somewhere in-between. A user who types in an Internet 

 address (which is like dialing a telephone number) on 

 their computer's Internet browser software gets con- 

 nected to a channel of graphical information similar to 

 what you might see on television. These channels of in- 

 formation offer enormous detail — both textual and vi- 

 sual — about products, organizations, programs, services, 

 brochures, and anything else you can see or read about 

 in the world. And additional information is being added 

 every day. 



USING THE INTERNET 



To use or connect to the Internet, you need a computer 

 (generally Intel 386 or higher, or Apple PowerPC), a com- 

 puter modem (14,400 or 28,800 bits/second), a standard 

 telephone line, and software which includes a communi- 

 cations package and an Internet browser. For the techni- 

 cally challenged, the simplest means of connecting, as- 

 suming you have the above hardware, is to use a soft- 

 ware package from one of the on-line service providers 

 listed in Table One. These companies make it easy to 

 configure your system, offer local telephone call access, 

 and are generally simple to implement. Their cost, how- 

 ever, is generally higher than other methods of connect- 

 ing, averaging $l2/month for basic access and then 

 $2.50 or so per hour of connect time thereafter. 



For the more ambitious, using an off-the-shelf soft- 

 ware package, such as that offered by Netscape Commu- 

 nications and connecting to an Internet access provider 

 (also listed in Table One), is a more cost-effective way 

 to go — assuming the access provider you have chosen 

 provides a local telephone number in your area — and 

 offers good service. Costs here vary significantly, averag- 

 ing anywhere from $20/month for unlimited access to a 

 charge of $1.00 or so per hour. Finally, if you use 

 Microsoft's Windows 95 or IBM's OS/2 Warp operating 

 system, they offer a connection software package and a 

 network into which to connect, (typically through a local 

 phone call) for about $5/month with an hourly charge 

 based on usage. In addition, due to the Telecommunica- 

 tions Act passed in Congress in early February, tele- 

 phone companies, like AT&T, MCI, and Sprint are begin- 

 ning to aggressively offer Internet access. These pro- 

 grams are new and aren't covered here, but are likely to 

 bring costs down and services up. 



As a user, check out the best method for you and 

 don't be embarrassed if you change providers a few 

 times before finding one that suits and services your 

 needs. Also, expect to be bombarded with specials from 

 NYNEX (Bell Atlantic), AT&T, MCI, Sprint, your cable 

 company, Internet access providers, Microsoft, IBM, and 

 a hoards of others who want your Internet connection 

 business. 



PROVIDING CONTENT ON THE 



INTERNET 

 If you are in the Green Industry today and want to pro- 



vide information about yourself on the Internet for users 

 to see, you are a "content provider". For most organiza- 

 tions, this capability falls outside their scope of exper- 

 tise and they solicit the advice of an Internet service 

 provider (ISP). This organization will work with you to 

 define how you would like to present your information 

 and then will design, in software, pages for you. This 

 generally entails digitizing current brochures, catalogues, 

 letterhead and logo, pictures of your prize-winning crop 

 or retail center and then logically placing these into the 

 software format required on the Internet. ISPs generally 

 charge a fixed fee per page ($100-200) or project 

 ($I,000-$IOO,000) to design the page(s) and then a 

 monthly fee ($25-50 per page) to actually keep those 

 pages published and accessible on the Internet. The 

 Internet is analogous to a magazine, in which an ad is 

 created and you pay the publisher a monthly fee to run 

 it. For the more technically savvy and experienced, you 

 may also consider designing and publishing documents 

 yourself, in-house, but the cost to do so is significant — 

 requiring a high-powered computer, a dedicated connec- 

 tion to the Internet (which is always running and ringing 

 up the charges), and a person to administer the site. Es- 

 timates suggest it averages about $50,000/year to take 

 the project in-house. Naturally, the more sophisticated 

 the content, the more expensive, regardless of the ap- 

 proach you take. A simple, one page ad on the Internet 

 runs about $400/year, inclusive, while a secure, on-line 

 ordering system, which includes a 300-page catalog, 

 corporate history, delivery schedules, on-line order- 

 tracking, etc., can run into the tens of thousands of dollars. 



SUMMARY 

 When you combine the two halves — users, estimated at 

 40 million in over 200 countries, and content providers, 

 estimated at 80,000, offering tens of millions of pages of 

 information — you have a vast, expanding conduit of in- 

 formation and resources at your fingertips. 



David Brock is Business Manager of VJeb Developers, Inc., 



226 \S/askington Street, Woburn, MA 01801. He can be reached 



at I -800-WWW-6WEB. 



MICHAUD 



Nurseries & Greenhouses, Inc. 



Route 85, PO Box 334, Exeter, NH 03833 

 (603) 772-3698 



Wholesale & Retail 



Annuals, Perennials, Nursery Stock, 

 Landscape Supplies 



16 



THE PLANTSMAN 



