Ch CHAPTER The Internet and the Web Irfan A. Ilyas

Ch 82 Points to cover  Introducing Electronic Commerce  Ecommerce main areas  Types of ecommerce sites  Web Storefronts  Web Auctions  Methods of Ecommerce Payments  Checks  Credit cards  E-cash  Browser Utilities  Helper Applications  Plugins  Java applets  Web Portals  Types of internet

Ch 83 Introducing Electronic Commerce  Electronic Commerce is “doing business over the Internet”.  Ecommerce mainly includes any type of business activity over the Internet  Publicizing the business information  Selling and buying goods, information and services

Ch 84 Ecommerce Areas  Three basic types of Ecommerce  Business to consumer (B2C)  Involves sale of a product or service to the general public  Lets the business company directly interact with the consumers without a middleman  Business to business (B2B)  Involves sale of a product or service from one business to another  Typically promotes a manufacturer-supplier relationship  Consumer to consumer (C2C)  Involves individuals selling to individuals  Goods are described and interested buyers contact sellers to negotiate prices  Buyers & sellers may not meet face to face.  Similar to a classified ad or auction.

Ch 85 Types of Ecommerce Sites 1. Web Storefronts  Storefronts on web are offering customers to visit virtual (may not exist physically) retail stores  Promotes B2C Commerce  Special software packages available to create a web storefront, called Commerce Servers  Consumer activities on a web store front  Registration:  Consumers need to provide their details (name, shipping address, credit card number etc.) once  Next purchase doesn’t need them to enter it again  Product Browsing  Look for different product details  Can be done without registration also.  Placing products into virtual shopping carts  A cart is a virtual space to put different items.

Ch 86 … Web Storefronts  Behind the scene activities  Calculate taxes and shipping costs  Handle a variety of payment options  Update and replenish inventory  Ensure reliable and safe communications  Collect the data about visitors and generate reports to evaluate the site’s profitability

Ch 87 … Types of Ecommerce Sites  Web Auctions  Promotes C2C Commerce  Let sellers put the product details and buyers submit bids electronically  Like traditional auctions  Two basic types of Web Auction Sites  Auction house sites  Site owner normally asks bids for some company’s surplus stock  These sites are normally safer site for electronic auctions  Person-person auction sites  Operates more like flea (free) markets  The site owner allows buyers and sellers meet electronically  Site owner is not involved in the purchase (get some %age of it or just a facilitator)  The credibility of such sites may be shaky (sellers & buyers need to be cautions)

Ch 88 …Web Auctions

Ch 89 Methods of Electronic Payments  Checks  Buyers send a check through ordinary mail  When received by the seller, the check is checked for validity  After verifying the validity, the goods are sent  Needs longest time  Most secure  Credit Cards  Buyers provide their credit card number to the seller  Sellers contact the relevant bank to ensure the credit card validity  After verifying, the seller is being paid by the bank  there should be some way for the buyer to let the bank know about seller’s ability to draw a fix amount  Fastest but most dangerous  Not feasible for very low value transactions [due to the processing charges bank takes for this service]

Ch 810 …Methods of Electronic Payments  Electronic Money  Also called E-cash or cyber cash or digital cash  Denotes digitally encoded currency balances (Numbers saved on a smart card, also called e-wallet)  A third party (banks) is involved  Any one can pay the third party to increase the count on its card  After a purchase done, the seller can transfer the count on a customer’s smart card to its own card  A device called “Card Reader/ writer” is used  Seller’s card reader should have an access to customer’s card reader for an e-cash transfer  The method is still in infancy:  The third parties offering e-money services are not many  Card reader devices are not widely available with customer computers

Ch 811 Browser Utilities  Helper Applications  Some files which are attached to the hyperlinks of a page can not be shown by the browser  Example:  Video clips, Sound clips, Microsoft Power point slides  A separate program is needed to show different types of files  Examples:  Microsoft Media Player for video and sound clips  Microsoft power point  A Web Browser can be configured to open the needed programs (called Helper Applications) directly  To properly use a helper application  It must already be installed on the user computer  Browser must be configured properly to invoke the application when needed

Ch 812 …Browser Utilities  Plugins  Helper application programs run in separate windows  A plug-in program lets the browser to deal with non-html files within their windows  A plug-in  Adds new functionality to the browser (sometimes adding new menu options)  Doesn’t let the user to configure the browser or to install any separate program  Users need to obtain and install the plug-in program  Examples:  Acrobat reader plug in lets the user read pdf documents within the browser window (available differently for different browsers)  Cosmos plug-in for showing 3D animations  Media Player from Microsoft to play audio files  Quicktime from Apple, RealPlayer for Real Networks, Shockwave from Macromedia

Ch 813 …Browser Utilities  The best place to find plug-ins for a specific browser is “the browser’s home page”  For Example:  Netscape’s home page is having a list for Netscape plug-ins

Ch 814 …Browser Utilities  Java Applets  Plugins data cannot be shown by a browser if the plugin program is not installed before  Java applets are similar to plugins (added new functionality to your browser) but they are downloaded and run within the web page  A java-enabled browser is capable to run a Java applet code inside its window  Java applets are widely used to:  Display graphics  Present animation  Provide interactive games  And much more….

Ch 815 More Web Concepts  Web Portal  Portals are sites which offer a bunch of services (instead of just displaying some information)  The services may include:  space for the visitors  On registering the service, the user will get an address and a limited space to the site’s server  Updated News  Links to other web sites for  Weather  Sports  Financial  Web Service  Users can allocate a web space to launch their pages on the Internet

Ch 816 … More Web Concepts  Two main types of portals are:  Horizontal portals  Designed to appeal the mass audience (general public)  Offer general interest services and links  Vertical portals  Present focused content to appeal to special interest groups  Examples:  Sports portal discuss only links/ services relevant to sports

Ch 817 Helper Applications  Most popular helper application categories:  Offline browsers  Information Pushers  Filters  Information pushers  User selects channels  Program retrieves relevant information  Stores it for later viewing  PointCast Network and BackWeb

Ch 818 Helper Applications  Off-line search utilities  Standard method requires connection while searching  Off-line search utilities  accept instructions from the user  conducts the search  compiles a non-duplicating index  WebFind, WebCompass, EchoSearch

Ch 819 Helper Utility from InContext

Ch 820 Web Publisher: Backweb

Ch 821 Helper Applications  Filter  On Web, some content is inappropriate for youngsters  Filters  limit access  Set time limits for access time  Report usage statistics  Cyber Patrol, Cybersitter, Net Nanny

Ch 822 Types of internets  Intranets  Private networks within an organization  Like the Web outside, browsers, web pages and web sites are used  Prime objective  information availability and flow

Ch 823 …Types of internets  Extranets  Private networks connecting two or more organizations  Increases efficiency and reduces costs

Ch 824 Special Internet Host  Firewalls  Information security is critical  Firewalls are designed to control access inside  Key component is the proxy server  Proxy is gatekeeper

Ch 825 Internet2  A private Internet  Limited access  More costly  High speed  Primary beneficiaries are Federal Government and major corporations  Advanced nanomanipulators

Ch 826