Still, many issues need to be sorted out. I'm not suggesting all conventional businesses must succumb to new Internet-based competitors. People will still want to see and try on certain types of clothing before they buy, and there is no technology in the pipeline to let restaurants transmit hamburgers over the 'Net. This migration of certain business processes to the Web is well under way. Oracle is even renting software over the Internet.
Businesses often depend on long-standing barriers to entry, many of which are about to fall.
AltaVista's language function can translate Web sites to or from English, German, French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese. But behind the scenes, the site continually gathers data about individual users, presenting them with personalized screens and content. Ads will be targeted with unheard-of precision. Making money the old-fashioned way used to be a virtue. Now it's just a sign of obsolescence.