In, Around and Online- Issue 2.3 -- Week Ending 1/20/95 ======================================================= Copyright (C) 1995 Robert Seidman. All rights reserved. May be reproduced in any medium for non-commercial purposes. In This Issue... ================ - The Internet Postman Rings Late for America Online Members - One Stop Point and Click Access to the Internet Is Already Here - HotWIRED's Gossipy Take on the Europe Online Deal - Newsworthy Notes - Short Takes - Stock Watch - Our Thanks To... The Internet Postman Rings Late for America Online Members ========================================================== Local mail on America Online is working fine. If you're an America Online Member and you don't receive any mail from the Internet, you don't have to worry. Sending mail from AOL to the Internet seems to be working well also. But inbound mail FROM the Internet TO AOL is sometimes no faster than snail mail (the kind you have to put a 32 cent stamp on). Tests revealed delay times in receiving mail from the Internet on AOL to be between 12-60 hours. To quote a posting from the AOL Mail Gateway Staff: "Too many cars, not enough road." We wonder if some of this may be caused due to mail bombing where someone deliberately generates a ton of mail in hopes of crashing a system or at least irritating an AOL member. Patient users can accept growing pains, but when it comes to e-mail, some users will not be tolerant. Fortunately for America Online, to know how long the mail actually sat around one must be able to decipher the mail header. On AOL the Internet mail header is actually a footer and to most people doesn't look like anything worth reading. Usually, it isn't. All the great things like the World Wide Web, Business Week Online, Newsweek Interactive and US News and World Report are really nice, but e-mail is the most utilized "tool" on the net. It is also the one that people most rely on. Oh sure they're working hard at fixing the delays, but we went through this last year. They made subscribing to mailing lists so easy and then under estimated the volume of mail? We sent our query to AOL about this too late in the week to receive an official response, but we expect to hear something next week. Perhaps it is a minority viewpoint to view two day delays as unsatisfactory. But shouldn't they let their customers know? Oh sure, there is a message from a staff person buried in the Internet Mail Gateway message area, but most users wouldn't think to check there. Put it up on the welcome screen. We'd hate to think of a couple of lovers separated by great distances communicating via e-mail where one is on AOL and one has other Internet mail access. "What mail? I never received your mail. No, honest! Really, I didn't!" That may sound pretty funny. But what if you're abroad doing some research and regularly communicate with friends and loved ones via Internet mail. Then all the sudden you're the survivor of a tragic earthquake. Long distance calls won't go through but amazingly, your net connection still works. So you send an e-mail Two days of senseless worrying. No, we're not saying anything such as this actually happened. We're trying to paint the ugliest picture possible. Why? Because it could happen. One Stop Point and Click Access To the Internet is Already Here =============================================================== Last week, we talked about the "point and click" and click Internet access that Microsoft plans to incorporate into their Windows '95 Platform. We mentioned how easy OS/2's Internet access is long as you use it with the network it is preconfigured for. Well, we got a few notes asking, "What about Internet Chameleon by NetManage," including a note from someone at NetManage. Well, we sort of have a history with NetManage. We'd already been using NetManage Chameleon to connect to UNIX machines over an office LAN. It is very much "point and click". However, when we attempted to configure Chameleon for Windows for use with our SLIP/PPP account we had to toil quite a long time to get it to work. Once configured, it worked quite nicely, but we didn't think the average user would want to go through all the trouble we went through to make it work. When NetManage wrote us saying, "Hey! You want point and click, we have point and click," our reply was, "Hey! We use your stuff and it ain't point and click until you actually get the connection configured properly!" Then they asked us if we'd tried the "Instant Internet" service that comes with the "Internet Chameleon" version of the software. We hadn't. So we did. We told ourselves to forget everything we knew and act as dumb as possible. Okay, this feat isn't likely to win us an Oscar, but we wanted to go at this as a newbie would. We installed the software without any problems. Then we clicked on the "Instant Internet" icon. Doing so brought up a "point and click" application that allowed us to select one of 5 preconfigured providers or set up our own. Even setting up your own provider is made much easier with "Instant Internet", but we wanted to get on without doing any configuring at all. We chose PSI's "InterRamp" service because Internet Chameleon came with a FREE seven day trial to InterRamp. Regular readers of this newsletter know that anything with the word FREE on it jumps right out at us. We clicked on InterRamp and plugged in our name, address, and phone number, and yes, our credit card# too. Then we clicked "send". The modem started dialing and connected. To be honest we don't think that InterRamp actually took the credit card, but the NetManage software required that we enter it. After connecting with InterRamp we had the option to sign up for a regular account or to use the 7 day free trial. Well, you all know which one we took. Then it started sending packets. The next thing we knew it was finished. According to the message on our screen everything was ready to go. All we needed to do now was bring up the Custom application and click on Connect. We didn't really believe it would work, but we crossed our fingers and did what we were told. Then we were connected. Once connected, we brought up NetManage's WWW browser -- it's not as feature rich as Netscape, but it isn't bad at all. We were now connected to the InterRamp home page. It looked as if it worked, but we're cynics. So, we pointed the browser to OUR home page on ClarkNet. It worked! We couldn't believe it. Then we brought up the e-mail client, and tried to send our ClarkNet account an e-mail. Next we brought up the Telnet client so we could Telnet over to ClarkNet and see if the mail made it. It had. We replied to the message via our Telnet session on ClarkNet to see if the Chameleon e-mail client would automatically receive the reply at InterRamp. It did. Everything worked as advertised and it was all "point and click". Yeah, we know Bill Gates isn't losing any sleep over this, but it is about as easy as you could ask for. We're not advocating that anyone use NetManage just because we use it. But, we are impressed. It comes with every tool you need to take maximum advantage of the net right out of the box -- over a dozen applications. We're also not advocating using PSI's InterRamp service. We'll definitely stick with ClarkNet. We like 28.8 access and the ability to create our own WWW page. InterRamp currently doesn't have either and based on the amount of time we spend connected to the net, it would be much more expensive for us. But, it's a great way to get up and running for FREE for a week of Internet exploration. "Instant Internet" also comes with preconfigured access to AlterNet, CERFnet, IBM Internet (We guess this is what they are calling Advantis these days), and even Portal! Or you can configure it on your own. Internet Chameleon has a street price of around US$130. To some, the price may sound steep. If you're not a natural born hacker, but just want something to work without having to understand why, then this is a great way to go. Note for Internet purists who will say, "If they don't understand how and why it all works, they shouldn't be here." We used the telephone successfully for years before we had a full understanding of how it all worked. HotWIRED's Gossipy Take on the Europe Online Deal ================================================= If you're familiar with reading text that is printed in this format then you're probably familiar with HotWIRED's FLUX page on the HotWIRED World Wide Web Site. It's annoying, isn't it? Well, Ned Brainard probably doesn't want you to know this, but we'll tell you anyway. Ned is quickly becoming the reigning monarch of National Inquirer style cyber reporting. Has Ned grown too infatuated with his idol, New York Time's reporter Peter Lewis? He seems to be taking on the same tendencies that he often accuses Mr. Lewis of -- relying on sources without any data (well, he's insinuated worse of Lewis, but I don't want to get into that). Of course, since Flux seems intended as a gossip column, Ned's style seems perfect. In the January 16th edition of FLUX, Mr. Brainard alleges that America Online head honcho Steve Case dropped the ball by not getting AOL the Europe Online licensing agreement recently awarded to Interchange. Ned or his sources figured that Steve had been so successful in his recent deal making, that he lost the deal because he thought it was in his back pocket. Ned paints a picture that leads one to believe AOL blew it at the last moment. In Ned's defense, it does make a nice lead in to a juicy premise. The two primary investors of Europe Online just happen to be two of the original America Online investors. They made a killing on their America Online investment and tales of cold blooded executives definitely make for good reading. We at "In, Around and Online" worry that Ned is spending too much time reading Peter Lewis articles and thinking up ways to attack them. As a result Ned may not be able to stay fully tuned into the online services industry. America Online hadn't been on the Europe Online radar screen for several months. The wind was a-buzz for weeks with rumors that Europe Online was going to abandoned any closed proprietary system in favor of the World Wide Web. That they didn't choose the web is an interesting story, but it is understandable why Mr. Brainard might not have wanted to talk about that. After all, his column is distributed via the web. Still, we wondered what DID go on between America Online and Europe Online. We asked America Online President and chief executive Steve Case for his point of view. "The HotWIRED story is not true," according to Case. Mr. Case explained that Europe Online was primarily interested in a software licensing agreement. America Online was interested in participating on a broader level that included a significant equity stake. Mr. Case noted that AOL ended discussions with Europe Online several months ago. "When it became clear that we were on different wavelengths, we decided to pursue other alternatives, and suggested they do so as well," according to Case, who added, "Therefore, the announcement of their licensing pact with Interchange didn't surprise us at all. And they won't be surprised when we announce our plans for the European market." Many have speculated that America Online is scrambling due to upcoming competition from the likes of Interchange and the Microsoft Network. We're sure the competition concerns them, but that competition is good for all of us consumers! We think secretly AOL is probably jumping for joy that investors are still shelling out bucks to invest on the closed proprietary systems. Well Ned, video didn't kill the rock star, and the World Wide Web isn't going to kill the online services...or is it? Well, not anytime soon. A recent story in the Investors Business Daily predicted that by 1998, WWW usage will outpace Online Service usage with 22 million users. There are just over 6 million users of online services now, and all of them will have access to the WWW by 1998. We think these numbers look pretty good for the online services too. If content on the WWW becomes totally subsidized by advertising, look for the online services to take the same route, but strengthen their position by providing better tools for managing the vast amounts of information. Even if you're a BIG FAN of Peter Lewis, you'll want to read Ned Brainard's FLUX columns. While it is gossipy and at times excessively critical in nature, it is a heck of a lot of fun to read and one of our top 15 things to read on the Web. Maybe HotWIRED will consider taking advantage of the technology the WWW allows. Then they could have links from gossipy items in Flux to either more thorough and balanced coverage of the items or an opposing viewpoint. Then Ned could have a real Saturday Night Live "Point/Counterpoint" discussion with someone. Ned you ignorant sl... If you have WWW access (this means you too Prodigy!) check out HotWIRED at: http://www.hotwired.com . New users will have to register, but its FREE! The FLUX page is accessible via the "Signal" area. You may not like everything there, but there is just about something for everyone! NEWSWORTHY NOTES ================ MICROSOFT ANTITRUST revisited. According to a story from Reuters, after a day long hearing, U.S. District Judge Stanley Sporkin said that he was troubled by the Microsoft consent decree, but took no immediate action on it. Assistant Attorney General Anne Bingaman said the antitrust settlement should be approved immediately. She labeled last-minute objections by computer and communications companies as "outrageous" and said that any complaints should be brought to the Justice Department for investigations or that companies with objections could sue Microsoft on their own. Judge Sporkin said he needed a few days to review the case. According to Bingaman, if Sporkin rejects the consent decree it would force the Justice Department to try the case in court...for years. IN AN EFFORT to assuage angry customers and developers and avoid royalties to Unisys, CompuServe announced the desire to create a new GIF standard. In the announcement CompuServe asks for cooperation among developers and others in the creation of a new standard. The most difficult issue at this point appears to be developing a standard that would be backwards compatible with all the existing GIFs that are out there and still not infringe on any patent. COMPUSERVE is preparing to launch additional services for users of Lotus Notes. Beginning next week companies using the Lotus Notes workgroup software will be able to integrate via CompuServe to get access to special CD-ROM CD; CompuServe forum file libraries; Internet USENET Newsgroups; Computergram International news via APT Data Service; the Comtex newswire service (includes over 25 news providers coming from hundreds of sources); and news and publications services via Lexis-Nexis. AS ANNOUNCED LAST WEEK (Issue 2.2, January 13, 1995), PRODIGY unveiled their WWW browser to the public. Well, it is sort of public. Anyone can get there to download the software and use it at JUMP: WWW . But on our visits to Prodigy, we didn't see it announced on the main pages anywhere. The slow roll... SAN JOSE MERCURY News announced their WWW page. Well, earlier in this newsletter we said, that the WWW won't kill the online services- at least not yet. The SJMN web page makes a pretty compelling argument against us! We've been reading the SJMN on America Online since it stated there, but it looks REALLY COOL on the web. Adding insult to injury for America Online, PRODIGY has a hotlink to the Mercury page on their brand spanking new WWW browser. Ouch! Subsidized by ADVERTISING and FREE to users, check it out at: http://www.sjmercury.com . The Netscape browser is recommended and downloadable from the Mercury site. And people said we were crazy when we said, "advertising can be good..." AMERICA ONLINE announced open testing of the new AOLNET access method. AOLNET will allow access speeds up to 28.8 Kbps. Currently AOLNET isonly available in about 12 cities, with many more planned over the next few months. America Online users can find out more at Keyword: HIGH SPEED . Additional 14.4 access provided via SprintNet was also announced. Though even 14.4 users with a SprintNet access number might want to see if their city is available for use with AOLNET as AOLNET is billed as a faster and more reliable connection method. BURDA PUBLICATIONS of Germany announced plans to launch an online service in the US called "Metro Connect" that will compete directly with the New York Times Co. (@Times on America Online) and Times Mirror (Newsday Interactive on Prodigy). According to the story that appeared in "Inside Media" the service will be fully supported by advertising and free to end users. The service is expected to debut in New York City and then expand to other cities. You'll be able to order carry out food (why is THIS a big deal to anyone?) and peruse things like real estate listings. Well, free is free. GENERAL ELECTRIC'S GE Capital Retailer Financial Services, announced an agreement with California based eSHOP Inc. ESHOP Inc. develops online shopping software. GE Capital is acquiring a minority stake in eSHOP. ESHOP has recently formed alliances with several companies, including AT&T and Intel. SENATOR ARLEN SPECTER was the guest of honor on the recent IRC Roundtable. Participants hounded Specter on whether he was going to make a run for the Presidency. He didn't actually use a keyboard- he was on the phone and someone typed in his responses and relayed the questions. Twice he asked for contributions. In case he does run he needs to be prepared. How would you all react if we used the Internet as a forum to ask for contributions? It was a rhetorical question, no e-mail necessary! SHORT TAKES =========== SUPER BOWL MANIA- On America Online, check out keyword: SUPER BOWL to get to ABC's SUPER BOWL area, find out how to play QB-1 during the Super Bowl. Or check out the Miami Herald's Super Bowl page at: http://herald.kri.com/ . It has Dave Barry's tourist guide to the Super Bowl. We love Dave Barry. We're still seething that someone mass mailed a Dave Barry article from Clarinet to a ton of people. Unfortunately someone on the list worked for Knight-Ridder Tribune. KRT owns the syndication rights to Dave Barry. No more Dave Barry via the Clarinet newsgroups. Yeah, we can read it in the Chicago Tribune on Sundays on America Online, but they seem to run a couple of weeks behind. What? Buy a paper? How plebeian, get real! Okay, we confess, we do buy the paper, but only on Sundays for Dave Barry. MICHAEL PALIN a member of Britain's famed Monty Python comedy troupe, will accept questions between now and 1/30, with answers expected on 2/7. He is promoting his new book, Around the World in 80 Days, a chronicle of his own circumnavigational adventure. On Prodigy in the Comedy Bulletin Board. GOOD CAUSES- CompuServe members can get information on the United Way at GO UW . Find out how to contribute and more about the United Way. It is in the basic services area on CompuServe TALK TO ONE of our favorite guys, Vic Sussman, during the 1/25 installment of the IRC Roundtable (he won't ask you for money, we promise!). Mr. Sussman is the Sr. Editor, Technology for US News & World Report. He recently did a great cover story: "Is Anything Safe in Cyberspace?" in the January 23 issue. CompuServe members can check it out at GO USN. Mr. Sussman will be discussing how the media covers cyberspace. Vic isn't just a media guy, he's one of us! When he's not surfing the net, he's surfing the waves. In the IRC's #podium in the UNDERNET section of the IRC. If you're not familiar with IRC check out: http://www.IRsociety.com or gopher://gopher.IRsociety.com for more information. AGENT 99! Wow, we loved her as kids, but that was a long time ago. Get Smart's Agent 99, Barbara Feldon will chat with members live in the America's Talking chat area on Prodigy. CATCH JONI MITCHELL in a special version of Warner Record's Cyber-Talk on January 26 at 10:30 p.m. EST, immediately following a special one hour concert that will be aired on 150 radio stations nationally. We were bummed to find out in the Playboy Interview with David Geffen that Joni wasn't actually AT Woodstock. See, we DO read the articles!. We still like her anyway. Keyword: WARNER on America Online. FREE STUFF ON THE NET! A lot of it all in one place. COOL, right? Well sort of, they want actually want you to pay for the right to be told about the free stuff! Someone making money on free stuff. Hmmmmmm. Hey, we're not saying there's anything wrong with this. It just makes us wonder where the heck WE went wrong. It's a flagrant advertisement for books and a service via the WWW, but what the heck, they do GIVE away a free issue that has a boatload of free stuff in it. We didn't see our newsletter listed in the free stuff, and we did not intend to pay to see if we were in the pay section. But we already know where we are. Here's where they are: http://power.globalnews.com:80/freestuff . Stock Watch =========== Last This Week's Week's Company Ticker Close Close ------- ------ ------ ------ America Online AMER $50.00 $56.63 Apple* AAPL $44.88 $42.63 Netcom NETC $22.25 $23.75 AT&T T $49.00 $48.75 General Electric GE $52.00 $51.00 H&R Block HRB $35.24 $34.00 IBM IBM $76.37 $75.38 MCI MCIC $18.25 $18.25 Microsoft MSFT $62.75 $61.63 Sears S $47.88 $45.13 OUR THANKS TO... ================ Sony Music- for a slew of music CD's! Alice In Chains; The Goats; Stompbox, Stabbing Westward and lots more. NetManage- for the review copy of the software. We'll have to give equal time to Spry, FTP, etc., as soon as they send copies. Apple Computer- They're loaning us a color Powerbook so we can check out eWorld!!! It isn't a PowerPC, but we don't have any place to put one anyway. See you next week. --------------------------------------------------------------------- "In, Around and Online"-A Weekly Summary of Consumer Online Services Robert Seidman http://www.clark.net:80/pub/robert/home.html robert@clark.net Anon FTP: ftp.clark.net pub/robert ---------------------------------------------------------------------