The way The Man talks about it in the business section of the Times, the Web seems to be about discrete technologies--distinct standards--VRML 2.0, HTML 3.2, Java 1.1, javascript something or other, and like that. They're all the next big thing taken individually, or they were, or they will be soon, or maybe not...It's hard to say because just about all of these technologies compete with each other to some degree--one is usually the death of another to hear the magazine articles tell it.
    There's a lot of potential wafting around, though--everybody seems to agree on that. The evidence of vast potential is overwhelming!  Sayeth The Man: "Take, for instance, this here proof of concept...."

    Discrete technologies are very nice and  compact (and standard!) taken individually, but the reason all of them are designed to operate from within a Web-browser is because they're supposed to all work together. Amazingly enough, they really do. The Web isn't about proof-of-concepts anymore--the concept is proven, and it works pretty danged well. 

    The Terrible Samaritan is not a proof of concept. It is a VRML 2.0 action/adventure game, written, designed and programmed by Cicada Interactive, Inc., and sponsored by cosmo software, for the Web site vrml.sgi.com. It is a fully realized application built entirely on open internet standards, that works now.