Realists, optimists and rock 'n' rollers: February 24, 1997 issue of New Thinking

February 24, 1997 New Thinking:
Realists, optimists and rock 'n' rollers

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February 24, 1997

Realists, optimists and rock 'n' rollers

By Gerry McGovern

Some of us see what's there. We look out onto a barren field and see a barren field. We see the stones and judge the soil middling to poor. We're realists.

Some of us see more. We look out onto a barren field and see crops of plenty. We're optimistic people driven by a vision of what can be.

Some of us see a lot more. We look out onto a field of crops and see an open-air rock concert, with Bono re-inventing himself again. We're the rock 'n' rollers.

Over the last couple of years, the Internet has been going through a rock 'n' roll period of development. Everything was possible.

We saw the new age, we saw the light. We didn't want answers. We didn't even want questions. All we needed was the right attitude and everything was gonna be alright.

That's a wonderful, glorious, youthful way of thinking. Free love, free information, shareware, freeware; the times they are a changin', as indeed they are.

The great Afro-American poet, Gil Scott Heron, was once asked what he thought about the Sixties. "The Sixties are over," he replied. Time to move on.

Those who gave birth to the initial explosive space the Internet created are not necessarily those who will move the Internet on to its next stage of development.

The hype was right, because over the next twenty years the Internet, and what it represents, will profoundly affect society and business. But in that process of development, the Internet has to mature. Sooner or later, the Internet has to start paying the bills.

Many have come and many have been stung. Often it would seem that the only ones who made money were the map-makers, the tool-makers and the advisers. Those who have built with the tools are nearly all out of pocket, waiting for pay-day.

In other ways, the Internet was always mature; if not exactly paying the bills, then reducing them. Email helps us communicate better. The Web is an incredible information resource for the knowledge worker and organization.

The Internet is also establishing the foundations of brands, new markets and new forms of marketing. Electronic cash will certainly come and with it the possibility of 5 cent digital products. Push technology will allow us to upgrade our software in a transparent way.

We still need room for rock 'n' roll thinking, but the Sixties won't last forever. Some rock 'n' rollers are so intoxicated by all the change and frenzy, that they've come to judging things on the Internet by whether they're 'sexy enough' or not.

The optimists still have the belief, but they're into building solid, functional things that work, not jumping Java or hyper ActiveX eye candy. Many realists, with ever an eye on the bottom line, are not impressed.

We may call these realists short-sighted, but are they any more short-sighted than the rock 'n' rollers who promise what can't be delivered?

As the Internet moves out into the mass market and into organizations who are not so sold on the dream, the vision must be tempered by realism and practical intent.

To quote an old saying, "In dreams begins responsibility."

By Gerry McGovern

Next issue: The Internet: sofa or stage?
Previous issue: The Internet is not our tea maker
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Many realists, with ever an eye on the bottom line, are not impressed.