So Where Is All This 

 Leading Us? 



David Brock 



This is the last of three articles 

 about the Internet and how it is 

 affecting all of us in the Green 

 Industry. The first article de fined 

 the Internet; the second looked at 

 how to use it; this last article 

 recaps the first two and looks at 

 where this technology is bringing us. 



A RECAP 



There are two halves of the Internet — the user and the 

 content provider. As a user, one connects a modenn- 

 equipped computer to the Internet by placing a phone 

 call to an internet access provider. Once the computer/ 

 modem maizes the connection, you load your Internet 

 browser, a software application which lets you "look" at 

 the Internet. You then begin to "surf the 'Net" and view 

 the information available. Using intuition, you can find 

 many Internet addresses such as www.gardens.com, 

 www.provenwinners.com, www.optimara.com, etc. Alterna- 

 tively, you might use an Internet search tool such as 

 www.yahoo.com or www.search.com to help refine your 

 search. Once the novelty wears off, you will explore 

 items of personal interest and find a few sites that en- 

 hance your business productivity. Email will be your 

 most productive use of the Internet. 



WHAT'S CHANGED IN THREE MONTHS 

 Computer and communications technology has seen sig- 

 nificant changes since the first part of this series was 

 presented. Consider the following headlines during the 

 past several weeks: 



• NYNEX and Bell Atlantic appear poised to merge. 



• Pacific Telesis and Southwestern Bell are merging. 



• IVlicrosoft and Netscape are battling to dominate the 

 software browser market, with Netscape saying that 

 the computer-operating system and disk-resident 

 applications (word processor, spreadsheet, etc.) are 

 becoming unnecessary — you simply download them 

 from the Internet when you need them. 



• The on-line services (except America On-Line) are 

 disbanding in favor of an Internet-based service. 



• AT&T, MCI, Sprint and other long-distance carriers 

 offer Internet access for the first time. 



• Cable companies are deploying low-cost Internet 

 access boxes whereby you plug in your TV as the 

 monitor and use your cable connection to gain high- 

 speed Internet access. 



• America On-Line was off-line for 19 hours, causing 

 disruption in service for six million subscribers. This 

 event was featured on every national news program 

 signifying how on-line computing has become a main 

 stream issue. 



• The Olympics showed an interactive website which 

 processed 200 million requests. 



• The Democratic and Republican National Conventions 

 were viewed via numerous web sites. 



• Four million first-time subscribers have connected to 

 the Internet during the past three months. 



• Ten web sites were shown at the Ohio Short Course; 

 an estimated 400 companies in horticulture have an 

 Internet presence. 



• On-line commerce in horticulture is emerging, paving 

 the way for secure commerce to explode in 1997. 



Every day, we are witnessing the evolution of a com- 

 munications and information medium which affects all 

 aspects of our life, whether we are actively participating 

 or not. Over the next several years, we will be bom- 

 barded with new tools which will require us to decide 

 which are useful, which are cost-effective, and which are 

 meaningful. 



THE FUTURE OF HORTICULTURE 

 IN CYBERSPACE 



Using the Internet as a news resource will be common- 

 place in the next century. Commercial transactions and 

 communication over the Internet will integrate into 

 today's business processes. And the outcome will offer 

 more opportunity for personal contact at community 

 events where face-to-face meetings will be used to solve 

 more complex social issues. The evolution of Internet 

 technologies will free us from mundane tasks such as 

 sending faxes, re-keying orders, sending postal mail, and 

 generating expensive paper-based catalogues. 



With most universities, cooperative extensions, and 

 government agencies now offering resources to growers, 

 the Internet is becoming a mainstream tool to stay in- 



OCTOBER^-NOVEMBER 1996 



