362 lines
16 KiB
Plaintext
362 lines
16 KiB
Plaintext
________________________________________
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DIGITAL MEDIA PERSPECTIVE
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________________________________________
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December 1, 1994
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________________________________________
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Table of Contents
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Digital Media Perspective:
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Birth of a Notion
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McInternet?
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MCI's Bid to Make the Net Accessible
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Forever Young:
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The CD-ROM Market Doesn't Want to Grow Up
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Life in a "No Newspaper" City
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Strike Gives San Francisco a Glimpse of the Information Age
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Inside the Current Issue of
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Digital Media: A Seybold Report
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________________________________________
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Digital Media Perspective:
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Birth of a Notion
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This is the first issue of Digital Media Perspective, the free
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electronic publication of Digital Media: A Seybold Report. Just what
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the hell are we doing here, and what can you expect from this thing?
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Is this another address that will swamp your mailbox with hundreds of
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messages each month? Is this a crass attempt to further commercialize
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the Net?
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In the analog world, we're a newsletter read by the leading
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executives in computing, telecommunications, television, cable, film,
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music, publishing and other industries experiencing digital
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technology itch. Yet, what you've received is a free publication, one
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that offers editorial material available nowhere else.
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Are we nuts? Don't we worry that giving away some of the work we do
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will satisfy your desire for information of this sort? No, and no
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again. We think you'll want to know more about Digital Media -- that
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you might even decide to subscribe to the paper newsletter to get our
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more extensive reports on issues critical to the emergence of
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electronic markets and information businesses.
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When we took a look at the Net, we realize that what is growing in
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the telephone lines is a community of minds eager to learn, exchange
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information and debate. In order to fit into this seething, organic
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place, we felt it was necessary to contribute something of very high
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value. Hence, Digital Media Perspective, a publication of our views
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and commentary on breaking news, reports from the conferences and
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trade shows we attend, and our general impressions of the evolving
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digital world.
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We're giving this to you, the people of the Net, in exchange for your
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brief attention to the commercial projects with which we are
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involved: Digital Media: A Seybold Report; Digital World, a
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conference held each June in Los Angeles; the Networld + Interop
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conferences; and the Seybold publishing conferences. Included with
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each issue of Perspective, you'll find a list of the stories in the
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current issue of Digital Media. We'll also include information on
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upcoming conferences, as appropriate.
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Digital Media Perspective is free. Digital Media, which includes
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considerably more analysis than we can provide here, will also be
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available on the Web in early 1995 for a reduced price, compared to
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the paper publication. Likewise, we'll be introducing some additional
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services via the Web which we think you will find intriguing.
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To sign up to receive Digital Media Perspective, or to get more
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information about Digital Media: A Seybold Report and our
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conferences, send e-mail to dmedia@netcom.com. We look forward to
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hearing from you.
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Mitch Ratcliffe
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Editor in Chief
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Digital Media: A Seybold Report
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________________________________________
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McInternet?
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MCI's Bid to Make the Net Accessible
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by Mitch Ratcliffe
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The hype says that the sign on the Internet says "35 Million Served."
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Now telecommunications giant MCI wants to prop up its version of the
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golden arches on the information highway, to take the Net to the
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masses. The company's announcement last month of its "internetMCI"
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service points to the next phase in the development of the Internet:
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commoditization. MCI's strategy also lays out the future of Netscape
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Communications' plans, which are closely related to the closing of
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the digital frontier.
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This is an inevitable turning point in the life of the Net. Marketers
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cannot sell a thing as dense and complex as the Net on its own
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values. They turn it into a form of conveyance and sell what people
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get through it -- just look at the first television ads for the
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service, which feature an editor using the Net to browse the world's
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libraries -- and in MCI's case, what people will get access to
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through the net are the staples of MCI's business: Friends, Family
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and corporate connections. "internetMCI" is the first marketing
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program to transform the connectivity offered by the Net into a
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simple commodity. All previous Net services have sold the Internet as
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a thing, a product unto itself. As part of a comprehensive
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communications offering, the Internet has been transformed by MCI
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into an alternative pipe, like the telephone or the mail. Commodities
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are technological phenomena with the magic taken out of them.
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The proof is in the fact that MCI's Internet depends on a rich user
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interface for its value. That's where Netscape comes in; the Mosaic
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company will provide MCI with client software that ties its customers
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into the World Wide Web with minimum hassle. In addition to MCI Mail,
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individual and corporate users will be able to plug into the Web
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information with a simple installation. Likewise, Netscape's secure
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Web server products will track individual usage and power
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transactional services accessible via the MCI service, like an
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on-line shopping mall.
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"internetMCI" isn't the most affordable avenue into Cyberspace, but
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neither is McDonald's the best burger at the lowest price. Consumer
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pricing balances quality with cost in order to make the transaction
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as painless as possible for the average customer. MCI is aiming for
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the newbies, especially the small businesses getting onto the Net for
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the first time, as well as the legions of homeowners taking a PC out
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of the den and into the family room. "internetMCI" will charge $19.95
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for seven hours usage (additional hours will be billed at $3 locally,
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or $7 via 800 connection), more than enough time for the ordinary
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consumer who wants to dally in the Web and send or receive email.
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That's competitive with America Online and CompuServe.
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On the other end of the wire, MCI hopes to compete with Web home page
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services for the business of information providers and others who
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want to offer their wares on the Internet. Netscape's secure server
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offers these customers an anchor in the user interface of every
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internetMCI customer's Web browser, where the MCI online marketplace
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will surely be a built-in bookmark.
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Netscape has deals in the works with a variety of providers which
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will expand the commercialization of the Web. Also, the network
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services from Microsoft, Ziff's Interchange and various Mosaic
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licensees will result in a shifting focus on the Net. What's
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available via the Net will come to matter more than the mere fact
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that a company offers a connection. These services will rely heavily
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on advertising to lower perceived prices below MCI's and, ultimately,
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even public access UNIX providers.
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America Online's purchase this week of Advanced Network Services, the
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formerly MCI-owned Net backbone contractor, marks another beachhead
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on the consumer front. AOL's Internet services will cater to
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corporate clients, while lowering the cost of providing consumer
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access marginally.
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For the current denizens of the Net, the thoughts of invasion by a
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crowd of MCI calling circle members will probably bring back memories
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of the America Online invasion. But this, as they say, is progress --
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for businesses wanting to reach into the electronic marketplace and
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for ordinary folks who want to get connected to others without the
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torment of learning UNIX. The wild west has been won.
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________________________________________
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Forever Young:
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The CD-ROM Market
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Doesn't Want to Grow Up
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by Neil McManus
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The CD-ROM market is getting on in years, but it doesn't seem to be
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maturing. Robo-publishers like GTE Interactive know that the way to
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make money in this business is to churn out arcade-style twitch games
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for teenage boys and cute edutainment titles for the kiddies. How
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does this market make room for publishers like The Voyager Company,
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which steadily puts out thought-provoking titles aimed at (gasp)
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grown-ups? In short, it doesn't.
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Voyager has 45 multimedia titles on its price list, but you won't
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find more than two or three of them in your neighborhood computer
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software store. That's because retail software chains typically only
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provide shelf space for about 150 titles. These slots naturally go to
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the best sellers with names like BoneCrusher III and Fatty Frog
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Swallows The Spelling Bee. "The joke about Voyager has been, if we
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make it, you probably can't buy it anywhere," says Bob Stein,
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Voyager's president.
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So Voyager is faced with two problems: How will CD-ROM buyers hear
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about or see Voyager titles? And if they're not sold in software
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stores, how will consumers buy the titles? The company has come up
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with a few inventive stabs at these problems. Earlier this fall
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Voyager printed and mailed off 3Sixty, a four-color catalog filled
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with sample screens and descriptions of CD-ROMs from Voyager and
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other publishers. An order form in the back lets people buy the discs
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directly through Voyager. Last month, the company released Voyager
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Presents, a $9.95 CD-ROM with QuickTime preview movies of all 45 of
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Voyager's titles. Finally, in January, Voyager will start a Home Page
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on the Internet's World Wide Web, which will also include preview
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movies of the titles and an online method for ordering discs directly
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through Voyager.
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A number of smaller publishers also make CD-ROM titles for grown-ups.
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Many of these publishers are giving up trying to get their titles in
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software stores and pinning their hopes on selling their titles
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through bookstores. We believe the bookstore channel has a lot of
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promise -- a new Borders superstore in San Francisco stocks 1,000
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CD-ROM titles -- but the vast majority of bookstores are getting into
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the CD-ROM market cautiously, with many devoting shelf space to less
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than 100 titles.
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So the coming year will likely leave intelligent titles, such as Live
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Oak Multimedia's 4 Paws of Crab, out in the cold. We caught up with
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Live Oak's president David Antonuik at last month's San Francisco
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Book Festival and asked him how he plans to get a niche title about
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Thai cooking and culture into retail stores. "That's the unanswered
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question," he said. "Nobody has figured out the CD-ROM market. That's
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why I'm self-publishing. I'm not going to give a publisher
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three-quarters of every dollar I make to explore the issue with me."
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Antonuik did take the time to walk over to Voyager's booth to give
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his disc to Stein and his staff. He's hoping he can sell it through
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the next issue of Voyager's catalog.
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________________________________________
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Life in a "No Newspaper" City
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Strike Gives San Francisco
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a Glimpse of the Information Age
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by Neil McManus
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San Francisco temporarily lost both of its daily newspapers last month
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during to a strike by workers at the Chronicle and Examiner. The
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newspaper shutdowns gave San Franciscans chilling visions of
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suffering through an interminable strike without local political
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news, Warriors updates, movie reviews and columnists Herb Caen and
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Jon Carroll.
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As it turned out, they didn't have to suffer for long. By the end of
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the first week of the strike, the striking newspaper workers were
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publishing a daily newspaper -- on paper and on the Internet's World
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Wide Web. Both versions of the strikers' Free Press provided election
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coverage, strike news, movie reviews, sports, even our beloved
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columnists. The news void was further filled by a dozen or so
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neighborhood newspapers and by San Francisco's two alternative weekly
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papers, the Bay Guardian and SF Weekly, which stepped up frequency to
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twice a week. Before long, the Chronicle and Examiner reappeared,
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using scab labor and a heap of wire-service copy. (Of course,
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politically correct San Franciscans would only be seen in coffee
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shops reading the Free Press, the San Jose Mercury News or the Bay
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Guardian.) The Chron and the Examiner also updated their Web site.
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Online readers could further tap the ClariNet news service, which
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offered free local news to Bay Area residents during the strike.
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Conventional wisdom has it that modern information technologies are
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forcing a consolidation of big city newspapers, and, in fact, the
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Hearst-owned Examiner may not survive the effects of this strike. But
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the 11-day strike, which ended in mid-November, gave San Francisco
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residents a glimpse at a different kind of information age future.
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Desktop and online publishing tools let dozens of alternative news
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sources bloom. During the strike, the talent-laden Free Press became
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this city's third daily newspaper. (It even picked up advertising
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from Macy's and other local businesses.) And, for a short time, San
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Francisco had three local news services on the World Wide Web.
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________________________________________
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Inside the Dec. 5th Issue
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of Digital Media
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A Not-So-Holly-Jolly Interactive Christmas: Multimedia publishers
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struggle to get their CD-ROMs onto store shelves despite an
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overstuffed channel;
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Expanding Channels: Why multimedia titles are selling at computer
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flea markets, and what keeps afloat a Seattle-area computer store
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that's gearing up to stock 1,000 CD-ROM titles;
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Paying the Price: A look at the systems credit companies are devising
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to provide secure online transactions; and
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The Interactive Household: A summary of an Inteco study on how
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families use interactive media today and how it will affect the
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video-on-demand market tomorrow.
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Also in this issue:
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Why Broadband Technologies's fiber-to-the-curb network system gives
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phone companies an edge in their elbowing match with cable TV
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companies;
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A look at why communications privacy is big business;
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Why Electronic Arts' Twisted for 3DO systems made the right move in
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imitating board games;
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Guest columnist David Waks, Prodigy's executive director of
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technology, calls for cable companies to get their act together on
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interactivity; and
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The Good Stuff: A list of Things Digital Medians Should Know.
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Digital Media: A Seybold Report, the monthly paper newsletter that
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sponsors Digital Media Perspectives, brings its readers the most
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provocative analysis of the developing industry for interactive
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titles, smart networks and broadband applications. We turn an
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eclectic eye to the stories of the day to provide a more informed
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perspective with which readers can judge new technologies, new
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competitors and the assumptions driving the growth of the electronic
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economy. We question everything, and bring back the hard facts.
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Digital Media: A Seybold Report is available monthly for $395 a year;
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individual issues are $40. Call 800.325.3830 or send email to
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dmedia@netcom.com for information on how to subscribe.
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________________________________________
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Who We Are, Where to Reach Us
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Digital Media Perspective is a twice-monthly electronic newsletter
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produced by Digital Media: A Seybold Report.
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Publisher Jonathan Seybold
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Editor in Chief Mitch Ratcliffe (godsdog@netcom.com)
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Editor Neil McManus (neilm@netcom.com)
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Managing Editor Margie Wylie (zeke@eworld.com)
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Senior Editor Stephan Somogyi (somogyi@ziff.com)
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Editorial Assistant Anthony Lazarus (dmedia@netcom.com)
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Editorial Offices 444 De Haro Street, Suite 126
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San Francisco, CA 94107
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415.575.3775 vox
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415.575.3780 fax
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dmedia@netcom.com
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________________________________________
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How To Subscribe
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If you'd like to receive this free electronic newsletter regularly,
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send us email at dmedia@netcom.com and we will put you on the list.
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The subject line of your messages should read "subscribe
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perspective". We would appreciate it if you would include your name,
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title, and organization in the message's body.
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Copyright (c) 1994 Digital Media: A Seybold Report. This electronic
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newsletter may be duplicated, reproduced or retransmitted only in its
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entirety. Excerpts used for the purposes of quotation must be
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attributed explicitly to Digital Media Perspective.
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