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Technology Stocks : Voice-on-the-net (VON), VoIP, Internet (IP) Telephony -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Chartgod who wrote (2930)	2/15/2000 5:37:00 PM
From: Scott C. Lemon	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 3178

Hello All, I know that this might be slightly off-topic, but it's related ... a personal experience ... I often use my family to judge the progress of the software industry, and what is "realistic" to expect out of people. Last night was a pretty cool milestone to me ... Over the years I have upgraded my parents computer for them ... they are now running Windows98 on a Intel Celeron 366Mhz with 64MB of memory. They do the usual web-browser stuff and e-mail ... and they use it frequently. I got them using ICQ a while ago for Instant Messaging and it gets some use ... but it's most useful for me to keep tabs on how much they use the computer. Usually several times a day recently ... A week or so ago I visited the Bay Area again, and decided to upgrade my sisters computer ... I got her the same Celeron 366Mhz w/ 64MB of memory ... the upgrade was under $500. My sister and my parents live within 10 miles(?) of each other, and both upgraded to AT&T/TCI/@Home cable modems about a year ago. At the same time, while picking up the upgraded system, I bought two Logitech QuickCam Express USB attached cameras and installed them at my folks house, and my sisters. I also downloaded and installed NetMeeting from Microsoft. I ran short on time, and wasn't able to explain how to get it working. Well, as of last night, they figured out by themselves how to initiate Voice/Video phone calls to each other over the Internet! The one question that my sister called to ask is "What do I type in as the phone number?" ... I told her to look in the NetMeeting Help-About dialog and it would tell her the "number" (IP Address) of her computer. They are now leaving their systems on, and having fun calling each other during the day ... my niece and nephew are now having fun talking to "Grandma" over the "video-phone" on the computer ... To me, it's pretty amazing that we are getting to the point where it's becoming a reality! I'll be "seeing" them tonight, on-line ... ;-) Scott C. Lemon