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An interesting read on how Microsoft, Ariba and IBM are collaborating to get the ball rolling on UDDI (Universal Description, Discovery and Integration). One aspect of UDDI will allow businesses the chance to scour a database for the best price options in supplying their companies or vice-versa.
Also there is a piece on Xerox PARC's Bloodhound Project. The Bloodhound Project is a project that will help determine the usability infrastructure of a web site's design.
Website designers have come to understand that ease of use will always precede transfer of money. If a visitor gets lost in a site, they will stop exploring and leave. Bloodhound, a sniffing software agent, analyzes how well a company's web page is designed for a surfer to explore.
The program works in a way that it will help you realize how hard it is to find what you ask it to on your site.
What is the benefit of this?
From what the article states, companies will only have to shell out a few thousand dollars for the service instead of tens of thousands for some so-called "usability expert".
Another article on PARC's project:
High-tech quest for a user-friendly Web [usatoday.com]
To sum it up, this article is pointed more towards companies with a large web business but still it is a good read on how the web is evolving.
