IBM Web Exec Sees Internet Getting Faster, Easier To Use

    Wednesday, April 5, 2000


    Wall Street Journal (DJ)

    http://interactive.wsj.com/archive/retrieve.cgi?id=BT-CO-20000405-006431.djml

    By PETER LOFTUS

    LOS ANGELES -- The Internet will become faster, more ubiquitous and
    easier to use, according to a Web operations executive at International
    Business Machines Corp. (IBM).

    John Patrick, vice president of Internet technology at IBM, said the Internet
    will change so radically that the most common form of Web access today --
    using a personal computer with a dial-up telephone modem -- will seem like
    a technology relic in a few years.

    In a keynote speech Wednesday at the Internet World conference here,
    Patrick said using the Web with portable, wireless devices and home
    appliances will become more common. And users won't have to wait
    through those trademark beeps that a computer modem makes when dialing
    into the Web because connections will be "always-on," he said.

    "For many people, the personal digital assistant will be the only computer
    they need," Patrick said. "They'll never have PCs."

    The ways in which people use the Internet will change, too, he said.
    Whereas instant messaging is now perceived as a recreational technology
    used primarily by teenagers, Patrick said many companies -- including IBM
    -- use instant messaging as a primary means of business communications.
    He expects its use in the office to proliferate.

    Patrick also expects the spread of open-source software to help fuel the
    Internet's growth and development. He said the Linux operating system, the
    source code for which is available for free, is the wave of the future. This
    spells bad news for companies like Sun Microsystems Inc. (SUNW) and
    Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), Patrick said, because they cling to proprietary
    operating systems.

    "You have Sun saying, 'Who needs Linux? we have Solaris,"' Patrick said.
    "You have Microsoft saying, 'Who needs Linux? We have Windows 2000.'
    Then you have IBM saying, 'I think we all need Linux.' Only the greatest
    sinners know how to really repent."

    That last line drew a knowing laugh from the tech-heavy crowd, aware that
    in the past, IBM itself didn't have much luck selling its own proprietary
    operating system in competition against Microsoft. What's more, IBM's
    decision to use Microsoft's operating systems in its PCs during the 1980s
    helped Microsoft become the heavyweight it is today.

    -By Peter Loftus, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-5099