The People Speak
A poll of ZDNet Australia readers asks:
Are gambling operators justified in pursuing legal action over the federal government's online gaming moratorium?
The results show:
55 percent - Yes - they have a right to protect their business
44 percent - No - the government should curb online gambling
Pathological Gambling Attributed Partially to Gene Influence
The influence of several genes may lead some people to become pathological gamblers, the Edmonton
Journal reported after interview Dr. Nady el-Guebaly, a psychiatrist with the Addictions Centre at Calgary
Foothills Hospital. These genes may influence personality traits displayed by those people who lean toward
self-destructive behavior, such as weak impulse control. El-Guebaly suggested studies into these areas might help find effective drug therapy, although he pointed out that there are many other causes behind addictive
behaviors.
Few Adults Are Active Internet Users
Only 229.8 million people, or about 5 percent of the world's population of adults, can be consider active
Internet users, although the number active Netizens will reach 640.2 billion by 2004, accounting for 14 percent of the world's adult population. The findings were part of the latest eGlobal Report released by eMarketer. An active user is defined as someone who spends at least one hour a week surfing the Internet.
Other findings in the report show that near-term (2001-2002) and future (2003 to 2005) growth of
e-commerce will be driven by the B2B segment rather than retail B2C transactions. The B2B sector currently accounts for 79.2 percent of total e-commerce activity, but will grow to 87 percent of total e-commerce transactions by 2004. It's projected that online B2B transactions will bring in $2.776 trillion in revenues by 2004.
Websites Aren't Cheap
Websites aren't cheap according to "Real Numbers Behind Web Hosing & Development," a recent study from ActivMedia Research, which found that companies have invested $22 billion in website hosting, design, programming, systems and network hardware. Specific breakouts show that site design support is the single largest element of total site creation and hosting budgets in a given year, garnering twice the dollars of site hosting and access services. Nearly half of all money spent globally for creating and keeping sites online goes to development; the other half covers maintenance and site operations, including hosting.
A breakdown of total website development budget shows that funds were allocated:
- Design & programming - 26 percent
- Hosting & access - 13 percent
- Computers & peripherals - 12 percent
- Consultants for strategy - 10 percent
- Web applications - 10 percent
- Software - 8 percent
- Systems integration - 8 percent
- Online transactions - 7 percent
- Network hardware - 6 percent