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Technology Stocks : Novell (NOVL) dirt cheap, good buy? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: p friend who wrote (28160)	9/17/1999 11:59:00 AM
From: PJ Strifas	Respond to of 42771

I'm sure you'll get a few differing opinions on just what any technology can offer and that has to go back to the information you exchange and with whom. Once you exchange information with someone, they have it - you have to trust them NOT to sell it, share it or whatever. Of course as a consumer, you will have the ability to choose who you will do business with and use their stated privacy policy as a factor in your choice. I see this as a selling point in the near future for some if not all online retailers. What digitalme offers the consumer (and others) is the ability for you to manage your personal information via an identity vault and software you install on your PC. You can create relationships between you and other entities (people, websites, companies, etc) where a level of trust is a given once authenticated via a digitalme identity vault. There is the possibility of for instance a website to authenticate you into their secure online shopping area, then when you are finished shopping, the website will then contact the vault with the information necessary for the transaction to proceed. The credit card company you use will (should) have a digitalme-enabled payment system that will then verify your shopping choice with the vendor and then authorize the purchase without you having to share/exchange your info with the vendor. The information then needed to ship the product(s) is handed to the shipping company via the indentity vault (UPS would then need digitalme-enabled delivery system of course) and your package arrives a few days later. This is just one version of what can happen with digitalme technology employed by the various companies involved in the process of buying/selling via the internet. This can also be used beyond the internet with all transactions. Let your imagination be your guide :) Peter J Strifas ps - this example takes alot of license in that all vendors and/or retailers will jump onto the digitalme bandwagon. But my aim is just to show a possible scenario.

To: p friend who wrote (28160)	9/17/1999 12:32:00 PM
From: Paul Fiondella	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 42771

Partial DigitalMe answer You will have to demand that this happen as a consumer. You will have to tell the vendor that you only buy products from vendors that protect your identity against abuse. Vignette and Edocs are very dangerous companies. After the very first massive compromise of ecommerce, (Just think the first internet terrorists will have novelty on their side.) the fallout will put them in the same category as those web sites that host hackers. I for one feel the consumer has to demand identity security as a condition of doing business. IT's like CRTs. In the early 1980's they emitted xrays. Office workers were impacted. They complained. The Swedes then imposed a requirement on all monitors imported into Sweden that they meet low emission standards. The vendors balked and then led by IBM caved in rather than lose the business.Before very long the vendors began advertising how low their emissions were and how many standards they comply with! Now consumers do not get a dose of radiation everytime they turn on their monitors. Same thing with digitalme. It is the first low emission identity device on the internet market. Once it hits it will shake things up considerably.

To: p friend who wrote (28160)	9/19/1999 1:31:00 AM
From: ToySoldier	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42771

Hi P Freind, (sorry for the delay in responding - the Internet has not been a top priority for the past couple days) Your question is a very good one, and at first guess you would guess that I would say glowing things like Digital-Me will revolutionize the industry of regarding the issues of personal privacy during e-commerce, BUT, for some of the same reasons that Paul brought up, I will not initially be too optimistic. This is not any fault of Digital-Me which will bring revolutionary technology to the Internet Consumer and offer huge strides in personal privacy. The problem goes beyond Novell's superior technical capability. The problem is that there has always been a battle going in the world of "Commerce" between the end consumer and the vendor/retailer. The beliefs and desires for each side are as follows: The consumer wants to perform a simple business transaction with a vendor for a product she needs/desires. The consumer would desire a relationship during this transaction that has a clear beginning and end. No Residual traces of this consumer and her information would be desired. The Vendor/retailer also wnats to make the transaction as his prime objective, BUT, in order to figure out how to create more frequent transactions from the customer, the vendor has an extremely strong desire to learn everything about you when contact is made. Prior to the 80's, the vendor community generally did not have the understanding of the information value of the actual transaction, plus the technology was not available to gather effective data. But since then vendors have realized that for the most part, they simply had to ask for more personal information from the customer than was required to perform the basic transaction. The customer's desire to purchase, and/or lack of insight by the customer to the use of this additional personal information ensured that the majority of customers provided this infomration. (Want a great example - go to Radio Shack and buy a $1.59 battery - see how much information they ask of you - even if you pay cash. You can only guess what %age of consumers provide that information - MOST) The concern has been out there in the Consumer side of this information war, but, the arrival of the Internet and the shift to a huge new consumer/vendor battlezone "E-Commerce" has JUST brought this issue of protection of personal information during a transaction to the forefront. The Digital-Me technology will be one of the first to truly allow your identify to be protected - if you want it to be - BUT!!! - unless the consumer speaks up and more importantly acts on his/her desire for transaction privacy - the vendors will not stop demanding for this information in order to make an e-commerce transaction possible! The shift in consumer tolerance to these personal information mining endevours by vendors must also occur if revolutionary products like Digital-Me will be able to delivery on your need to personal privacy. Otherwise, you and the Internet community will consider Digital-Me a hinderance to performing e-commerce transaction. WHY? Because in an effort to protect your information - your Digital-Me identity would not allow you to perform transactions with vendors that still demand this information to do business. From what I know of the product - and its not much more than what any others have seen of it at Brainshare - Digital-Me will not initially provide privacy from this issue, rather it provides a common secured repository of this information so that if/when you wish to engage on a new e-commerce transaction with an Internet vendor, the commonly stored information can be provided to this bendor. The benefits of Digital-Me are more geared around "Single Sign-on" and easier "Internet Identities Administration" than protection of your private information for curious vendors. Its not to say that concepts like those brought up by PJ could not easily be extended by Novell's Digital-Me team, its just that a consumer/vendor relationship culture shift has to occur before the e-commerce industry would buy into these needed new solutions. Maybe I have confused many of you in what I just said - hope that made sense - I am a bit distracted lately. PS I didnt even prove-read this posting for spelling, grammer, or content so I hope it sounded right. Toy