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Technology Stocks : LAST MILE TECHNOLOGIES - Let's Discuss Them Here -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ftth who wrote (9192)	11/19/2000 7:34:47 PM
From: Frank A. Coluccio	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12823

Files larger than 1.44 MB... a perfect opportunity to sell the user server and storage space, I'd imagine, which would be accessible from anywhere. This modality is becoming more and more commonplace for me these days. At client locations, my own office and at home, and even here on SI. Most of that which I have in storage [except for company-proprietary and client-related information] can be found off-site, in other peoples' servers and storage farms. Even when I download files, if they are not already on a service that I can download again for viewing, I tend to immediately post a copy of whatever it is to one of the net-based servers that I use, so that I can view it from anywhere. In actuality the information material is "mine," as well as the rights to the partitions I lease, but the actual hardware it sits in belongs to someone else.

To: ftth who wrote (9192)	11/19/2000 8:05:35 PM
From: axial	Respond to of 12823

Hi, ftth - There appears to be a big difference between what Mike has seen, and what I was talking about. Mike's experience was more like going into an internet-connected computer mall, or warehouse, I guess. Fascinating: I can see the tie-in with ASPs and the ability to 'rent' usage of programs, too. (Though how long it might take to configure some of the more complex programs might be a problem.) I suspect that the presence of CD-RW will become prevalent; prices are dropping substantially; I can see a point, where CD burners will be as ubiquitous as today's 1.44 Meg floppies. Frank's post referenced another solution to the storage problem; perhaps the careful user will use both. The Internet Cafes I have seen are much smaller, and less capable, than Mike's experience: though I have seen one that was an adjunct to a 24-hour office/printing service, and offered a sort of minimal coffee-and-doughnut outlet for those who straggle in at 2 AM, trying to meet a deadline. Regards, Jim

To: ftth who wrote (9192)	11/20/2000 7:04:22 AM
From: MikeM54321	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12823

ftth- easyEverything allowed me a very quick way to get online with a minimal hassle. Just walk in and within 30 seconds you are surfing(most of the 30 seconds is spent on walking to an open terminal). In the past, when I've traveled with my laptop in Europe, it was a MAJOR pain to get online. Most of the times I had to resort to using my acoustic coupler and play games for at least 30 minutes to get a connection that would be dropped within 5 minutes time. Not only the modem connection was a pain, but I had to travel with a case full of plug adapters. I tried this method on two different trips(back when the response to "Internet Cafe?" was "Huh?") and it was so bad, I just gave up. But now with the proliferation of cafes in most of EU(sans France) and Asia, it makes getting online a breeze. The cafe also avoids the local toll hassles of making $8/minute calls out of a lot of the hotels. For whatever reasons, contrast Europe with North America. Getting online is a breeze in Canada or the US. Most hotels have data ports and most hotels do not charge a thing for toll free calls to AOL or other ISPs. As a matter of fact, I've found my dialup connections on North American trips appear to be faster and more stable than dialing up from my home. So most of my US trips, I do elect to take my laptop but leave all the extra dialup equipment at home. The power plugs and phone jacks are standarized so there is no need to lug around extra equipment to get connected. It's for this reason, I still wonder if easyEverything will be as successful in the US as in Europe. If you are a backpacker, which quite a few were in the cafes in Munich and Amsterdam, it would be near impossible to lug around the laptop and equipment it takes to get online. So my guess is the above reasons are mainly why these HUGE cafes are so popular in Europe and will be interesting to see if they are as popular in the USA. They do try to sell you food, but it's not a big part of their push. IMO, they could do much better in this respect. If Starbucks tied in with them, what a great combo this would be. But only from the coffee aspect. Europe beats the US hands down when it comes to food. All types for food. From high end resturants to standup counters. But then again, it takes just five employees to service 300-600 users now. If you made food a big part of the cafe, then this certainly wouldn't be the case anymore. As far as saving files larger than 1.44MB? I don't know the answer to that one. And you can't go into the place with your laptop. I saw no place this type of connection was available in the cafe. I imagine for security reasons, they don't want to connect an outside system directly into their system. But it's only a guess. The screens were 15" LCD flat mounted on the vertical partition in front of user. In my case, it's hard to emphasize how simple they made the process. Like I said, within 30 seconds of entering, you are surfing glitch free. It's quite an achievement from the technology/execution perspective. -MikeM(From Florida)