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In Around and Online 94 09 11
Subject: Online Service Industry, Weekly Summary (LONG!)
From: robert@clark.net (Robert Seidman)
Date: Sun, 11 Sep 1994 02:08:00 EDT
Message-ID: <robert.450.00F674F2@clark.net>
PREFACE:What this is and why I am doing it!
-------------------------------------------
This is the first weekly installment of an online
industry update. Ill present some factual recent
news about the big consumer online services and the
Internet. Ill also throw in an editorial opinion or
two. The reason I am doing this? Fame? Fortune? A
trip to Disney World? Well, if someone likes it
enough to send me to Disney World, Im sure Id get
over it! The real reason I am doing this is:
Twelve years ago, I got my first modem and hooked it
up to a Commodore 64. It was the kind of modem that
you had to dial the number with the telephone and then
unplug the modular plug from the handset and plug it
into the modem. After about 12 hours of unsuccessful
connections, I finally realized that this wasnt going
to work for me because the whole phone was in the
handset. Modern technology. So, I went to sleep at 5
a.m., got about 4 hours sleep and headed down to the
Radio Shack for an "older" style phone. I got home
and tried again and made my first successful
connection to a BBS! My life was truly and forever
changed, and Id like to think for the better.
This rag wont contain much information about the BBS
world, because these days between the online services
I have access to and Internet, I dont spend much time
on BBSs. And while I loved BBSs, it was always big
online services, initially GEIS, Compuserve and Q-Link
which just made me sit in front of the monitor with a
slack jaw and a "WOW" expression on my face. I love
this industry, where it has been, where it is now and
where it is going. It has enriched my life and I am
avid in my pursuit of industry information. I write
this as a summary of information for those interested
who have real lives and dont have the time to track
down the information. Ive gotten so much from this
industry that I wanted to give something back. So
without further sappy and sentimental ramblings from
the author, I present the first issue:
IN, AROUND AND ONLINE: W/E 9/10/94
----------------------------------
AMERICA ONLINE
--------------
AMERICA ONLINE REORGANIZES
--------------------------
America Online announced that it was reorganizing the
company into four new divisions in order to take
advantage of new market potential and to gain a foothold
in the International market for interactive services.
The new divisions are the AOL Services Company, Internet
Services Company, AOL International and AOL technologies.
All four units will report to AOL President and CEO
Steve Case and Case will head up the Internet Services
Company.
This is an important move for AOL because Compuserve
already has a strong international presence and
Prodigy is already ramping up for worldwide growth.
AOL, the fastest growing online service is seemingly
positioning themselves to be number one. These
changes will allow AOL to focus on market growth at
home with the AOL Services and Internet Services
companies and abroad with AOL International. AOL
Technologies can clearly focus on the systems and
support necessary to avoid the system difficulties
caused by explosive growth, that were experienced
earlier this year.
In related news it was reported that AOL has
partnership talks in the works with potential partners
in Britain, France and Germany laying the groundwork
for European expansion.
OTHER AOL NEWS OF INTEREST
--------------------------
Time Warner Interactive (TWI) , a subsidiary of Time
Warner, Inc. announce availability of the Time
Warner Interactive forum on AOL. TWI is a leading
developer and publisher of arcade style games across
several platforms. To access this forum on AOL, use
keyword: TWI
COMPUSERVE
----------
H&R BLOCK CEO PREDICTS CIS WILL OUTPACE
TAX BUSINESS
---------------------------------------
Tom Bloch predicts that Compuserve will overtake the
tax preparation business as the central focus of H&R
Block. "If you just look at the current trends it's
just a matter of years before CompuServe will
represent more operating profits than our tax
business," Tom Bloch told Reuters after the companies
annual meeting in Kansas City.
Bloch went on to say, "The two core businesses are
very different.The information service business is a
more dynamic, changing, exciting company, while the
tax business is much more stable...This is going to be
a real change for us."
This isnt a big surprise to me, but it still is great
to see this happening. Further it clearly summarizes
some of my beliefs. Online=Exciting. Taxes=Boring.
Well, how would you interpret the use of "stable" in
that quote??
OTHER COMPUSERVE NEWS
---------------------
Dow Jones News Service articles are now available on
Compuserve. Prodigy for some time has had Dow Jones
News Retrieval stories. Im not sure what is
different about the Compuserve stories, or if there is
any difference at all. I like the coverage provided
by Dow Jones a great deal, it is good information.
However, at 9.60/hr for 9600 service, you might want
to check out what is available on Prodigy first. The
Dow Jones News Retrieval Service stories on Prodigy
are part of the core service except, I believe from
9:40 a.m. to 3:40 p.m. M-F, when they are part of the
PLUS services. If someone from Dow Jones or
Compuserve wants to let me know what is different on
CIS than Prodigy, please do. Im curious, but Im
weird that way.
If youre already swearing by the Clipping service on
CIS, these stories will be available for you. Even at
$9.60/hr ($4.80/hr if youre still on a 2400 baud
modem. If youre still on a 2400 baud modem and
reading this, Im wondering if you still have your
black and white TV and drive a car that has a radio
that doesnt receive FM) this is a better deal than
many of the commercial news clipping services
available.
Summary: These are GREAT STORIES, however you can read
them, if youre a news junkie..READ THEM!
THE INTERNET
------------
PIZZA HUT PIZZA SERVER
----------------------
Okay, so this is old news. Really Old News, but hey,
Im so sick of this news that I thought I would whine
to the world at large about how sick of this I am. I
dont get the big deal about this anyway. While this
is a nice service for people who are not able to
speak, I really dont get the big deal with everyone
else. I wonder how many crank e-mails will be sent
sending 45 pizzas with anchovies to people that the
crank e-mailer really hates?!
NOTE TO PIZZA HUT- If you receive e-mails requesting
that 45 pizzas be delivered to my residence, please
note: I DO NOT LIKE ANCHOVIES. If they are for
Pepperoni, Sausage and Mushroom, you might want to
call first! (Actually, they do call to verify orders
first.)
Okay, now for the REAL NEWS....
NEW YORK TIMES TO OFFER HELP WANTED SECTION ON THE NET
------------------------------------------------------
New York Times will be offering its help wanted
classifieds via the PIPELINE Internet Service (based
in NY). The service will be free for 6 months (to
advertisers and job seekers). Im not sure when it is
available, but youll be able to get there via Gopher
or WWW clients according to the press release. The
NYT is apparently looking to be the Help Wanted
service of the Internet. I think this is pretty cool!
And for free?? BONUS! Hopefully, when they start
charging, theyll only charge the people placing the
ad and not the folks looking for the jobs! When I
find out more about this, Ill post it.
HOME SHOPPING NETWORK BUYS INTERNET SHOPPING
--------------------------------------------
Even as the survey is circulating stating that less
than 10% use computer online services for shopping or
banking, Home Shopping Network is looking to bring
their cable and broadcast television retail experience
to the Internet by acquiring Internet Shopping
Network. Who has time to shop on the internet? Well,
I dont know about the survey, but if 10% of the folks
on the Internet are willing to shop on it, it sounds
lucrative to me. If you want to see the current
Internet Shopping Network, get out your favorite World
Wide Web client and check out:
http://shop.internet.net.
OTHER INTERESTING STUFF
-----------------------
Who wouldve thought that the Internet would come into
play in the battle for operating system supremacy in
the IBM clone market. But thats what seems to be
happening. It seems IBM is trying to take advantage
of Microsofts delays with releasing a new Windows
operating system by announcing that a new OS/2 for
Windows (theyre calling it WARP) will be released in
October. Warp, complete with point and click
Internet clients will also offer point and click
Internet access via the Advantis Network (another
joint venture between IBM and Sears).
Meanwhile, Microsoft announces that the new operating
system, previously code named Chicago, will be called
Microsoft 95. Reportedly scheduled to be released by
the end of the 2nd quarter of 95, rumors abound that
Internet clients will be part of the operating system.
I was personally hoping for Microsoft 94 but to quote
Clint Eastwood, "Thats not gonna happen." Since Im
writing about Online Services I dont want to get into
my feelings on the new naming scheme, though MS
assures us that there wont necessarily be a Windows
96.Incremental patches and improvements to Windows
95 will be called Windows 95A, etc.
It has been rumored that Microsoft would launch their
own online service with the release of the new
operating system. None of the press releases on the
delays in releasing the operating system or the
announcement of the new name mentioned an online
service. Dont feel bad Microsoft, I still havent
seen my beta for Ziffs Interchange online service.
If IBM releases Warp next month, it may well
increase OS/2s market share. They're also talking
about spending a lot of money marketing it. You'll
probably be seeing "Surf the Internet with Warp" ads
soon on a TV screen near you.
Well, that wraps this summary. Im no writer, but I
hope those reading this got some useful information
out of it! Complaints, criticisms, suggestions and
female stalkers are welcome! See you next week,
unless I am inundated with Anchovy pizzas!
Robert Seidman
robert@clark.net
