Copyright © 1995 Robert Seidman (robert@clark.net). All rights reserved. May be reproduced in any medium for non-commercial purposes.
The trip to France and Israel was wonderful. I enjoyed my week off from the newsletter immensely. Still, it's good to be back. This is going to be one of those weeks where I am accused of writing, "In, and Around America Online", but they've generated a lot of press over the past 2 weeks. What can you do? On with the show...
You go away for a week and America Online generates front page press for being "hacked" and being the focus of child pornography investigations. Lost to the back pages were announcements by AOL that they'd surpassed the 3.5 million member mark and acquired Israel based Ubique for a cool $14.5 million.
Unless you had your head in the sand (and I confess, I spent a day or two of my time off with my head in the sand), you've already heard about the hacking and child pornography news. But, you haven't heard it from my point of view...
In a front page story on the September 7 issue of the San Francisco Chronicle, Michelle Quinn wrote a story about "rouge computer experts" aka "hackers" causing difficulties for America Online. According to Ms. Quinn's sources, hackers had gotten hold of passwords of America Online employees-including Steve Case!
This prompted AOL to internally request all of their staff members change their passwords. Shortly thereafter, via the monthly letter from Steve Case, AOL requested that their membership change their passwords and advised members that no employee of America Online would ever request their password via an instant message or e-mail message.
To see the Chronicle story, you can try the following URL with your Web browser:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/waisgate?WAISdocID=5108411858+4+0+0&WAISaction=retrieve
What you might not have seen in the news is that America Online changed their password software. Passwords under 6 characters are no longer allowed. Passwords that are the same, or close to the same as the screen name are no longer allowed.
I applaud America Online for informing their members and making changes to their software, but, they get a big thumbs down for waiting so long. What is in the best interest of the members shouldn't be driven by what the press writes. AOL shouldn't wait to act based on information falling into the hands of the press or because their own accounts were hacked.
The password problem has existed for years...YEARS. Password "surfers", "fishers" or whatever you want to call them have been terrorizing the chat rooms for a long time now. It's simple, they try to pass themselves off as America Online employees. They prey on new users by sending messages like, "Hi, I'm from America Online's billing department. There's a problem with your AOL account and in order to resolve it, I need you to send me your password. To show our gratitude for your cooperation, we'll be crediting your account with an additional 10 free hours!" This has been going on so long now, I can't even remember when it started. It shouldn't take coverage in the Wall Street Journal to force America Online to brief their membership or change their software for the better. But it's easy for me to be an idealist-I don't own any America Online stock shares.
Now for a word on a program called AOHell, a Windows program that is an "add-on" to America Online. It's not something that I would typically mention in the newsletter, and I do so now only because there has been some confusion in the press that seems to associate passwords being hacked with AOHell. I can't speak firsthand about AOHell. I don't have it-and it's not because I'm some online saint, but rather the problem of there not being enough time in the day. Given the choice between checking out AOHell, and say the Microsoft Network, I chose MSN. Who knows, perhaps I made the wrong choice.
Sources I trust who have first hand knowledge of AOHell advise me that AOHell does many things, but hacking passwords IS NOT one of them. It does, according to my sources do the following:
AOL has switched to actually verifying checking account numbers, and my sources advise that AOL has switched from checksum validation of credit card numbers to actually subscribing to a service that validates whether a credit card number is valid or not. All credit card numbers must pass some sort of algorithm-the problem is, there are many numbers that will pass this algorithm whether they are really valid numbers or not. In order to save money, many companies just check to see whether the card number passes the algorithm. Services that truly verify if the credit card is real exist, but they cost money. Apparently, AOL is moving to using such a service so the credit card number generator within AOHell will not having the impact it once had.
Again, to clarify, my sources say that AOHell does NOT contain a password hacking program. The ability to send an e-mail or instant message to the whole room does automate the password "surfing"or "fishing" process described earlier, but it is not the same as a password hacking program. If a hacker was able to get into Steve Case's account it wasn't due to AOHell. Further, we have to imagine that Steve Case would not likely fall prey to someone fishing for passwords.
The AOHell program was written by someone we only know as Da Chronic. According to Da Chronic (based on information passed along by my sources), he created AOHell because he was tired of all the sexually oriented member rooms, especially rooms catering to homosexuals and pedophiles. According to Da Chronic he found it ironic that rooms about hacking were closed while rooms about kiddy porn were left upon. When Da Chronic asked TOS Advisor about this, allegedly, his account was terminated.
Though AOL has taken many steps to eliminate the "kiddy porn"rooms, their system is not perfect. AOL has blocked many "young"sounding room names, but a recent scan of the member rooms turned up "skirts and bobby socks" and "dad for dau under 14". How long these rooms remained open, I can't say. I am advised by AOL that they closed these rooms down as quickly as possible.
There is something really sad in all of this because rooms named "Girl Scouts" or "Boy Scouts" can not be created (try and you'll get a message stating something like "Boy Scouts or other young names are not allowed).
At this point, to say America Online has done nothing would not been fair. Have they done enough? I don't think so. Truth is, while they've tried to eliminate rooms geared towards pedophiles, the Member Rooms in AOL's People Connection are rampant with sexually oriented rooms (both heterosexual and homosexual). Names like "want female slave", "Preg Bi F ISO Fem", etc. Some days it seems that room names like those dominate the member rooms. These rooms are not shut down by AOL. AOL has added many parental control features, but I am pretty sure that's not good enough.
While I have no qualms that parents are 100% responsible for their children, to say that 100% of parents take that responsibility is idealistic. Sure they should take that responsibility, but let's be realistic. Besides, it's more than just an issue of parental control. I'm not a parent, but I'm reasonably sure I wouldn't want to explain to a 7 year old what "42D Woman ISO Crossdresser"means. And sure, I can make sure that room never gets seen, but it is at the expense of making sure that same 7 year old can't create a "Superman Comic Books" room.
Don't get me wrong. There is no perfect solution for these problems, whether they occur on AOL, Prodigy, CompuServe or in some sleazy studio somewhere. It ain't a perfect world and all that. However, AOL can (and should, in my opinion), create an adults only area online. Is that a perfect solution? Heck no! But it seems far _less_ imperfect than the solution they currently use. At least that would free them up to enforce a very rigid set of guidelines for creating member room names instead of the loosey goosey setup they currently have. Maybe then, Boy Scout and Girl Scout rooms could exist in the member areas. It would take some work for America Online to implement such a system, but I think it is the right thing to do.
Last week, America Online got on the front page again in association with an ongoing 2 year FBI investigation regarding child pornography. The 2 year investigation was capped off by raids of 120 homes and dozens of arrests. More arrests are expected.
"We are not going to permit exciting new technology to be misused to exploit
and injure children," Attorney General Janet Reno said.
America Online has given its full cooperation to the FBI. Some have written me and have gone as far as saying that by being such an easy system to use, America Online in some way encourages and condones child pornography. Oh please. It is true that America Online is very easy to use but, these problems exist on other services and BBS's and probably have since the dawn of the modem age. As a result of being so easy AOL just plain gets more people. More good people, and unfortunately, more bad people. From AOL's point of view, it's tough-I mean, making the service harder to use would probably chase away some of the bad people, but unfortunately, it would chase away a lot of the good people. Making the service harder to use isn't an option.
AOL reached out to their customer base again, this time with a "community update" on 9/13. The purpose was to update members of the illegal activity, call for their support in notifying the AOL Terms of Service staff and to advise them that they do pass along information to the authorities, but only when information regarding such illegal activities comes their way.
"Our policy is clear: all private communications-including electronic mail, instant messages and private chat rooms-are strictly private and we do not and will not monitor any private communications. But if we are alerted to a potential offense by a member we will act swiftly to enforce the AOL Terms of Service and comply with federal and state laws. When material is forwarded to us which we believe is illegal, we notify law enforcement and upon receipt of a court order or subpoena, we cooperate fully," said the community update letter.
The letter is unsigned, but from the use of the first person in the letter, I'm assuming it either comes from or is supposed to come from Steve Case. The letter also includes this strong message:
"While it is important for our community to recognize the serious nature of this situation, it is also important to keep it in perspective. Although it is disheartening, the fact is that any community with more than 3.5 million citizens will have its share of illegal activity. To those using AOL for illegal purposes, let the message be heard: we will terminate the accounts of those participating and we will notify the proper authorities of any illegal activity that is brought to our attention."
Good. But, I still think the adults only area would help...
Okay, let's face it, if you factor out the 850,000 or so Nifty-Serve accounts CompuServe includes, AOL rolled past CompuServe some time ago. But, even with the 850K Nifty-Serve accounts, CompuServe is claiming 3.4 million subscribers world wide. So, now AOL has just plain passed CompuServe by announcing they've reached 3.5 million subscribers. We'll have to see how long it takes for CompuServe to stop using this phraseology in their press releases:
" The CompuServe Information Service continues to be the world's most successful and most - popular online service, with 3.4 million members."
Continuing what sometimes seems like a quest to buy everything on the net, AOL last week announced its acquisition of Israel based Ubique for $14.5 million. Ubique has developed some software for real time communications via the World Wide Web. Ubique also has some software very much like AOL's own "RoadTrip"which allows groups of people to "tour the web" while communicating (typing) about the pages they've seen.
Ubique has some alpha/beta Windows client software available, but it looked like you needed Win 3.1 with the old Win 32's. I haven't tried it, because they don't have a Win '95 version yet (though it is coming soon, or so they say), but you can take a tour, complete with screen shots, or get the software at <http://www.ubique.com >.
Is it worth $14.5 million. Well, in a world where Netscape's stock shot up to $75 during the first phase after the IPO, who knows? We do know this, AOL is very big on interactive communications. We also know that the world, including AOL seems to be very "pro Web". So, anything that makes interactive communications on the Web easier, better and more fun is something that America Online would want. Neither the acquisition or the price surprised me.
CompuServe joined Prodigy and America Online by announcing software that allows its members to create Web pages. At least the software tools dubbed "Home Page Wizard" and "Publishing Wizard" are better named than their Fisher-Price style named AOL counterparts: "My Home Page" and "My Place"(actually, in AOL's defense, I guess they too realized that they'd used an inane naming scheme and the whole thing now falls under the guise of "Personal Publisher", available at keyword: PERSONAL PUBLISHER ).
"Home Page Wizard offers unprecedented access to the Web. It eliminates the difficult technical jargon and the complex submission process in order to offer the fun and value of the Web,"said CompuServe executive VP, David Pool.
"Anyone who wants to stake their claim on the Internet frontier can do so with CompuServe's Home Page Wizard," Pool added in the press release from CompuServe.
Unfortunately for CompuServe, the software, which is expected to beta test this month and go into production in November, lags behind similar tools from America Online and Prodigy which are already available.
CompuServe also announced that it named Tim Oren as VP and GM of CompuServe's Internet Division (also known as CompuServe Seattle or the company formerly known as Spry). Previously, Oren was VP of future technology at CompuServe. Oren will relocate to CompuServe Internet Division headquarters in Seattle.
Oren replaces Dave Pool. Pool was promoted to executive vice president of strategic development for both CompuServe and its parent company H&R Block. So what does this mean?
This is purely speculation of course, but I believe in the end, it means that H&R Block wants to cash in on CompuServe while the cash is still good. Pool was able to get CompuServe to buy Spry for $100 million, so if H&R Block wants to get some amount of billions for CompuServe, Pool is probably just the guy to do it. It probably won't happen overnight though. Look for a series of partnerships and acquisitions (yes, even AOL style spending sprees) spurred on by Pool in his new position.
Finally, a note on CompuServe's numbers. I know I trash them quite often for including 850,000 Nifty-Serve accounts in their numbers, but that information comes from CompuServe itself. The reason I continually bring it up is simple. With AOL, CompuServe and Prodigy all charging $9.95/mo. for 5 hours of access, it would be easy to take the number of subscribers they claim and multiply by $10 to come up with an approximate minimum base revenue. The problem with CompuServe is they don't earn $9.95/mo. on those 850,000 accounts, in fact, it's a number significantly less than $9.95/mo. (though beyond that, they won't tell me what it is). A CompuServe insider recently pointed out that my reasoning was faulty because also inside the CompuServe numbers are members who are on the CompuServe's Alternative Pricing Plan.
CompuServe's Alternative Pricing Plan was only $2.50/mo. Of course, under this pricing plan, actually accessing the service costs much more per hour ($12.80/hr. for 1200-2400 Bps and $22.80/hr. for 9600 Bps and above). Remember though, there are lots of people out there on all services paying the monthly fee and not accessing the service much.
According to CompuServe spokesperson, Michelle Moran, members on the Alternative Pricing Plan or APP currently represent about 8% of the overall membership. I forgot to ask whether that was 8% including or excluding the 850,000 Nifty-Serve accounts. But we'll give them the benefit of the doubt and exclude them and come up with 204,000 members on the APP.
The APP will not be offered effective with the new 9/10 pricing plan (the $9.95/for 5 free hours). While Michelle Moran maintains that effective with the new pricing, CompuServe members on the APP will have to switch (and the information available via CompuServe confirms this), right now it's a numbers game. They don't want to lose the at least 204K users, so I seriously doubt they'll put a gun to their heads and make them switch.
Either way, up until September 10, comparing CompuServe's numbers to the other services was not apples to apples since at least 1,054,000 of the current 3.4 million members were paying significantly less than $9.95/mo. But what's 30% of the customer base or so among friends?
I don't bring this up to be a smart alec though. I bring it up to point out just how grave a situation it is for CompuServe. CompuServe had the distinction of actually making money! Their margins were very good, too. However, effective with the new pricing that went into effect on 9/10, those margins are toast. We won't really see the results until the financials for the 4th quarter of '95 are available, as more than 2/3 of the 3rd quarter results will be made up of the old billing scheme. But sometime during the first quarter of '96, when we see the 4th quarter results for CompuServe, it will not be a very pretty picture, unless they grow their subscriber base dramatically. In this case, by dramatically, I mean a lot more dramatically than AOL's growth rate. I don't see this happening by the 4th quarter.
CompuServe is banking on the success of the new "WOW"service that won't be available until next year. In spite of statements to the contrary, WOW sounds like an AOL clone. In an interview with Log On USA's Jaclyn Easton <http://www.logonusa.com/logonusa >, CompuServe chief Bob Massey referred to WOW as a service for beginners with a "padded cell environment". Hmmmm.
If H&R Block truly wants to dump CompuServe, bad financials aren't going to help them. I look for creative accounting (though extremely legal) for their 3rd quarter results to hype up CompuServe to potential buyers. Dave Pool may be on a personal mission to break up Microsoft, but I believe his professional mission now may be to find a buyer for CompuServe...and fast.
Frequent readers remember that I took Time New Media chief Walter Isaacson to task for being quoted by the press referring to the number of "hits" Pathfinder gets each week. "Hits"is a worthless measure. I later reported that Isaacson responded, saying that he was speaking at a conference about the Web and figured that those who were in attendance would know how to interpret those numbers.
While I was away, I received a two paragraph fax from Pathfinder's Marie Blue. Marie is the director of consumer marketing development for Time Inc. New Media. It wasn't really a very friendly fax-my boss, upon reading it commented that it looked as if it had been written by a lawyer. I didn't find it quite that stringent, but I confess, the fact that it had been faxed rather than e-mailed did irk me a little. I mean, c'mon! Why use paper? Perhaps she figured if she faxed it I wouldn't take the time to retype it for my newsletter. Or maybe not, but either way, here is Ms. Blue's response:
"I am writing in response to your statement in Issue 2.33 of "In, Around and Online" regarding the number of hits the Pathfinder site receives on a weekly basis. As I believe Walter Isaacson already mentioned to you in a prior e-mail message, Pathfinder now receives in excess of 10 million hits a week. That translates roughly into 2.5 million page accesses per week and is steadily growing. In addition, our user registrations, which have been optional for several months, have already passed the 200,000 number.
As hits are currently the "currency" on the Net, they are the figure we tend to quote when asked about audience traffic to our site. We agree, however, that although hits are indicative of traffic, there are other statistics which could prove to be more enlightening. Toward that end, we are actively working together with the ad community, audit specialists and industry experts to lead the charge towards the development of a common set of industry definitions and audit procedures. Once this has been achieved, we will be more than happy to share our numbers with anyone who is interested."
I'll grant that hits are the currency of the net. Problem is, they shouldn't be. While Pathfinder can "roughly translate"the "in excess of 10 million hits per week" to 2.5 million "page accesses" per week, there is no need for "rough"translations. They can easily enough come up with their page hits. However, caching schemes used by AOL, CompuServe and Prodigy can certainly hamper any attempts at accuracy. While HTML language can be employed that prevents such caching from having any effects on the logging process, I'm not aware of Pathfinder using such HTML. On the otherhand, the online services may be providing Pathfinder with such numbers, but based on my own experiences asking the online services for such numbers, I doubt that is happening.
A recent look at the pathfinder home page revealed that there were 9 image elements imbedded in the page. The way logging works, for everyone who loaded the entire page with graphics, 10 hits would occur (1 for each graphic file, and one for the actual HTML page itself). If the home page was accessed one million times where the whole page loaded, that would be 10 million hits right there. I look at the PATHFINDER home page at least 4 times a week. If we assume that I am the average user (and let me be clear, that is NOT a good assumption-I have no idea whether I'm average, above average or far below average) then Pathfinder has a lot fewer than 250,000 members. Pathfinder could shed some light on this simply by providing us with:
They have the Open Market Inc. software, hell, they invested in Open Market. The software will generate reports that would give them the above information easily enough.
Marie Blue says 10 million hits translate into 2.5 million page accesses. No way. Give me the log Marie. Let me work with it. Not only do I not believe that 10 million hits translates to 2.5 million page hits, I believe a lot of folks working at Pathfinder KNOW THIS ISN'T TRUE!
Pathfinder isn't the only one using "hits", but at least others are starting to use hits in relation to other, more meaningful numbers. For example, the 8/28 issue of Inter@ctive Week magazine, in a story on ESPNet's web service quoted Starwave marketing VP John Sage as saying that the site available at <http://www.espnet.sportszone.com > now processes about 2 million "hits" per day from about 60,000 users. Here, the 2 million "hits"figure isn't relevant, but the 60,000 user figure is extremely relevant.
The note from Blue suggests that Pathfinder won't divulge their numbers until there are standards in place-well, that is fair. But, to go on using extremely meaningless data, when far more meaningful data (though certainly not perfect) exists seems wrong. Don't knock Pathfinder exclusively, they're not alone.
Sites like Pathfinder are generating lucrative advertising revenues for their web sites. The $/thousands of eyes is way out of whack for such sites when compared to the "print model" counterpart. These sites have no reason to chase away the lucrative advertising revenues. But when standardization of reporting comes, and believe me, it is coming, these sites are going to be in a pickle with their advertisers. As I've said before, someday, I hope that the number of "eyes" to merit such lucrative advertising revenue will exist. Today, clearly, there aren't that many eyes.
With the likes of Nielsen teaming up with I/Pro to audit web statistics, it is my hope that meaningful numbers will be on the way soon. But I'm not very optimistic.
The myth continues to propagate, and some days, I question whether the "hits" myth will live on forever. Why? For that, let's take a look at the "Aw C'mon" award for this week.
This week's award goes to McPaper on the Web. That's right, our friends at the USA TODAY's Web site (a product of the USA TODAY Information Network) have earned the distinction of being the first to be selected for the "AWWW C'mon!" distinction. I'm sure it will become at least a monthly feature, and USA TODAY surely will not be alone.
USA TODAY earned this distinction not just because they did something that continued to propagate the myth about web hits, but they propagated the myth with WRONG information. And check this out, they did so in a press release patting themselves on the back for selecting Nielsen & I/Pro's "I/Audit" system for auditing web statistics! Nah, I'm not giving them an "Awww c'mon" for stating in the same press release that they are averaging more than three million hits per week, but for their explanation of what a hit is. Here's the entire blurb on this from the press release.
"Unaudited numbers indicate the site-at http://www.usatoday.com -currently is averaging more than three million hits its first week (A hit is a visit to a specific page). The site contains more than 15,000 easy-to-use, colorful pages, updated as often as every two minutes."
You see those words inside the parenthesis above? A hit is a visit to a specific page? NO! NO, NO, NO, NO! Awwwww c'mon!!! One *visit* to USA TODAY's home page will generate FIVE hits. Since when does 1=5? Only on the web, folks. Just remember, a hit is NOT a visit unless the page references absolutely no other files at all. In the case of the USA TODAY home page, the page references 4 graphic files. So, 5 hits are generated (one for the HTML page itself, and one for each graphic).
(Note: I am told that I/Audit actually DOES only count a hit as a page, but the numbers listed above were the "unaudited"numbers)
That they'd make such a statement in a press release is scary! I still like their site a lot though!
Recently, the Newscorp/MCI online venture headed by Scott Kurnit announced plans for a News Service via the Internet that would leverage News Corp's "news know-how". While the service still hasn't announced a name (and hey, didn't that contest end last month?), they have been very busy putting together a team of news editors to pump out the ventures' electronic news on a 24 hour per day, 7 day a week basis.
The venture also announced that it had revamped its marketplaceMCI service, including a warning to AOL and Prodigy members that the browsers from those services are not secure and therefore purchase transactions from those services won't be accepted. Netscape is explained for users who might have another Internet connection. If the user doesn't, they're invited to call for an internetMCI account.
Such services are kind of nice, but news is all over the place on the Web (Reuters, CNN and a slew of Newspapers, including the USA Today) and shopping malls are popping up left and right-ultimately, security will not be an issue as all the browsers, including those from the online services will offer secure transactions. I asked NewsCorp/MCI venture chief Scott Kurnit, how the venture could differentiate themselves with services like these.
"There's basic news, then there is style," said Kurnit. "People will choose us for the same reason they choose ABC over CBS or the Post over the Times," he said.
"A lot of the issues with content or shopping has to do with getting foot traffic/ratings. These are largely marketing issues. We will be a very visible player on the web and in the real world. People will think to come to us because we will be top of mind,"Kurnit said.
With regard to a specific question about shopping malls popping up everywhere, Kurnit was more specific.
"There are lots of malls in the real world. Ours will compete by having good selection, fun things going on in the "hall"(a fun, cool place to be) good "lighting" (fast and functional), good customer service and guarantees," said Kurnit.
Kurnit acknowledged the heavy competition the field is drawing.
"This is a competitive world like no other," Kurnit said, adding, "We will be fast and aggressive."
ROCK THE WEB WITH PBS. Check out PBS' new and improved Web site at: <http://www.pbs.org >. I'm not just saying this because IBM sponsors them either. I really liked the Rock and Roll pages!
I HAVE TO ADMIT that Ziff-Davis' ZDNET on the Web is getting better all the time. I find myself checking out daily updates offered by their various publications often. You can too at: <http://www.zdnet.com/ >
TV GUIDE'S FALL Preview is interactive at: <http://www.delphi.com/ > . Brought to you by the NewsCorp/MCI Online services venture.
BATTER UP. Check out Fastball at <http://www.fastball.com > for information on your favorite team. Brought to you by Cox Newspapers Inc.
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL reported that in a pre-emptive strike against Microsoft's Blackbird publishing tool (expected for '96), Netscape plans to unveil new browsers and publishing software for the Web on Monday
AOL SUED AGAIN. This time, I'm pulling for AOL. A Caribbean Resort Owner has sued AOL to force them to turnover the real name of one of its members. Arnold Bowker, the resort owner and Josh Joslin, a scuba instructor for the resort claim they were defamed by a postings in one of AOL's message boards. The want the real name and whereabouts of the person posting the messages so they can sue the person for libel.
With all the flaming on the Net and online services, it would really bog down the legal system if everyone who felt defamed by a message decided to sue...
FEED TO CHANGE advertising model by dropping their "rate card" for Web advertising and moving to "impression" based fees. 20,000 impressions will cost $1,800 for a minimum guarantee of 15 days, with the best deal being 80,000 impressions for $4,000 and a 60 day guarantee. Impressions measure folks who not only saw the advertising banner, but actually "clicked" or selected the banner and looked at the more in-depth information. I believe this is a much better indicator than "hits". At a nickle a "click", I wouldn't say it's a fantastic deal, but it's cheaper than direct mail. I'm not sure how it will work if the banner is there for 60 days and doesn't generate 80,000 "impressions".
Who am I to take a week off? I wish I'd at least done the stock quotes..."last week" will be back "next week".
This Last 52 52
Week's Week's Week Week
Company Ticker Close Close High Low
------- ------ ------ ------ ------- -------
America Online AMER $65.75 $74.50 $14.94
Apple AAPL $35.88 $50.94 $32.50
AT&T T $58.25 $57.50 $47.25
Bolt,Beranek & Newman BBN $36.13 $39.38 $12.63
FTP Software FTPS $25.25 $35.50 $19.00
General Elec. GE $63.88 $63.88 $45.38
H&R Block HRB $37.50 $47.63 $33.00
IBM IBM $92.75 $114.63 $67.38
MCI MCIC $25.50 $25.88 $17.25
Mecklermedia Corp. MECK $43.58 $48.75 $ 4.25
Microsoft MSFT $93.44 $110.25 $53.88
Netcom NETC $38.38 $43.13 $16.75
Netscape Comm. Corp NSCP $53.25 $75.00 $45.75
NetManage NETM $23.00 $26.13 $ 8.88
News Corp. NWS $22.75 $25.13 $14.38
Performance Syst. Intl PSIX $19.75 $25.50 $12.00
Sears S $36.25 $36.38 $21.50
Spyglass Inc. SPYG $41.25 $54.00 $26.50
UUNET Technologies UUNT $46.75 $51.75 $21.75
I began writing this newsletter in September 1994, at the time I was working for a technology company that is now owned by MCI. In March, I began working for International Business Machines Corporation. As of July, my management has agreed to allow me to do some work on the newsletter during business hours (probably about 6-8 hours a week). I speak for myself and not for IBM.
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