For the most part, we don t think of the Internet as a huge public works project because it operates over wires and privately owned computers already present in our homes and offices. But it is. That s Kevin Werbach, editor of the highly respected and widely read technology publication, Release 1.0 . Werbach notes that most of us don t fully appreciate that the Internet is a work in progress, from the bottom of the protocol stack to the top. However, he notes that as part of its evolution, the net is merging with other communications networks.
Digital convergence means more than television sets and personal computers sharing features.
Werbach observes that this convergence won t happen overnight. He believes that services may converge even before the underlying hardware does. The converged new network has many elements. Wireless data connections that put Web content and email onto mobile phones, along with hybrid devices such as the Kyocera Smartphone and the Handspring VisorPhone, are taking the Internet experience and making it mobile. Werbach points out that for the most part, these developments involve taking services already available somewhere either on the phone or on the Net and moving them to a new environment.