The Benefits of Collaboration

The Internet is now allowing for smaller companies to take on the companies that have a monopoly on many industries. MCI, Verizon, and AT&T, have customers across the country because in many areas people do not have a choice in their telephone provider. Now people are getting a chance to make a decision.

The article "The Power of Us" in Business Week discusses how the Internet is being used for mass collaboration. Skype Technologies, which is the newest business from the creators of Kazaa, now allows for people to make long distance phone calls over the Internet. People are no longer forced to make phone calls and pay the rates set by AT&T and MCI. Skype can afford to let people make these phone calls because they use the power of the customers. Skype uses the spare computing power of their customers to make the phone calls of their other customers. According to the article this creates a self-sustaining network that requires no central capital investment. (Don't ask me how they do this because my technical knowledge extends to these simple explanations)

Now people have a choice. Currently 41 million people are using Skype and another 150,000 are added each day. Companies that once spent thousands of dollars on their long distance phone bills no longer have to pay these multi-trillion dollar companies. Skype allows people to collaborate using spare computer power and benefit in the process.

Bloggers are also taking advantage of the collaboration process. In class we discussed how bloggers from all over the country are collaborating together to investigate news reports and political issues. A blogger in Texas can investigate and send information to a blogger in New York. By working together people are continuing to benefit from each other.