Computer Tips March 1996
Ron Sodos
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I have been saying in my classes that In the future, the Internet
will be an integral part of the way we do business. It will revolutionize
the way we communicate. I have been advising everyone to develop Web
pages and learn as much as they can about it. I have been consulting
with many of you, and helping write the home pages. There are at present
many drawbacks to this form of communication, for one it ties up your
phone line and is painfully slow. To be functional as a business tool,
some of these problems need to be solved. At the present speed of 28,800
bps the color graphics can still cause one to get sick of the whole thing
and shut down the PC. I have a tendency to get impatient and move on after
a few seconds. So in writing home pages I try to limit the graphics on the
cover pages and put them mostly on secondary links. Also you can use
different graphics programs to crop and shrink them in size. The phone
company has one possible solution for this problem. ISDN is a faster
method of transferring data accross phone lines. The problem with ISDN
is that it is expensive and the Internet provider also needs to have it
on their end. Thus far I have not found one that offers this type of
service.
I read something in the business section of the Albuquerque Journal
that has me breathless. That was my motivation for this particular
newsletter. The March 11, Journal had an article about Jones Intercable
making arrangements to offer direct cable access to the World Wide Web
to the Albuquerque area by 1997-1998. The implications of this are
incredible. There are some serious benefits of cable access to the
Internet. The first is that you will not be tying up the phone lines
because you are not making a phone call. That would enable me to
leave my PC on all the time so the email and communciation functions
are available 24 hours a day. With some of the current technology
available right now, audio and video communication accross the Web
at high speed will actually be an alternative to phone communication.
The main reason this can become a reality is the incredibly high
speed cable modems offer. Where ISDN is at 128,000 bps, the cable
can offer speeds between 1.5 million and 10 million bps. The
possibilities are so unlimited with this type of bandwidth, that
we will see the world change right in front of our eyes.
In the real estate business, the ability to communicate graphics,
video etc. to the out of town market will become so much a part of the
way we do business, that I believe those of you that get to know the
Internet now, as this technology is still in the near future, will be
on the cutting edge once this becomes implemented.
In both of my classes I make many references to the Internet,
and how many different tools available to us in Stellar and Altaira
interface with it. Our present MLS software can be a major tool
with its ability to capture to file, text and graphics. Then the
files can be shipped off to an out of town buyer with the click of a
mouse. Just last night I got an email message from a fellow from a
distant city and had listings to him in a matter of minutes. This
morning I got a delightful thank you and a confiration that he will
be transferring to Albuquerque and will purchase a home through me this
coming April.
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