Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!usc!apple!limbo!taylor
From: geo@syd.dit.csiro.au (George Bray)
Newsgroups: comp.society
Subject: Re: Predictions on what ISDN can be used for?
Message-ID: <1377@limbo.Intuitive.Com>
Date: 22 Oct 90 18:39:09 GMT
Sender: taylor@limbo.Intuitive.Com
Organization: Avante Systems, Sydney, Australia.
Lines: 69
Approved: taylor@Limbo.Intuitive.Com

Bob Gautier suggests an interractive pizza parlour interface allowing
the hungry recipient to prepare their order offline using a freeware
catalogue.  

One of the features was: 

> ... Send orders to me when completed

Quite possible given the uptake of EDI (Electronic Document Interchange)
technology. Once you have your order complete, the pizza interface would
send a request for quotation to all the local parlours, which would respond
with the cost and estimated delivery time of your order.

Once ordered, your bank account would be debited instantly.

Another feature:

> ... Periodically update itself as I change my prices, menu, etc.
> 
> This software would be an example of an ``electronic shop''.  Instead of
> visiting a real shop to buy something, I visit a piece of software instead.
> This has various benefits all round. 

Here is a fundamental difference between :

	o	Distributing a Catalogue for Offline Shopping
  and	o	Connecting to a live network that is always changing.

In a wider example where you might want to browse ALL take-out foods,
it would be better to connect to FoodNet and browse the latest delicacies.
There would be new 'taste sensations' every night!
 
The bandwidth of ISDN Basic rate is adequate for protocol
connections delivering graphics and textual information. Delivering 
sound over these live connections requires an isonchronous protocol
(one that can deliver packets in the right order AND on time) and 
compression.

Distributing catalogues at the whim of the user might be bad depending
on how quickly they become outdated and how large they get. What if I order
a Pizza which you dont make anymore?

> Customers can take as long as they like creating an order without
> tying up my staff or anyone's communications link.

Yes - remember to include "Commonly Asked Questions" on each pizza,
based on the conversations your telephonists have today.

> Privacy doesn't have to be compromised (personal data can be stored
> locally -- you can do ``same again'' ordering without caller-ID).
> Of course, some personal data has to be released in some cases, in
> order to make payments or to set up callbacks.

If I order this pizza from you, am I going to get electronic junk multimedia
about other take-out foods?  Caller-ID data can provide accurate
direct-marketing information.  Then again, caller-ID technology should allow
me to refuse calls from certain people and organisations.

Click here to never communicate with this company again.

> This will create a demand for nice interactive software of a fairly
> ephemeral nature -- like video games without the hard real time
> problems.

But the most important use of the Pizza HyperCard interface is the 
Smell-o-Vision interface.  Just press your nose to the screen and 
breathe in.

George Bray