176 lines
7.7 KiB
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176 lines
7.7 KiB
Plaintext
From emoryu1!phoenix.Princeton.EDU!nancyamm Thu Feb 3 23:24:45 1994 remote from awwe
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Date: Thu, 3 Feb 1994 23:18:35 -0500 (EST)
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From: Nancy Ammerman <emoryu1!phoenix.Princeton.EDU!nancyamm>
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To: Jackie Ammerman <emory!emoryu1!awwe!root@phoenix.Princeton.EDU>
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Message-Id: <Pine.3.89.9402032320.O3501-0100000@flagstaff.Princeton.EDU>
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Mime-Version: 1.0
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Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
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CHAPTER 13: Business on the Net
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13.1 SETTING UP SHOP
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Back in olden days, oh, before 1990 or so, there were no markets in
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the virtual community -- if you wanted to buy a book, you still had to
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jump in your car and drive to the nearest bookstore.
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This was because in those days, the Net consisted mainly of a series
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of government-funded networks on which explicit commercial activity was
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forbidden. Today, much of the Net is run by private companies, which
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generally have no such restrictions, and a number of companies have begun
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experimenting with online "shops" or other services. Many of these shops
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are run by booksellers, while the services range from delivery of indexed
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copies of federal documents to an online newsstand that hopes to entice
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you to subscribe to any of several publications (of the printed on paper
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variety). A number of companies also use Usenet newsgroups (in the biz
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hierarchy) to distribute press releases and product information.
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Still, commercial activity on the remains far below that found on
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other networks, such as CompuServe, with its Electronic Mall, or Prodigy,
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with its advertisements on every screen. In part that's because of the
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newness and complexity of the Internet as a commercial medium. In part,
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however, that is because of security concerns. Companies worry about
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such issues as crackers getting into their system over the network, and
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many people do not like the idea of sending a credit-card number via the
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Internet (an e-mail message could be routed through several sites to get
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to its destination). These concerns could disappear as Net users turn to
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such means as message encryption and "digital signatures." In the
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meantime, however, businesses on the Net can still consider themselves
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something of Internet pioneers.
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A couple of public-access sites and a regional network have set up
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"marketplaces" for online businesses.
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The World in Brookline, Mass., currently rents "space" to several
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bookstores and computer-programming firms, as well as an "adult toy
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shop." To browse their offerings, use gopher to connect to
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world.std.com
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At the main menu, select "Shops on the World."
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Msen in Ann Arbor provides its "Msen Marketplace," where you'll find
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a travel agency and an "Online Career Center" offering help-wanted ads
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from across the country. Msen also provides an "Internet Business
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Pages," an online directory of companies seeking to reach the Internet
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community. You can reach Msen through gopher at
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gopher.msen.com
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At the main menu, select "Msen Marketplace."
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The Nova Scotia Technology Network runs a "Cybermarket" on its
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gopher service at
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nstn.ns.ca
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There, you'll find an online bookstore that lets you order books through
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e-mail (to which you'll have to trust your credit-card number) and a
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similar "virtual record store.'' Both let you search their wares by
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keyword or by browsing through catalogs.
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Other online businesses include:
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Bookstacks Unlimited This Cleveland bookstore offers a keyword-
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searchable database of thousands of books for
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sale.
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Telnet: books.com
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Counterpoint Publishing Based in Cambridge, Mass., this company's main
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Internet product is indexed versions of federal
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journals, including the Federal Register (a daily
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compendium of government contracts, proposed
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regulations and the like). Internet users can
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browse through recent copies, but complete access
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will run several thousand dollars a year. Use
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gopher to connect to
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enews.com
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and select "Counterpoint Publishing"
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Dialog The national database company can be reached
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through telnet at
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dialog.com
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To log on, however, you will have first had to
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set up a Dialog account.
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Dow Jones News A wire service run by the information company
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Retrieval that owns the Wall Street Journal. Available
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via telnet at
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djnr.dowjones.com
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As with Dialog, you need an account to log on.
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Infinity Link Browse book, music, software, video-cassette and
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laser-disk catalogs through this system based in
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Malvern, Penn. Use gopher to connect to
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columbia.ilc.com
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Log on as: cas
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The Internet Company Sort of a service bureau, this company, based in
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Hudson, Mass., is working with several publishers
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on Internet-related products. Its Electronic
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Newsstand offers snippets and special
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subscription rates to a number of national
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magazines, from the New Republic to the New
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Yorker. Use gopher to connect to
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enews.com
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MarketBase You can try the classified-ads system developed
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by this company in Santa Barbara, Calif., by
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gopher to connect to
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mb.com
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O'Reilly and Associates Best known for its "Nutshell" books on Unix,
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O'Reilly runs three Internet services. The gopher
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server, at
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ora.com
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provides information about the company and its
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books. It posts similar information in the
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biz.oreilly.announce Usenet newsgroup. Its
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Global Network Navigator, accessible through the
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World-Wide Web, is a sort of online magazine that
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lets users browse through interesting services
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and catalogs.
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13.2 FYI
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The com-priv mailing list is the place to discuss issues surrounding
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the commercialization and the privatization of the Internet. To
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subscribe (or un-subscribe), send an e-mail request to com-priv-
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request@psi.com.
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Downloaded From P-80 International Information Systems 304-744-2253
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