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