Family Business: Why You Shouldn't Count On Your P.C. Much Longer!
By Stephen BRAY, Principal, 'The Family Business School'

If you own a family business then you should know that the Internet may be about to change, according to Jonathan Zittrain, Professor of Internet Governance and Regulation at Oxford Internet Institute, Oxford University, and co-founder of Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society.

Zittrain foresees a world in which Internet access will use 'hard-wired' gadgets such as the iPhone, X-Box, and TiVos, which appear more secure than your P.C. but limit the ability of users to network creatively, or to invent new applications.

If his prediction comes good it will be a return to a world similar to the 1960s and 70s where multi-nationals such as IBM ruled computing applications.

68 Minutes of Jonathan Zittrain

Gadgets such as the iPhone, an Apple Web 2.0 multi-purpose gizmo, enable you to phone, listen to podcasts, surf the web etc all within elegantly engineered units. Unfortunately this comes at a price, and that price isn’t simply dollars but rather the inability to mess with the manufacturer's programming.

You simply cannot reprogram your iPhone, you must accept one of Apple's recommended carriers for your phone connection, you cannot add more applications such as games to it. Indeed those who have attempted such modifications have had their iPhones decommissioned remotely by Apple.

Zittrain draws an analogy with the radio sets permitted in totalitarian regimes that only allow users to access state sponsored media.

The Internet is heavily censored in some countries, if the trend toward access being solely via iPhone style appliances that lock out consumer innovation this will be strike two against the Internet medium that promised to bring democracy to people world wide.

Not everyone fears this kind of lock-down. Those concerned about Internet terror, the spread of pornography, and the ability of the Internet to transmit company information to those who are not entitled, may welcome this possible turn of events.

Once again though we must ask ourselves do we want big business and repressive governments to stifle our ability to communicate openly, or should we endeavor to help our neighbors and ourselves to be more responsible?

A lot of entrepreneurs have the Internet, and computing in its present form, to thank for their ability to solve business problems on-site. The return to the old way of doing things would mean that more and more problem solving would be leased out. That's fine if the company you hire has the ability to solve your logistical problems, charges a reasonable fee, and communicates with you swiftly and effectively.

Importantly you will want such vendors to allow the personal style of communication that is associated with your brand identity to shine through.

Tethered appliances, such as the iPhone will remove from us much of the freedom of communication most of take for granted. If they become the norm for networked communication they will also remove the ability for us to make, or commission our own software. The familiar desktop P.C. will be dead.

Look: A down-loadable copy of Jonathan Zittrain's book is available here under the terms of a Creative Commons 3.0 share alike licence.