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Technology Stocks : Compaq -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: rudedog who wrote (33351)	9/23/1998 5:36:00 PM
From: rupert1	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 97611

Rudedog: Thank's for that perspective on the "morphing" of CPQ into Digital. On another topic, you and others have expressed opinions recently on what CPQ might do with Alta Vista. A tangential development in the UK might be of interest. A large retail chain, namely Comet, comparable to Tandem, announced yesterday that it is providing free access to the internet (in co-operation with two or three other companies). It got wide publicity in the general media (not the business or computing media). Its CEO explained that the purpose is (a) to effectively cut prices on the computers it sold by giving away a service which typically in the UK costs the equivalent of $168 per year (b) to encourage use of the internet which would encourage the use and sale of computers. Costs of this promotion would be underwritten by advertising revenues. Some internet portal companies immediately protested. They point out that it will lead to a corruption of the internet because, in the absence of any payment, there will be no checking of the identity of the users, and users will be allowed to adopt false identities and misuse the internet. (I thought they already did). This sounds a bit like sour grapes. The predominant theme of the ensuing debate is that Comet's move signals the near future. Portal companies will have to offer free access and derive revenues from fees for special services or from advertising. Hardware companies will want to offer free access as part of their package. If this is true, then Compaq policy on Alta Vista seems to be with the trend. Victor