This is my house and the co-ordinates, (map reference), are - 968N 1117E
Despite the German name, this page is as English as fish & Chips which is why you see the Union Flag flying.
Just out of interest and especially for any visitors from overseas, this is not a Union Jack! A Union Jack flies only from the Jack Staff on the bow of Her Majesty's ships in the Royal Navy - it can never fly from a building or on land!
I have been interested in Virtual Reality for some years now and I firmly believe that the future of the web lies in this direction. Once the commercial potential of it is realised by a few more businesses, shopping will become a totally different experience for almost everyone. With free movement of goods through the EEC, (yeah - right!), we will be able to shop for items we have never seen before except on holiday but we shouldn't forget that our local British shops, even the smallest of them, will be able to supply other countries too.
The latest keyboards with a 'wipe' slot built in to take your credit cards are already built and awaiting shipment to the domestic market and in case you are worried about your card's security, it is worth remembering that credit card fraud on the net has the lowest percentage of all methods of using one! With online banking now accepted by almost all the major banks and Visa accepted world wide, the explosion in world wide sales is set to take off.
All manner of goods will be offered, from property to food and cars to insurance services. But how will all this be presented? A lot of people still find the web difficult to navigate and some older people will have nothing to do with it either. But the net is not the sole province of male 'techno nerds' any longer - many more housewives and girls are becoming, if not technically computer literate, at least e-mail aware and it is but a short step for them from there to an environment of complete virual reality - 3D shops, houses, conference halls, etc., where they can even chat in real time and meet friends.
They will be able to see them walking about too and if this all seems a bit futuristic, there's a bit of a shock for you - it's happening right now! Approximately 550 virtual worlds are operating right at this minute on the Active Worlds run by the Circle of Fire Studio, (COF), and the software to get there is free!
As long as you have a fast modem and a good computer with a connection to the Internet, it is a simple matter to go into a virtual world. Take a look at the 'screen shot' picture below.............
This my home in COF's Active Worlds. From here it looks almost real doesn't it? But this picture is only a screen shot of the computer screen and is in only two dimensions - in virtual reality it is in three dimensions!
You can walk inside the house if you want to visit me, 'chat' to me if I am there and see me too! All in real time. If you go outside and look around the garden, you will actually hear the waterfall in the front garden and if you walk down to the beach, you will hear the sea too. Just up the road is my friend's house and then... well, why not come and see for yourself?
There are many hundreds of 'worlds' to explore and you can download the software by clicking on the Active Worlds logo at the bottom here and that will take you to the download site. When you have loaded the software, you can go directly to my house if you like, by entering the co-ordinates, 968N 1117E, but if you e-mail me first, I will meet you at the meeting place in Active Worlds and talk you through it and show you around.
Remember that we can 'chat' whilst in the World and even send telegrams to each other. If you find your way there without me, you can always e-mail me from within the World by simply ckicking on my mailbox outside the front door. I look forward to seeing you there....... Interested?...To download the software, just click the Active Worlds panel below....
