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Technology Stocks : COMS & the Ghost of USRX w/ other STUFF -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Moonray who wrote (11861)	1/21/1998 7:19:00 PM
From: Glenn D. Rudolph	Respond to of 22053

Local Website Triggers Internet Stampede, Reports World Wide Net PR Newswire - January 21, 1998 17:29 MSFT %MLM V%PRN P%PRN When New Media & Old Media Collide LIVONIA, Mich., Jan. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Bill Becker knows how to draw a crowd. When he put his collection of early photographs on display at Oakland University's Meadow Brook Art Gallery it drew the largest attendance of any exhibit there, ever. And a play Becker wrote about Civil War photographer Mathew Brady required overflow seating during a run at the Smithsonian Institution in November. But even he wasn't prepared for what's going to happen over the next few days: "I received a message from someone at Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT), asking permission to put up a link to my website -- which is all about the first 75 years of photography. I thought, 'no problem,' but then I read on ... and saw they were politely warning me that the result could be up to 100,000 hits a day." Worried about triggering a massive computer crash, Becker sought help from World Wide Net, Inc., headquartered in Livonia, Michigan, which connects him to the Internet for about $15 a month -- and hosts his website. Hugo Jimenez, Sales Manager at World Wide Net, jumped into action. "Bill's contact at Microsoft said that some Internet providers simply wouldn't let their customers participate because they could not handle this amount of traffic. But we thought it was a great chance to show what we could do. We put Bill's site on a new server, attached to our largest and fastest connection to the Internet, and now we're ready for a stampede." Jimenez says his company considers Becker's website, "Photography's Beginnings," a cultural project that's worth supporting. "We were delighted to participate in a local cultural project with Bill, especially when a corporate giant like Microsoft had noticed," he says, "and the web site is fun to look at, it has great pictures by famous early photographers, a photograph of Lincoln's funeral ... oh ... and don't forget the dog wearing the necktie and top-hat." For his part, Bill Becker is already betting his future is on the Internet. He's spent the past 21 years working at Detroit television stations and won four Emmy awards. He recently formed a company called Becker Media Group to develop website content as well as video production and other corporate projects. "I suspected something was up last year when I did a search of the Internet and found that somebody had put a link to my site on their home page -- in Iceland. Then an actor from New Zealand spotted my play on the web and e-mailed me about performing it in his country. Now all I can say is ... with a good website ... if you build it, they will come." Becker Media Group can be reached by email at wmb@wwnet.net The "Photography's Beginnings" website is located at: wmb.wwnet.net. World Wide Net can be reached at 313-513-7707 or on the web at wwnet.net. The review of "Photography's Beginnings" can be found at microsoft.com. SOURCE World Wide Net, Inc. /CONTACT: Bill Becker of Becker Media Group, 248-543-7777; or Hugo Jimenez of World Wide Net, 313-513-7707/ /Web site: wmb.wwnet.net; wwnet.net; microsoft.com (MSFT)