[10120] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: NY Times story
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (jayne levin)
Tue Feb 8 10:04:56 1994
Date: Tue, 8 Feb 1994 10:02:49 -0500 (EST)
From: jayne levin <helen@access.digex.net>
To: Christopher Locke <clocke@panix.com>
Cc: com-priv@psi.com
In-Reply-To: <199402081449.AA07289@panix.com>
I guess journalists need to toot their own horn sometimes, so I'll toot
mine. The Internet Letter carried this story in the January 1, 1994 edition.
Jayne
Jayne Levin Net Week Inc.
Editor 220 National Press Building
The Internet Letter Washington, D.C. 20045 USA
+1 202 638 6020 Fax: +1 202 638 6019
On Tue, 8 Feb 1994, Christopher Locke wrote:
> John Markoff's story in today's New York Times (2/8/94, D1) on
> the Encyclopedia Britannica's decision to publish on the
> Internet is an important piece of business reporting that
> com-priv readers should definitely not miss. Coming, as this
> news does, on the heels of a similar move by Dow-Jones, it
> represents a significant shift in perceptions about the primary
> value of the global Internet.
>
> Markoff's above-the-fold article is interestingly juxtaposed
> with a another piece on the same page by Steve Lohr questioning
> AOL's ability to keep growing and remain competitive.
>
> John quoted my own elliptical slur on the non-Internet players
> as: "Companies in the electronic publishing market are
> beginning to see they want the largest possible market... They
> don't want to be trapped in markets that are Balkanized or
> private."
>
> But it gets much better. Toward the end of the piece, EB
> president Joseph Esposito says: "If you do believe that content
> is king, it's rather unfortunate that so many of the content
> providers have put themselves in a position where they're held
> hostage to the online services."
>
> The final graph quotes Larry Smarr, director of NCSA, saying:
> "We're creating a new market for content providers... Here is a
> whole world of people who are using cyberspace as their
> information stream. They are all potential customers for
> commercial information providers." Given NCSA's development of
> Mosaic -- which is mentioned in the story along with WAIS, as
> tools EB will use for delivery -- it's plain he's not referring
> to the AOL, Compuserve and Prodigy constituencies.
>
> Kudos, once again, to Markoff and the NY Times for elevating an
> important trend -- to publishing on the Internet -- into high
> visibility within mainstream business circles.
>
> chris
>
> Christopher Locke 11 Ferry Lane West
> General Manager, Internet Group Westport, CT 06880
> Mecklermedia Corporation (203) 226-6967 (vox)
> clocke@panix.com (203) 454-5840 (fax)
>
>
