The world is flat

1. The world is flat What connected us all. By: Dan Mortimer

2. The collapse of the Berlin Wall • Once the Berlin Wall crumbled in 1989, it was said to be the end of communism. • The will of the German people to crumble a wall just so they could be united with the people on the other side, inspired the rest of the world to make connecting with each other easy, so a form of containment would never be seen again. • As it was said, “The wall went down, and windows came up”. This means that possibilities for people to connect were in plain sight.

3. Netscape • Netscape was the first REAL interned browser. It offered a simple but convenient quick search bar, and was the first and only browser to stand up to, and out perform the Microsoft Internet Browser 3.0. • It was founded in 1994 by James Clark, and Marc Anderson. • It was extremely dominant and popular all through the 1990’s, but practically dissolved by 2002. • There were many versi0ns of the Netscape browser produced over the years. Each one performed better, and had been made more effective than the previous. • However, as of year 2003, it has become nearly extinct due to modern browsers such as Google, because they have improved on all of Netscape’s faults.

4. Workflow Software • Workflow Software is a feature on a computer that automatically processes and executes simple, but easy tasks that people would normally have to deal with manually. • It does basic tasks that we now take for granted such as filtering spam, sorting e-mails into different folders, file conversions (switching from jpeg to PDF for example), storing history, etc. • This is very helpful, because this way, people can focus on much more important tasks, without having to worry about all the small tedious tasks building up on each other. • It can be downloaded for free, or if you want a much better, premium update, you can buy it at any electronic or business store.

5. Uploading • Uploading is the exact opposite of downloading. As opposed to receiving data from a source and putting it on your computer, you take data you have, and share it with other people over the internet! • This is very helpful because this way, people don’t have to physically be near on another to share information. They can be anywhere in the world, and still receive this data. • Its also very easy to spread, because all you need to do is copy the data into a file, then e-mail that file to everybody that needs to see it. This can save time. • You can upload as many things as you want. There is no limit! However with downloading, you only have a certain amount of memory space on your hard drive!

6. Outsourcing • One definition of out-sourcing is when a company based in one country, does work and business through another company in another nation. • Another way of explaining it , is when a company does work with and through another company in another area. They don’t have to be in separate countries. • The second point puts out-sourcing in a nutshell because an exact definition of the term has not yet been agreed upon. The term is used inconsistently and many times is not used properly.

7. Offshoring • Offshoring is a pretty straight forward concept. • A company is stationed in one specific area, and they do work in another area, in a different country. • For example, Nike, is based in America. They do all their manufacturing in China, and Taiwan. That is what offshoring is. • This can be beneficial to companies doing this, because the labour is cheap, and their profit marginally increases. • This strategy is (unfortunately) very common.

8. Supply-Chaining • Supply-chaining is the motion of getting a product from its producer, to the desired customer. • This incorporates the use of middle men. • For example, A company has a product that they want sold in another part of the world. They sell the product to a distributer, who sells it to a store, who sells it to a group of customers. • The product is passed through several groups sometimes, before it gets sold to the intended clientele.

9. Insourcing • Insourcing is the exact opposite of outsourcing. • It is when you accept work from another company, and execute their tasks they gave you for money. • You then supply the product back to the original company, and continue the process until they need you no longer, the contract expires, or you refuse to do work with/for them any more.

10. In-forming • In-forming is the passing of knowledge and information. • A question is asked about a certain topic, and an answer is supplied to enlighten the asker on their intended topic. • It is simply fulfilling a persons need for information. • This can be done over the internet with extreme ease. • Ask.com, Google, Yahoo!, Cracked.com, FAQ’s, and blogs are just a few ways to spread information, and answer questions. • Answers can be found using the quick search toolbar.

11. “The Steroids” • The “steroids” as they’re referred as, are electronic devices and or features that overall, promote using electronics. • High speed internet, cellular phones, I-pods, Mp3 players, wireless gaming devices, and laptops are some steroids. • These are merely just another reason why doing things over the computer, and wirelessly are the easiest and most effective ways of doing… ANYTHING. • There are plenty more and better ones to come.

12. Sources • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netscape • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netscape_Navigator • http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-workflow-software.htm • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upload\ • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offshoring • http://images.google.com/ • http://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-159644.0.html