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That is because networks are great levelers. They dissolve barriers to entry the neutralized traditional assets like physical stores and branches. Networks dissolved the boundaries within and between companies, countries, continents and time-zones. It is not hyperbole to say that the network is quickly emerging as the largest, most dynamic, restless, sleepless marketplace of good services and ideas the world has ever seen. And naturally this comes with very profound applications. For one thing, they are all ready, time-honored processes that govern the way things work in the world, the way we buy and sell, the way we distribute things, the way we teach, and the way we interact with each other. That I will tell you that nearly every one of those conventions is being challenged by the network world.
网络是伟大的平均主义者。网络消解了所有进入那些受压制的传统产业 -- 比如实际的商店和分店 -- 的障碍。网络消解了各个企业、各个国家、各个大陆和时区内部以及它们之间的界限。可以毫不夸张的说，网络正在迅速成为一个前所未有的最大、最为活跃、从不平静和从不休息的业务和思想的市场。自然这也将带来一些意义深远的应用。一件值得注意的事儿是，这些障碍都是历史悠久的、早有准备的部门，它们统治着信息世界运转的方式 -- 买卖的方式、分销的方式、教育的方式以及我们互相交往的方式。我得说几乎传统观念中的每一方面都在受到网络世界的挑战。
Let me cite a few examples drawing on what we and IBM have learned from helping thousands of customers in the last year come to the Net. New competitors can come out of nowhere, overnight, and not just from within your industry. One of the most contentious, fast moving, and bare knocle battles waged today is, believe it or not, in book selling.
下面让我举几个例子，几个过去一年中我们 IBM 在帮助成千上万的消费者走上网络时得到的例子。新的竞争者将会无时无刻无所不在，而不仅仅是来自你自己的产业界。今天争吵得最利害、行动最为迅速的竞争 -- 信不信由你 -- 是在书籍销售领域。
