[9260] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: an Internet buying coop?
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (David H. Rothman)
Mon Dec 27 11:19:18 1993
Date: Mon, 27 Dec 1993 07:50:12 -0800 (PST)
From: "David H. Rothman" <rothman@netcom.com>
To: Miles R Fidelman <fidelman@civicnet.org>
Cc: com-priv@psi.com
In-Reply-To: <Pine.3.87.9312271002.A14205-0100000@world.std.com>
Miles is right. Individuals and businesses are hit with enough unplanned
expenses. The last thing they need is more metering online--especially
given the natural economies of this kind of communications.
Here's a thought for all:
Why can't Netcom, Digex and the rest *work together* to come up with at
easy, *reliable* offline readers available at no extra cost?
That wouldn't just help us customers--it would help the services
themselves spend less money upgrading CPUs, storage, etc., so that flat
rates would make more sense. If nothing else, usage patterns would be
a little more predictable.
I know that some individual providers are working on offline readers,
but things would happen a lot faster via collaboration through groups
such as CIX.
As it happens, I compose most of my mail offline anyway, via PSILink (the
present message is an exception) because I don't want my phone line tied
up. PSILink software isn't perfect, but it's miles ahead of Pine. Every
message to my Netcom address goes to my PSI address. This arrangement is
okay but costly. I'm frustrated. If the industry spent less time worrying
about flat rates vs. metering and more time making itself more efficient,
then profits would grow. And with good offline readers (and easier ftp,
etc., which PSILink also offers), the dream of an easy interface for the
masses would be closer at hand.
When, just when, will CIX folks get the message that they can still try
to murder each other in the marketplace but work together on projects of
this sort? I don't know the anti-trust law here, but I suspect that
regulators would be understanding.
Before folks criticize the above, I'd highly recommend that they try
PSILink and maybe even CompuServe Information Manager.
Obviously Internet-in-a-Box is one possibility if the costs are low enough
(the developers hope to work with local systems). Note: I am doing two
books with O'Reilly and Associates, one of the companies behind the
product. But I'd feel exactly the same without this connection. At any
rate I'm cheering on *all* developers of software to let folks get on and
off line in a hurry.
Isn't this situation comparable to that of electric companies? By
encouraging conservation, the progressive companies reduce the need for
new generators. Sometimes you need to get the consumers themsevles
involved in a solution--in way that endear you to them, not alienate them.
--David Rothman, rothman@netcom.com
On Mon, 27 Dec 1993, Miles R Fidelman wrote:
> On Sat, 25 Dec 1993, Karl Denninger wrote:
>
> > The trend is <towards> usage-metered services, not away from them. This is
> > nothing new, and I see no evidence that in the voice world it is going to
> > change.
> >
> > If this is tolerated in the voice world, why is it not seen as "ok" in the
> > Internet access world? If you want to make a point that flat-rate, and
> > cheap, is the "true cost of doing business" convince the phone companies and
> > PUCs first.
> >
>
> Ummmm....
>
> Metered calling is not all that much the rage: Unmeasured residential
> calling plans have been around for a long time. We now have unmetered
> local BUSINESS calling in large pieces of Western Mass. (which was
> accomplished by convincing the PUC). Leased lines have always been priced
> on a flat rate basis, and large organizations have built their internal
> networks on flat rate basis.
>
> Miles
>
>
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