Editor’s Corner:
LETTING THE END USER DICTATE TERMS

In this issue I’ve pulled together a number of stories that illustrate the elasticity and creativity of various technologies. For years, my brother, a doctor in solo practice, would discuss with me how he could get his patient notes into his computer. Because he felt a laptop was too intrusive in his interviewing style, he tried a system that would work with an enhanced wristwatch to enter billing information at least, then a Wizard. I’ve also watched many technology companies prey upon doctors with free online services in exchange for reading online ads. The truth is that for doctors, the fastest data entry tool is a pen. And finally Total Health Care Systems has come up with a system that does not require the doctor to learn anything new, instead, the system has to – to read his handwriting (maybe better than any human could!).

What a revolution this could bring on! Reporters could go into the field and actually take notes again, people who can’t type can handwrite reports.

Maybe it will bring about the demise of secretarial schools and typing classes.

The Encylopeadia Britannica story affirms the success, acceptance and penetration of online and CD Rom publishing. Door-to-door selling has eventually died out in other market sectors thanks to direct mail catalogs and shopping malls. The demise of the Fuller Brush man is one of the fatalities of these transtitions. People were still buying the same products; however, they just shopped differently. With EB, the product and the sales channel both changed.

If there’s a fear that the Internet is getting rid of the middleman, music sales over the Internet is certainly a case in point. What I find interesting about these customized purchases is the long term impact they will have on "filler songs." Who even knows what the B side song is to "You Ain’t Nothing But A Hound Dog"? Preparing single records or albums has meant including some "fluff" content to fill up the vinyl space. But now buyers can order only the songs that they want. Will B side songs disappear? Probably not, since the forecast of sales over the Net is 10%.

It’s time to wake up and shake off the chains of habitual lateral thinking. The technologies we have at hand can be crafted to make life easier for the seller or the buyer. I think it’s best to put your long term bet on end-user solutions. After all, without the buyer, do you even need any solutions?