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In Around and Online 94 11 25
(Posted to alt.online-service, alt.internet.services and alt.business)
In, Around and Online- Issue 12, Week Ending 11/25/94
======================================================
Copyright (C) 1994 Robert Seidman. All rights reserved. May be
reproduced in any medium for non-commercial purposes.
What's New
==========
This newsletter is now available via LISTSERV thanks to the gangs at
Clark Internet Service and L-SOFT International, Inc. To subscribe, send
an e-mail to: LISTSERV@CLARK.NET . In the BODY of the message type:
SUBSCRIBE ONLINE-L [YOUR FULL NAME]
Corrections
===========
Last week I told you about CMP Publications making their computer
publications available on the WWW (currently for free) at:
http://techweb.cmp.com/techweb . In my confusion, I referred to CMP
Publications as Cowles Media Publications. I love them both, but they're
not the same thing. My apologies for any confusion this caused.
Preface to This Week's Lead Story
=================================
This newsletter has been great fun, but a freebie newsletter doesn't get
the bills paid so I have a "real job" in my spare time. Even though I
write a freebie newsletter and distribute it via the Internet, I feel
that I must adhere to some self inflicted standard of journalistic
integrity. If I come off as an unbiased observer of events, that is
because I feel that I am. I never want to bring personal bias into the
fold. However, it would be wrong, if for example I were to write an
amazingly glowing review of something on CompuServe without telling you
that I worked for CompuServe. Your knowledge that I worked for CompuServe
might affect how you viewed that particular review. I don't work for
CompuServe.
I work for a company called FYI Online. FYI Online developed the
technology being used for infoMCI, the cornerstone (my bias, but true
nonetheless) of the networkMCI Business suite of applications. The
technology works though- it automatically does all my research for this
newsletter. It gives me the stories that *I* want to read- all I have to
do is read them! I could go on about the product, but that would be
advertising, and that isn't my intent. MCI is currently paying 50% of my
paycheck, and soon to be 100%. My personal perspective is that I am an
employee of FYI Online and MCI is our customer. While I believe
that I would write what I am about to write regardless, I'd never
convince anyone that didn't want to believe that. I thought you, the
reader, had a right to know.
We've all seen the standard signature file of "I speak for
myself, not for my employer"; it applies here. On with the show...
The Big News
============
(note- unattributed quotes refer to direct quotes from the press release)
MCI Communications Corporation boldly and confidently walked onto the
online services industry playing field offering a portfolio of services
"featuring such components as a new secure electronic shopping mall, a
user-friendly software package and high-speed network connections to the
Internet" for roughly $3/hour.
The service, "internetMCI" will provide customers with software from FTP
Software, Inc. and Netscape Communications Corporation (formerly Mosaic
Communications Corporation).
The software provided by FTP Software will serve to connect users to the
Internet and provide them with a suite of point and click applications
for services such as e-mail, telnet and FTP.
Netscape Communications will supply their Netscape WWW browser which is
quickly becoming the de facto standard. In addition to general web
surfing, the Netscape software will play an integral part in linking
internetMCI users to the electronic shopping mall, dubbed marketplaceMCI.
MCI will be using the Netscape's server technology, which in combination
with the Netscape browser provides secure electronic transactions over
the Internet.
The software will cost users $49.95 (there will not be any additional
charges for this software for networkMCI business customers). Users will
be charged $19.95/mo. for 7 hours of local dial-up access (3 hours for
users in rural areas and those accessing via an 800#). Additional hours
are scheduled to be billed at $3.00/hr.
Further, MCI will be marketing "storefronts to retailers and service
companies that want to promote or sell their services to the estimated 25
to 30 million people who now access the Internet worldwide. MCI will
offer business consulting in the design, implementation and management of
their storefronts..." Small businesses will be charged $2,000 per month
for storefronts and larger businesses will be charged more.
MCI already runs the backbone that supports approximately 40% of all the
traffic in the US and will give merchants the opportunity to hook up to
their high speed network (currently 45 megabits/second and scheduled to
go up to 155 megabits/second next year) in ways that range from local
dial up to frame relay, and in the future, SMDS and ATM.
Taking a page from Microsoft, MCI has announced this product before it is
truly ready. Rather than being far off, this service is scheduled to be
available in January, although MCI has said that their network of local
access lines to the Net will not be ready until mid February.
Initially, my reaction to this announcement was not great. I found
myself caught up in the issue of pricing and failed to see the big
picture and the importance of this announcement. I've had a couple of
days to reflect upon this service now, and consider this the biggest
announcement in this industry all year- even bigger than the Microsoft
announcement. We're about to see the Internet mass marketed in ways
we've never seen before.
The impact of this is wide ranging and will affect the way all online
services do business. A new business model has been served up for selling
products and services on the Internet. Small businesses can't get a big
presence on services like CompuServe, Prodigy and America Online
cheaply. Even if they could, they're presenting their products to a
relative small group of people when compared with the 25-30 million on
the Internet. While it is true that many, perhaps even most, don't
currently have the type of access that will allow WWW browsing with a
multimedia client, this is changing rapidly.
If I am a small business and have to pick who I would have market my
services and products and my choices are MCI or America Online- I'm going
to pick MCI, because in the United States, everyone knows who MCI is. It
pains me to use the often used phrase of "brand name marketing", but in
this market, it makes a difference. A business sales force of
approximately 7,000 MCI representatives doesn't hurt either.
We're already seeing how smart the folks at Netscape Communications are.
They're giving their Netscape client away, and many people are already
using it- and they'll be able to use marketPlace MCI for secure
transactions over the Internet whether they are internetMCI customers or
not. Sooner or later, all major services will provide World Wide Web
browser access, and all those users will be capable of getting to
internetMCI. For companies small and large alike, that is a major
incentive, but the real beauty for these companies isn't so much that
marketplaceMCI will be available to everyone that's jacked in, but that
everyone that's hooked in will KNOW marketplaceMCI IS THERE. That's
something MCI can bring to the table that the other services aren't
currently in a position to provide.
I'm not going to try and tell you that this is the end of the world as we
know it and that I see doom and gloom for the likes of CIS, AOL and
Prodigy- the market is growing by leaps and bounds and there will be room
for lots of folks. This announcement just raises the bar a little bit
and forces the existing online players to come up with new and innovative
ideas. The world as we know it isn't over. It is changing though, and I
think we all will benefit, regardless of what services we choose to use.
Emphasizing their commitment to being a major player in the online-service
arena, MCI named Timothy Price, previously the president of MCI Business
Markets as president of the newly created Communications Services Group.
According to a story by the Associated Press, this will essentially make
Price the third highest official in the company with wide ranging
authority. Top executives of the business and consumer markets will
report directly to Price. Price's focus will be leading MCI into the
online services market.
Speaking of New and Innovative...
=================================
This week, America Online, Apple Computer(owner of eWORLD) and Medior
teamed up to form a new company chartered with coming up with new and
innovative ways to get people to shop interactively. The new company-
2Market, Inc., will initially be offering a multimedia CD ROM for Apple
Computer and MS Windows users that will interface with major online
services such as America Online and Apple's eWorld.
According to Ted Leonsis, President of America Online Service Co. and the
new CEO of 2Market, the need for this sort of product was validated by
the success of En Passant a CD ROM product that featured goods and
services from 21 big catalog merchants that was tested on some 30,000
Apple Computer users last winter. According to 2Market, the results of
the En Passant test showed that people would shop via computer and that
in fact, the users found it preferential to other passive home shopping
formats like paper catalogs and television shopping because it was
"personal, fun, easy, and convenient". Each of the three companies
involved in 2Market had a role in the En Passant testing.
"With the success of En Passant, we saw a tremendous opportunity to be the
first company to deliver a new service that marries multimedia, CD-ROM and
on-line services to revolutionize how people shop," according to Leonsis.
"The timing is perfect now because time-constrained consumers are demanding
convenience and they have the technologies in their homes to support a
new way of shopping."
More Shopping Tidbits
=====================
It would seem that the efforts detailed in the stories above are somewhat
validate in the recent study from Killen & Associates, "Purchasing and
Payment on the Internet: Digital Money Takes Off." The study predicts
that shoppers worldwide- at home and in the workplace- will use the
Internet to purchase $600 billion of goods and services in the year
2000. That is to say that in some 5 years time, nearly 8% of all goods
and services purchased will be purchased via the Internet.
Doesn't look like the Internet is going to put shopping malls out of
business, but $600 billion is still a pretty nice slice of the pie.
Prodigy News
============
Regular readers of this newsletter are probably aware that I'm not the
biggest Prodigy supporter to walk down the block. But when somebody does
something right, you have to give them credit. Newsweek Interactive
debuted earlier this week on Prodigy, and simply put, it is the best
presentation of a publication in the online medium that I have seen so
far. It has the look and feel of an interactive CD ROM, and features
pictures and the hypertext point and click feature that WWW users are
familiar with. It's even better structured than anything I've seen on
the World Wide Web. Needless to say I liked it. Currently only
available to Windows 3.1 users, with Mac compatibility scheduled for next
year.
Check it out at: JUMP NEWSWEEK . Be sure to have a Tom Clancy book or
something like "War and Peace" handy as the initial downloads take a
little while.
CompuServe News
===============
H&R Block reported that its CompuServe service recorded pretax earnings
of $34.3 million for the quarter ending 10/31. This is a %40.5 increase
over the same period one year ago. Revenues rose $33.2 percent for the
quarter perhaps due in some part to service being turned up in Mexico and
Eastern Europe. CompuServe has also been beefing up their marketing
efforts in Canada.
Internet Censorship?
====================
Carnegie Mellon University recently blocked access to areas on the net
where students can access "dirty" pictures.
About 300 students protested this move earlier in the month claiming
blatant censorship. Some have suggested that officials at Carnegie
Mellon have overreacted. The officials have responded that they feared
legal action could be taken if they distributed pornography to minors.
Most of the students at CMU are adults, but children as young as grade
school age have access to the university computers.
According to a story by the Associated Press, the issue heated up when
research associate Martin Rimm used CMU's computers to research a study
being done on pornography in cyberspace. In his "research" he collected
917,000 pictures that ranged from simple nudity to... well, let's just
say animals were involved and leave it at that! In his research, he
also tracked how many times the pictures had been downloaded. According
to the AP story it was a whopping 6.4 million times. But I'm not sure
how the numbers were computed. I mean, if he downloaded 917,000 pictures,
he would account for almost 15% of the downloads himself.
As seems typical in these cases of censorship, Mr. Rimm had the ability
to view the pictures for himself before taking his statistics to
university officials. Based on the numbers, university officials felt
they had no choice but to act on this.
These are difficult decisions, and I'm glad that I'm not the one having
to make them. Still, if the AP numbers are correct, it does make one
wonder where Mr. Rimm found the time to download 917,000 pictures. I
would think for purposes of research, a mere 250,000 would've made do!
Some guys get all the luck.
Microsoft/Intuit Update
================
In an earlier issue I wrote about the significance of Microsoft's planned
acquisition of Intuit, maker of the popular personal finance package,
Quicken. Reports this week indicate that it is likely that Justice
Department will spend some time looking into the potential for a monopoly
in personal finance software.
Microsoft confirmed earlier in the week that it had received a second
request for information. This basically amounts to an extension of the
earlier, more general review of Microsoft that hardly amounted to a slap
on the wrist.
Taking a page from Steve Case and the online gang, competitors claim they
are worried that Microsoft will bundle Quicken with their operating
system much as they plan to bundle the online service, the Microsoft
Network. Competitors would be relieved by any settlement that involves
Microsoft promising not to bundle quicken with the Windows operating system.
SHORT TAKES
===========
HO HO HO: Santa's sleigh now rides the information super highway. Kids
and the young at heart can send electronic mail to Santa by writing to:
santa@northpole.net . Santa now has a WWW page that will make put even
the biggest grinch into a festive mood. You can check it out at:
http://northpole.net . This free community service is provided to the
children of the world by North Pole Productions, a division of Internet
Access Inc., Ottawa, Canada.
AEROSMITH CYBER TOUR: Aerosmith has rocked us for years now they're
rocking into cyberspace in a big way. Making appearances on CompuServe,
Prodigy, America Online AND the Internet December 4-7. Proceeds from
connect time charges and sales of the limited edition Aerosmith Cyber
Tour t-shirts (designed by the gang at Wired Magazine) will be donated to
the Electronic Frontier Foundation. For details, contact the EFF (voice)
at 202-347-5400 or contact your CompuServe, Prodigy or America Online.
EXTRA EXTRA- You can now read all about it in the Electronic Telegraph
the electronic version of London's Telegraph. You don't have to be in
the UK to read and enjoy this one. Find out for yourself at:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk
TELECOM LIBRARY ON the net. Tulsa, Oklahoma based Wiltel is sponsoring a
telecommunications library on the Internet. Lots of information here for
those who just can't get enough. Via the World Wide Web at:
http://www.wiltel.com/library/library.html .
CONGRESSIONAL JOB SEEKERS - (there will be quite a few after the most recent
elections) and others can look for work or post their resume to the net.
An interesting career services site sponsored by the Employment
Transition Services Group. A pretty nice site available via WWW at:
http://www.earthweb.com:2800/etsg or by e-mail at: etsg@earthweb.com .
THOMAS DOLBY to guest on this week's version of Warner Bros. Record's
Cyber-Talk. On America Online, Monday 11/28 at 9:30 p.m. EST. Keyword:
WARNER .
PENTIUM PC OWNERS who are no longer confident in their PC's ability due
to a bug in the floating point processor that affects mathematical
calculations that go out 9 decimal places and further might want to check
out the fix by MathWorks. Most people will probably never need it, but
if you need your faith restored check out: http://www.mathworks.com for
some work arounds.
Happy Holidays! See you next week.
