Too many people have forgotten about the Internet. In fact, too
many people who work for Internet-based companies don't seem to
have a clue what the Internet is.
Jack SchofieldOpinion
This wasn't a problem five or six years ago. Everybody knew the
Internet was a communications network that could carry any sort of
traffic you liked, as long as it was in Internet protocol (IP)
format.
Traffic included electronic mail, computer files and the
messages in Usenet newsgroups.
Everybody also knew that you didn't need the Internet to handle
them. You could send e-mail via BT's Telecom Gold or CompuServe.
You could get Usenet via UUCP (Unix-to-Unix Copy Program). The
Internet just provided a vastly bigger and cheaper way of carrying
the same stuff.
Today, barely one person in 1,000 understands that the Internet
is not just another name for the World-Wide Web. It's like having a
population that can't tell the difference between a car and a
road.
It is, of course, extremely useful to have the Web browser
providing a universal interface to lots of different types of
Internet traffic. But it is not always the simplest, quickest, or
most cost-effective solution. Browsers are mediocre, for example,
for e-mail, conferencing, file transfer and chat, which is why so
many of us use different applications for these tasks.
In the future, as broadband becomes more widely available, we
can expect a lot more data to be delivered over the Internet. A lot
of radio stations are already "broadcasting" over the Net, and TV
stations will follow. A growing number of phone calls are being
made over the Net, and videoconferencing could also become popular.
Network gaming is another application with huge potential.
None of these applications needs a browser interface.
None of these applications should make suppliers feel obliged to
try to cram a personal computer-style Web browser into an
unsuitable device, such as a TV set, a mobile phone, or a games
console. If you do, all you get is something that looks awful and
works badly compared with the real thing.
It's time to start developing software that works properly with
non-PC devices and non-PC data, and to stop being obsessed with the
Web, or the Wap disaster will be repeated another dozen times.
Jack Schofield is computer editor of the Guardian