Has the Net Reached Its Peak? Sometimes It's Better, Sometimes It's Not Byron Alley
At this point it would take a brave pundit to predict the demise of the Internet. It's not that such a thing is completely impossible, but it's the wrong horse to bet on--the scraggly three-legged old mare standing beside the muscled racehorse.
But it's a different thing to talk about what is going to be possible on the Internet over the next few years. It's not just technology: there are other things that simply don't work because of the way that people work.
By now, we have a pretty good idea of what the Web is all about and what it can offer. We are also increasingly beginning to see its limitations and shortcomings. In one word, we are entering an era of realism.
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By now, users have pretty much figured out what they want to use the Web for: information gathering; community services; some shopping (but by far not every kind of shopping); game playing; or a mixture of all of the above. We also have increasingly accepted the fact that for many things we do, the Web is not the best answer.
