Introduction to e-Commerce

Introduction to e-Commerce A Little History Dr. Michael D. Featherstone Summer 2010

Intro to the Internet and the World Wide Web The Web has no geography, no landscape. It has no distance. It has nothing natural in it. It has few rules of behaviour and fewer lines of authority. Common sense doesn’t hold there, and uncommon sense hasn’t yet emerged. No wonder we’re having trouble figuring out how to build businesses in this new land (Weinberger “Small Pieces Loosely Joined” 2002, p. 8). It grew like a weed without the shaping impact of a consciously defined social contract to determine what the medium should be delivering, for what purpose, and with what value. Perhaps it happened too fast, too unexpectedly for constructive reflection; so that the technology shaped us before we could shape it. Donnelly “The Confetti Generation: How the new communications technology is fragmenting America”, 1986, p. 21 The Web presents a new paradigm for business It represents a punctuated equilibrium in the business environment

Internet vs. Web “The Internet ('Net) is a network of networks. Basically it is made from computers and cables. What Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn did was to figure out how this could be used to send around little "packets" of information. As Vint points out, a packet is a bit like a postcard with a simple address on it. If you put the right address on a packet, and gave it to any computer which is connected as part of the Net, each computer would figure out which cable to send it down next so that it would get to its destination. That's what the Internet does. It delivers packets - anywhere in the world, normally well under a second. … The Web is an abstract (imaginary) space of information. On the Net, you find computers -- on the Web, you find document, sounds, videos,.... information. On the Net, the connections are cables between computers; on the Web, connections are hypertext links. The Web exists because of programs which communicate between computers on the Net. The Web could not be without the Net. The Web made the net useful because people are really interested in information (not to mention knowledge and wisdom!) and don't really want to have know about computers and cables.” Quoted from Sir Tim Berners-Lee http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/FAQ.html

Founders of the Internet The Internet evolved. It was developed in the 1960’s in response the perceived threat of a nuclear attack during the ‘Cold War’ between the USA and the (former) USSR. It was built through the combined efforts of the Military, Industry, and Academe. Originally it was under the auspices of ARPANET, the Advanced Research Projects Agency. The Wizards: Vint Cerf and Robert KahnCerf and Kahn teamed up in the early 1970s to devise the TCP and IP protocols—the basic linking structure of the Internet. Before being anointed “chief Internet evangelist” by his current employer, Google, Cerf served as a senior vice president at MCI; he had begun his distinguished career as a student of Leonard Kleinrock’s at U.C.L.A. Kahn helped design the original Interface Message Processor for the Arpanet at Bolt, Beranek & Newman, in 1969, before heading the computer-research arm of ARPA. In 2005 the two men were awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.vanityfair.com/images/culture/2008/07/cusl10_internet0807.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2008/07/internet_portfolio200807%3Fslide%3D10&usg=__PIqywA0yOZMPyIpt_7RVoz_FIms=&h=595&w=460&sz=108&hl=en&start=1&sig2=_8hQVLeKfyKnvQKt2IetbQ&um=1&tbnid=nKkFMuZb-KOGYM:&tbnh=135&tbnw=104&ei=cn1vSY2gCo_aNPi84aYN&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dvinton%2Bcerf%2Brobert%2Bkahn%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN Factoid: Nobody knows who first used the word Internet - it just became a shortcut around this time for "internetworking". The earliest written use of the word appears to be by Vint Cerf in 1974 .

World Wide Web You may or may not know the Web was invented by a single individual.

World Wide Web Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web while at CERN in Switzerland. He also developed HTML – the hyper text markup language. (see view source) That means that the very first browser was his invention as well. He has since been ‘Knighted’ by Queen Elizabeth of England, so it’s “Sir Tim Berners-Lee now. <html> <head> <title>MensBowTies dot-com everything about bow ties</title> <meta name="description" content="shopping, everything about bow ties, mens fashion, www.mensbowties.com"> <meta name="keywords" content="bow ties, bow tie, necktie, mens fashion"> <style>  </style> <STYLE type="text/css"> <!--

First Web Site

First Commercial Browser Marc Andreesen developed the first commercial browser while at the University of Illinois. Originally referred to as the Mosaic browser, it became the Netscape browser.

Browsers BROWSERS ARE JUST CODE aximp c:\windows\system\shdocvw.dll tlbimp mshtml.tlb namespace ND.WebBrowser { using System; using System.Drawing; using System.ComponentModel; using System.Windows.Forms; using Microsoft.Win32; using AxSHDocVw; using MSHTML; // etc.. protected void mnuFile_Popup(object sender, EventArgs e) { MenuItem miFile = MenuMain.MenuItems[0]; miFile.MenuItems[14].Checked = AxWebBrowser.Offline; Int32 EnabledTest = Convert.ToInt32(SHDocVw.OLECMDF.OLECMDF_SUPPORTED) + Convert.ToInt32(SHDocVw.OLECMDF.OLECMDF_ENABLED); miFile.MenuItems[2].Enabled = EnabledTest.Equals(AxWebBrowser.QueryStatusWB //Refresh test for Edit (SHDocVw.OLECMDID.OLECMDID_REFRESH)); miFile.MenuItems[3].Enabled = EnabledTest.Equals(AxWebBrowser.QueryStatusWB (SHDocVw.OLECMDID.OLECMDID_SAVE)); miFile.MenuItems[4].Enabled = EnabledTest.Equals(AxWebBrowser.QueryStatusWB (SHDocVw.OLECMDID.OLECMDID_SAVEAS)); miFile.MenuItems[6].Enabled = EnabledTest.Equals(AxWebBrowser.QueryStatusWB (SHDocVw.OLECMDID.OLECMDID_PAGESETUP)); miFile.MenuItems[7].Enabled = EnabledTest.Equals(AxWebBrowser.QueryStatusWB (SHDocVw.OLECMDID.OLECMDID_PRINT)); miFile.MenuItems[8].Enabled = EnabledTest.Equals(AxWebBrowser.QueryStatusWB (SHDocVw.OLECMDID.OLECMDID_PRINTPREVIEW)); miFile.MenuItems[13].Enabled = EnabledTest.Equals(AxWebBrowser.QueryStatusWB (SHDocVw.OLECMDID.OLECMDID_PROPERTIES)); } protected void mnuFileSave_Click(object sender, EventArgs e) { Object o = null; m_axWebBrowser.ExecWB(SHDocVw.OLECMDID.OLECMDID_SAVE, SHDocVw.OLECMDEXECOPT.OLECMDEXECOPT_DODEFAULT, ref o, ref o); } protected void mnuFileOpen_Click(object sender, EventArgs e) { OpenForm frmOpen = new OpenForm(); frmOpen.ShowDialog(this); if(frmOpen.DialogResult == DialogResult.OK) { Object o =AxWebBrowser.Navigate(frmOpen.Address, ref o, ref o, ref o, ref o); } }

Browsers IE changed everything because Because it was a pretty good browser It came free with Windows Today’s browsers IE Firefox Chrome Avant Opera And numerous others: • http://browsers.evolt.org/

Browsers Market Share SOURCE = http://www.netmarketshare.com/browser-market-share.aspx

Dot Com Bubble 1995-2002 The dot-com bust of 2000-2002 And then everything changed. Fast-forward to the dot-com crash of 2000-2002. Venture capital investments started dropping immediately, borrowers defaulted, bond-market froze, and stock market started to tumble first slowly, and then, after September 11, it dropped down very fast, just like the falling comet. Companies started disappearing left and right, and the party quickly came to an end. Prospects disappeared, analysts changed their tune, and internet became a commodity. http://www.zacks.com/blog/comments.php?cid=8907

This Concludes Today’s Presentation Thank you for your attention

Introduction to e-Commerce