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

To: 24601 who wrote (4867)	12/29/1998 6:49:00 AM
From: Marty Lee	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 11417

Thanx 24601. Thanx for showing up my ignorance! <vbg> I was just about to send Russ a slew full of stupid questions just to keep him busy. Dear Russ, Thanx for your response and for adding me to your "informal" distribution list. Question, Questions? Excuse my profound ignorance. Here we go: What's the sense of MilliCent? Why dissociate small transactions from larger ones as a mediator of digital data? Couldn't Compaq be putting together a system that would meter and distribute for sale all digital content? When will MilliCent be ready for Market and who's the initial target? How does Compaq intend to market and make common the MilliCent system? When will people at home be able to access MilliCent and what will it provide for content? As a revenue generating machine, what revenue do you foresee MilliCent adding to COMPAQ's bottom line in the near future and down the pipe? Who's currently signed up to provide content? Who are the "brokers" of the "e-cash?" Will MilliCent be used by distribution channels like Cable and Satellite Broadcast as they meld with the Net? What examples have you of how people will use MilliCent from their homes, office, cars, boats, and, of course, the golf course? Will MilliCent be compatible with Smart Cards? How will MilliCent transactions be consolidated with all the transactions we might make otherwise and put in a ledger that can be viewed off-line? Will smart cards and smart metering microprocessors on PC's recognize MilliCent "coupons?" Will MilliCent handle transactions larger than 5 dollars? If so, how much larger? How will individuals publish and encrypt digital content for sale anywhere on the Net using MilliCent? Do people have to purchase a license from Compaq to use MilliCent to publish their own digitally recorded literature, art, camera recorded files, movies, and music? Or, do they wait on their local ISP to purchase the rights to use MilliCent first and then pay their ISP a fee for setting up everything and providing them a server from which to distribute their content? What are people to do if they want to buy or sell software and digital content worth more than 5 bucks? Let's say they want to purchase the whole enchilada. After taking the product out for a free trial run or trying it out on a limited, or metered time trial bases, its total cost is $150 - what then? How many pricing options does MilliCent provide? And, for how wide a range of transactions? If, in the near future, we can use smart cards without necessarily connecting to the internet and assuming all our other digital devices have smart chips that allow us to do the same for all transactions, very large and very small, why use a system as apparently limited as MilliCent? Somebody has to have a BETTER IDEA! Have you heard of any, lately? As you can see, I'm interested in both the benefits and limitations of the MilliCent System. Sincerely, Marty