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ADVANCED TOPICS The Internet User Base |
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HOW HAS THE NUMBER OF INTERNET USERS INCREASES OVER TIME? The exponential nature of the Internet's growth took root in the early nineties when Internet technology moved from unfriendly and specialized email interfaces to the exciting cyberspace of the web. Internet user base increased from a negligible handful in 1991 to six million people in 1995 and to its present day figure of 45 million in the United States alone. Research conducted by Nua, one of Europe's leading online consultancies and developers, estimates that there are a total of 100.5 million Internet users across the globe today. This number is expected to hit 200 million by the year 2000, while the number of online documents is expected to increase from 100 million to 800 million in the same time frame. |
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HOW MANY PEOPLE USE THE INTERNET WORLDWIDE? These figures, however, only represent demographics related to people who have direct access to the Internet. Just over a year ago, of the 13 million servers that were connected to the Internet, 99% were distributed across North America, Western Europe and Asia, primarily Japan. According to an International Telecommunication Union figure, the other 1% was distributed amongst the other 4 billion people that make up the rest of the world. These figures point to the fact that the privilege of access to the Internet is not a global phenomenon but more a function of the economic and technological advancement of the select few who have a role in bringing about Internet technology in the first place. US tax payers have subsidized the development of the Internet indirectly and they are the ones who are enjoying the comfort of extensive Internet networking in their public, private and educational institutions. However, the question that arises is whether the Internet should continue to operate in an environment where this technology primarily serves the developed nations and enables them to make strides into the future which in effect would increase the existent disparity between the West and the Third World, or whether the uniform global distribution of the Internet be stressed upon depending on the feasibility involved. |
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HOW ARE THIRD-WORLD NATIONS INVOLVED WITH THE INTERNET? It is important to notice that despite the fact that South Asian and South East Asian countries do not make a major part of the Internet, many Internet related products are actually produced in quite a few of these countries. Many software companies in the United States have satellite operations in these countries where cutting edge software innovation is underway at greatly reduced costs primarily because of the significantly lower costs of hiring programmers there. India is one such example where many software giants like Microsoft and Oracle have are conducting business at a large scale. Despite the fact that India is earning a handsome amount in foreign exchange because of this process of software outsourcing from the US to software concerns in India, the major winners are the American companies who in turn provide better Internet facilities with newer versions of Internet related software to users in the United States. Another dimension that comes to light in this regard is the fact that software engineers from all across the globe head to the Silicon Valley and to use their programming skills and become part of developing bleeding edge computer related technology. |
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SHOULD SOMETHING BE DONE ABOUT THE WORLDWIDE IMBALANCE OF INTERNET USAGE? In a scenario where the Internet is deriving support from varied sources from all over the world and serving only a select few, the issue that arises is whether or not steps be taken to change the present situation. In the case that change is considered desirable, it would have to be determined how feasible such an undertaking would be since many people in developing and most in under-developed countries cannot afford a computer let alone subscribe to an Internet service provider. |
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WHAT SHOULD BE DONE TO CORRECT INTERNET USAGE IMBALANCES? To deal with this problem an Internet pricing structure has to be developed so that access to the Internet becomes more affordable for the layman anywhere in the world. One solution that comes to mind is the breaking down of the content on the Internet into various domains where each domain has its own pricing structure and basic fee. For instance, anyone surfing the web in Afghanistan would be least interested in a web site like the Hotcoupons page which only serves Americans in the United States looking for good bargains in the local market. However, this person might be quite interested in research and the Stanford homepage would make a lot of sense to him or her. This concept would be quite like choosing which channels we chose to watch on our TV; I could save myself money if I chose not to subscribe to any cable network. Resorting to such pricing would create more choices for people to pick from and people with different levels of income could subscribe to different levels of Internet access. |
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