INTERVIEW:
Question 1
What is the difference between Internet 1 and Internet 2?
Answer
Internet 2 is really just a designation for the second phase, I think, of Internet
development. It means using the Internet for productive, business purposes. The Internet
as a communications system is now being used in a broad business way, so that the
business, the various businesses of the world are using Internet for business
communications.
I like to think of the Internet as having four basic phases. The first phase was the
early development of the Internet up until about two years ago. The second phase is the
phase we’re in today, and that is just the phase of more and more people getting
Internet access. And the third phase is more and more value-creating services on the
Internet, business communication services. And then the fourth phase will be increasing
speed and increasing availability of bandwidth of the Internet to the broad audience of
consumers. There’s no technical difference between the Internet and Internet 2. Each
period of evolution the new capabilities that are added will enable things such as high
speed voice services over the Internet. But Internet 2 is really nothing but an extension
of Internet 1 with a few minor features, additional features.
Question 2
So it’s not true that Internet 2 will be just for the academic world?
Answer
There’s a movement in the United States by some of the academic community to try to
create another Internet that’s different from the one that has now become a
commercial marketplace. I personally don’t expect this to be a very successful
movement because the government can do only so much to help the academic community. I
think the academic community will increasingly rely on the commercial Internet as their
primary communication system. But who knows? The original Internet was created by a
government effort and it could be that there would be another Internet. But I don’t
see it as being terribly productive. I think we have just entered a phase where commercial
spending, business spending, is now driving the availability of better and better Internet
services. I believe that the academic world will actually make use of those services as
well.
Question 3
Do you think the development of Internet 2 depends on who owns it?
Answer
The problem is that the payment probably comes from the government but the
ownership is what becomes impossible to really determine. I think generally any Internet,
any network, ultimately will have to be operated by the local telecommunications company.
So I think the actual owner will be the telecommunications companies, so therefore it may
not matter whether it’s Internet 1 or Internet 2. Someone has to pay the bill. In
this case it would probably be the US government.
Question 4
Why do you think so few people in the world have access to the Internet?
Answer
In the world of the consumer, most ordinary people are not connected to the Internet. The
Internet that we hear about, that we read about is primarily a tool for corporations. Most
people don’t have a PC, so over time more and more of these kinds of Internet
devices, cheaper PCs, network computers and ultimately televisions will allow the consumer
to be connected to the Internet. But today this is not true. Today, most people are
connected through their place of work and, therefore, it’s mostly a business tool,
the Internet.
Question 5
You said that the real users of the Internet are the companies. What about the others?
Answer
Well, the fact is that most people probably who watch your television programs do not have
an Internet connection. And the reason is that the Internet is relatively new, number one.
But number two, is it’s also an expensive communications system unless you need it
for business. Over time this will change as Telecom Italia and other telecommunications
companies make available Internet services easily to the consumer, number one, and number
two, they also have to be very inexpensive communication devices. And I think the primary
communications device will become the TV, not the TV as we know it today, but the future
TV.
Question 6
How long do you think this development will take?
Answer
Over a period of years, I think everyone will find the Internet just as common as they
today find the telephone. But this will take some years. And then it will touch everyone.
I think in a 5 to 10-year time frame the Internet or Internet 2 will touch all forms of
business and all forms of personal communication.
Question 7
What differences do you see between the United States and Europe?
Answer
Of course, Europe has a much more regulated telecommunications business. In the United
States telecommunications is now much more competitive. We have in the United States at
least 15 major telephone, telecommunications companies. For example, in California there
are three or four different companies that one can get telecommunications services from.
This means the Internet is becoming more rapidly used because of competition.
In Europe, it’s not quite the same. In Europe each individual market, Italy or
France or Germany or the Untied Kingdom all have one dominant telecommunications company
without so much competition, and therefore things move somewhat more slowly in Europe.
Question 8
Do you think that there will be a gap between countries that know how to use the Internet
and countries that don’t know how to use it?
Answer
I believe the Internet is the most important new medium for education that has emerged in
the last fifty years. It’s a very important new system. And young people, young
children who are first exposed to the Internet and to the WWW are completely captivated by
it. It is a place where they can go and get information, where they can become better
educated because information is the foundation for education. And because of this, I think
those countries who make Internet access a fundamental part of the education system will
in fact develop a more competitive population, a more competitive business market in the
world economy. So in some sense I think the telecommunication richness of a country is
directly related to the economic competitiveness of this country. And I think that those
countries which embrace the Internet most quickly will in fact become superior because
their people will become better educated.
Question 9
Newsweek recently wrote that this is the Microsoft century, and that although it’s
very powerful, it can’t control everything. What do you think about this?
Answer
I think this is true. In telecommunications there’s no single company world-wide that
dominates telecommunications. Within individual markets certain companies will dominate.
But from a world-wide perspective there is no single company that can dominate
telecommunications. I don’t think Microsoft, or Netscape, or any single company will
dominate the basic tools for future telecommunications, which as I say is data
communications. Microsoft has been a very successful company for stand-alone desktop
applications. But a world of telecommunications requires many different kinds of
platforms. The world is heterogeneous from a telecommunications standpoint. We don’t
have only one kind of person in the world, so we will not have just one kind of
telecommunications platform. SO I don’t think Microsoft will dominate this business
at all.
Question 10
Do you think that in the future satellites will be important for the Internet?
Answer
Satellite will be somewhat important, but I believe for two-way connections satellite is
not so good. I think more and more there will be what I would call cellular-based
Internet, wireless Internet and ultimately perhaps a satellite will be used, but I think
the primary vehicle is the traditional telecommunications system, not the satellite.
Question 11
Do you believe there is a real need for more bandwidth for teleconferencing or the
Internet and that the need for broadband is for better development of electronic commerce
and on-line entertainment?
Answer
I think broadband is important for entertainment but it is not important - not necessary -
for electronic commerce. It doesn’t have to be very high bandwidth, just good,
reliable bandwidth, reliable connections; this is what is necessary for electronic
commerce. But for electronic entertainment I think much higher speed, higher bandwidth
will become necessary.
Question 12
Oracle’s CEO Larry Ellison forecast the arrival of video-on-demand on the Internet
next year, at least for TV news broadcasts. Do you agree with this?
Answer
Video requires very high speed and I think we’re some years away from having a high
enough speed to have routine, common video. But it is an evolutionary process and
increasingly over a five to ten-year time frame we will have more and more and more video
until ultimately one will receive video-on-demand over the Internet.
Question 13
In you opinion what will be the development of the network computer?
Answer
Well, I think there will be more common applications for the office than at home. The
network computer concept is a very desirable concept. And I look forward to the days when
we can buy one. But today, in fact you cannot buy a network computer, and so I think we
have perhaps another year before it will become a good test. I’m not able to predict
how well the network computer concept will actually work, but I certainly hope it does
because from a business point of view, the network computer would be a very, very useful
tool.
Question 14
Some experts think the browsers will be the new software environment, like object-oriented
programs and Java. Some think the browser will disappear. What do you think?
Answer
The browser is a metaphor for accessing information. In fact, the browser as a separate
product may go away. We have never at Netscape felt the browser was the end goal, but
instead we try to make better and better communications tools.
Question 15
What are your planning with the new company Navio?
Answer
The purpose of Navio is to make the Netscape technology available in the consumer market.
From the beginning Netscape was interested in discovering what the market would be. When
we started Netscape it was a big gamble. No one knew that you could make productive
business using Internet technology in 1994. Our first discovery was that businesses wanted
to use the Netscape technology, not consumers, but businesses. So we focused Netscape on
business productivity tools and we have created the fastest growing company in history by
focusing like this. At the same time many consumer companies, consumer electronics
manufacturers, television companies and so forth approached me saying they wanted this
technology for future television. But we didn’t have the capacity to both focus on
business as well as focus on the consumer. Therefore, we created a separate company,
Navio, whose purpose is to focus on the consumer market. A consumer market is one that is
emerging. It is not a well-defined market today. But with Navio we can have a separate
management team and not be distracted from the basic business of Netscape. Navio can focus
on the future of the emerging consumer market and make Netscape technology available in
this consumer market.
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