas, facts, and contacts would be available, both freely and for sale. By practical, we mean a project that is self-sustaining to at least some degree. With the amount of time and energy a serious Web presence of any kind requires, you've got to be able to get something back from it. 

If many different types of communicators can get something back for their time, effort, sweat, and agony - alright, it's not always that bad; but bad links grow for webmasters like weeds do for gardeners - we're insuring ourselves a broad and more representative range of communication. 

Software makes it easy to pay as you go. The main idea, of course, is that prices in dollar sizes will scare people off, but prices in tenths of cents will look harmless.  

If people are paying a low enough rate per minute and second, in this view, they'll relax and forget to watch the meter. It sounds smart, especially when you've met dieters who'll permit themselves a whole box of donuts because they're low-cal. 

Bill Ross 
Editor 
  

  
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