Those on the front lines of networking, such as the telcos, Internet service providers, competitive local exchange companies and wireless operators, still prefer time-tested Unix as the operating system for networks. (Prediction: Cisco and Lucent may become the biggest threats to Microsoft over the next five years.) n Thanks to the Internet, small niche companies can reach mass markets in a heartbeat.

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Another proposal would give the U.N. authority over allocating Internet addresses.

WSJ: Crovitz: The U.N.'s Internet Power Grab

Just as with your computer, the new TVs and phones will be all-digital and have Internet addresses. n Smart chips in everyday things will spread even faster.

FORBES: Digital rules

It is a long way from the original dream of click 'n borrow, but then the Internet was never going to change business in predictable ways.

ECONOMIST: The hollow promise of Internet banking

Wally Bowen, who runs a small Internet company in Asheville, N.

NPR: Will Obama's FCC Push For Internet Access For All?

Not merely dial-up Internet connection (the U.N. has decreed that before), but the kind of fast, seamless service Americans find at any Starbucks.

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The telecommunications giant is off to a good start, launching a low-cost, Internet-based voice service called Connect 'N Save just last month.

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He uses 200 megabit-per-second Internet backbone lines to carry his signals to hubs in Long Island, N.

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