From 1995 the Internet attracted commercial investment, but financially measurable benefits and competitive advantage proved elusive. Usage for personal communication and business information only slowly translated into commercial transactions. This reflects a unique feature of Internet development. Unlike other media of the 19th and 20th centuries, widespread Internet use preceded commercial investment. The early military and research use led to an architecture that poorly supported the certainty and security requirements of commercial transactions. Subsequent attempts to align this architecture with commercial transactional requirements were expensive and mostly unsuccessful. This multi-disciplinary thesis describes these commercial factors from historical, usage, technical, regulatory and commercial perspectives. It provides a new and balanced understanding in a subject area dominated by poor communication between separate perspectives
