The Internet for Business: A Snapshot

Sandra Bullock in The Net (Irwin Winkler, 1995) worked over the internet, ordered her pizza over the internet and conversed with her friends over the internet. The internet consumes the lives and conversations of those in the business of the internet. Internet business is exciting, fast-moving and high-risk, with some huge successes but many failures.

Most of the players in the industry (at the time of writing in 1996) are small, unknown, creative and intensely competitive. A tiny minority are very visible and very rich (at least on paper), but they may still be swept into obscurity with the next technological advance.

What does a snapshot of the industry reveal? How does business and education use the internet? What is the internet good for? How far have we moved into Negroponte's 'Being Digital' world?