Once upon a time (say about 10 years ago or so) it was said that the internet is the way of the future for shopping and so on. Well although it has brought many of good and thriving businesses that would not otherwise exist to the world, I do not believe that it was ever the way of the future. Yes we have more access to things that we never had access to, but most of the big companies that were on the band wagon 10 years ago have either disappeared or decided the advertising was good but it was just not what they wanted. Yes they do still have websites for easy access to them, but the internet has only improved for those wanting to work from home and gives people a better chance financially.

It has given some hope to the stock market but has never lived up to what the analysts thought it would. What is you take on this.

I disagree with your assessment. The internet is the way of the future, as more and more companies have a presence on the net. I don't agree that the internet has only improved for those wanting to work at home. I think it has improved for all.

I think the internet has generated many netpreneurs.Some of them are people who have built multi-million dollar businesses on the internet and have thrived while the dot com bubble burst.We are familiar with some success stories like Mark Joyner,Mike Filsaime and others.The internet advertising revenue has been skyrocketing every season.However,it's also true that for every successful online business there are countless failures.At one point I found everything from newspapers to airline tickets that embraced mlm and I thought we are going no where.I think it's like the diamonds on the south african fields.The ones who searched at the right time and the right place suing the right equipments became De-beers while others who managed to get there late or did it the wrong way didn't go anywhere.No doubt there is a lot of hype on internet that has sucked in many , but there is also a great potential for e-commerce which is changing the way we do business.In a way, it's all too exciting but from anotherangle , it could stir up a generation with a mentality of instant success and short cuts which may affect them adversely when it doesn't materialise.

The internet is so widely used now, and so many people try to start markets on it, but to be really honest, there are too many people in the imporant fields for newbies to start in open business sectors now'a'days. You need a brand new, niche market to make money online now :(

Really and truly the internet has made the world a very much smaller place. For people like me, living thousands of miles away from my family and friends, having internet access has made life a lot less lonely.

I think that now that we have the advent of VOIP phones, and video conferencing, the internet will only gain ever more uses. I can't seeing it going away any time soon.

I don't think it is going away anytime soon either. The internet is the wave of the future regardless of what people think. It's what you do with it.

And more and more will be done with it as time goes by. People will have their alarm system from their house linked up to their cell phone via the net, so that the house can dial them when there is a problem. We may be able to remotely turn the heating on to warm the house before we get home, or boil the kettle ready! And video communication is only going to improve. It's all go!

The internet is here to say , there are some many good things that are happening because of the internet , so many people are learning new things , the internet is the future

The internet isnt going anywhere, so we had best get used to it, i guess. It is bringing loads of opertunities for people, and on that front, it is very good.

This is so very true. So many people now make their living, or at least supplement whatever other income they have by various things they can do online. It has also made it easier to shop for hard to find items that may be half way around the world!

Many good things have come from the internet, and it has connected more people together. But it has also put people of business, and not many of the big companies are online as you think. They may have a presence but business does not evolve around that presence. Although I agree that the internet will stay around, you have to understand where it started from and how that has impacted everyones lives.

For those who do not know, the Internet was started by the U.S. Government as a means of communications between universities and military to make it short. If you honestly believe that everything you do is not fully being monitored you are wrong.

The Internet might become the future in a couple of years in my opinion, i saw on the news the other day that more people are getting addicted to the Internet although i defiantly don't think some famous shops will close although i really don't want the Internet to become the future where everyone goes on the Internet to do there shopping.

Oh I couldn't disagree more. Just this morning I checked my email and found that some supplies I have ordered (online) for my business have been shipped. I went to my bank website and transferred some money to my online savings account because business has been so good lately (I get a lot of new clients when they find my website on Google) I went to myspace and there were two new clients who wanted to discuss tattoo ideas via the mail there. After I'm done writing this post I will go to both AT&T and PGE and pay my bills there. I"m interested in buying a digital picture frame to display my work in the shop, and I plan to compare prices on the websites for Circuit City and Best Buy before I see how the prices on Ebay measure up. My daughter's high school has the Aries system in place, I will then go check her grades, attendance and current assignments to make sure all is well there. When my son was in Germany in the Army we used Ventrilo to talk to each other for hours and when he had the time we chatted with video IM (there's no replacement for seeing with your own eyes that your soldier is well and looks happy). Yesterday a client wanted a tattoo that said "All time is unredeemable" and I used the free online dictionary to prove that no such word exists, that the correct word is "Irredeemable" so he doesn't have bad grammar inked onto his skin forever. I"m sure today at work I will use Google to look for at least one design element, because there is no way that one artist can keep as many designs in a few hundred square feet as there are in the limitless space on the net. Next time I go to another city or state I will get a meeting schedule for that area by going to na.org or aa.org. Need I continue?

The internet is not only the way of the future, it's the way of the present. Some people resist change, or decide that they can't understand or enjoy new technology. There were people who said those new-fangled horseless carriages would never catch on as well, there will always be those people making statements like this.

I do not agree with you. Even today it is true that internet is way to te future and it more strong at present. Just because of the internet world has shrink to the click of the mouse. You can meet people from different part of the world. There is no limit to internet and it is becoming more vast and diverse day by day.

I actually think that the internet has changed the world for the better, and more than likely will keep growing and growing.

With anything as big and as good as the internet, there are bound to be bad things that go along with it as well such as scams, internet addiction, meeting the wrong person online etc. However I truly think that the positives outweigh the negatives and internet security is still being researched and getting better and better. There is now also counseling and help for people who have become addicted.