Ryan Bagueros wrote:
On Wed, 25 Nov 1998, zentara wrote:
realize they don't need the problems of retail storefronts to do business. Heck the money they would save from shoplifting alone, would make the switch profitable. Start studying your cgi and java.
Ah, I disagree. I work for an ISP and I pretty much handle the "e-commerce" programming right now, getting stores online. Christmas 1998 is the testing ground for business-to-consumer commerce, hence the etoys.com commercials on network television. Many people believe this is dead, and for right now, I agree. Places like amazon.com and others are doing well, but they are the "Wal-Mart"'s of online shopping. Smaller businesses are finding out everyday that by the time they pay for software, pay for installation, pay for custom changes, pay for their website, etc. that they are not making their money back.
You may be right for now, but I think AOL is looking a few years down the road. This rat-race economy cannot be sustained. America is "car and mall" happy, and small businesses still are catering to that money supply. BUT, if the US had to face up to it's waste of fuel, and streamline it's supply operations, things would change. It's sad that everytime the Wall Street averages falter, the fed has to lower interest rates. The "jig will be up" eventually. It is already cheaper for me to shop online, because I no longer bear the cost of vehicle ownership. Plus I can look around for the best price, I'm not limited to what the mall offers me. Personally I want more stuff available online. Foodstuffs, booze, etc. And I want to find deals. If a shipload of cheap rum just came in from Barbados, and bottles are cheap, I want a few. This can only be done with the Internet's quickness. By the time the stuff finds it's way to my corner store, the middlemen have tripled the price. Now that I'm all hot and bothered, :-); how about SuSe getting a complete WebStore going on their distributions. I guess that should be on the list for SuSe 6.1. :-) - To get out of this list, please send email to majordomo@suse.com with this text in its body: unsubscribe suse-linux-e