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Now that 2000 has arrived -- and we are all still in one piece -- I would like to suggest several New Year's resolutions for all startup and established e-commerce companies: Dispense with the fluff, jargon and cliches.

It now appears inevitable that regulation is coming to e-commerce.

The deafening roar of silence in e-commerce may soon give way to an explosion of sound, as an Internet telephony revolution grows more likely every day.

According to IDC senior vice president Frank Gens, 2000 will see dot-coms looking for brick-and-mortar presences, free services and software abounding, and profits finally becoming important to Internet companies.

Earlier this week, I wrote a column about the boycott of Amazon.com that has been called for by Richard Stallman, an early developer of the Linux operating system.

While vigorous holiday traffic and subsequent respectable sales figures are encouraging, smart e-tailers with an eye toward longevity are taking a second look at their marketing and sales strategies.

Ricardo.de, a small challenger for Germany's online auction business, has parlayed a live auctioneer and other services into a formidable 400,000 person-strong subscriber base.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based USABancShares.com (NASDAQ: USAB) announced Wednesday that it will launch a private banking site to specialize in serving the financial needs of the business-to-business Internet community.

According to a new report by Forrester Research, Linux hysteria will give way to pragmatism in the new year.

Network Associates (Nasdaq: NETA) has announced that it will offer Y2K-related computer virus information and support to the CyberAssurance National Information Center effort that is being coordinated by the President's Council on the Year 2000 Conversion Information Coordination Center (ICC).

According to a recent survey of 9,800 online shoppers by BizRate.com, almost 90 percent of respondents consider an e-tailer's return policy to be the determining factor in whether or not they will continue to do business with the merchant.

The week before Christmas, U.S. talk radio shows and newspapers were buzzing with horror stories about dot-coms that were not going to be able to fulfill orders in time for the Christmas holiday.

Despite the horror stories of canceled orders and late deliveries, most online merchants have every right to feel proud about how they performed this holiday season.

Further fueling speculation that Net stocks and rushed IPOs have set e-commerce up for a retrograde period, Value America (Nasdaq: VUSA) is cutting its workforce nearly in half and will reduce its product offerings to a handful of categories that are proven sellers on the Internet.

Online music provider MP3.com (Nasdaq: MPPP) announced today that it will expand its services by acquiring privately held online event planning Web site seeUthere.com in a stock deal valued at approximately $150 million (US$).