The Hindu : Shift in ways to access the Net

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jan 04, 2004

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National

Shift in ways to access the Net

By Anand Parthasarathy

Bangalore Jan. 3. A decade after the Internet became widely available for common people, a paradigm shift seems to have taken place in how they use it. The days are gone when one always used a standard Web browser like Internet Explorer or Netscape to start surfing. Today three out of four home or office users, harness a non-browser application to access the Net.

The report of a survey released last week, by Nielsen/NetRatings which regularly monitors global Internet usage patterns, shows that 76 per cent of Internet surfers since November 2003, made use of media players or instant messaging services.

Abha Bhagat, a senior analyst with Nielsen, said the most used Net access tools that bypass browsers (in order of popularity) were Windows Media Player, AOL Instant Messenger, Real One/Real Player, MSN Messenger and Yahoo! Messenger. Except for AOL, which is a paid service in the U.S., all other tools rated, are freely downloadable applications that are widely used in India.

Earlier perceived as "Net toys" for kids and teenagers, media players and messenger services are now being used by all age groups — since the old have taken to instant messaging to keep in touch with family members and media players are often used by industry to disseminate free information.

The report does not rate another non-browser application: the use of the Net for making cheap international telephone calls using the Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology. However, in India at least, the facility has become very popular ever since the Government legalised it two years ago. The Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited became the latest service provider last month to integrate Net telephony services into its basic dial-up access packages.

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