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Technology Stocks : Activeworlds.com (AWLD) #1 internet chat site to go public -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Reverseman who wrote (137)	2/8/1999 1:54:00 PM
From: Greg S.	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 228

I just spent an hour on ActiveWorlds and @mart (using the free download), and here's my assessment. First of all let me just say that it was a seamless installation. Granted I'm on a fast connection, but it was no more than 45 seconds between double-clicking on the install icon and zooming around @Mart for the first time. I wandered around for a while and got a feel for the place. Kind of cheesy - you need to be someone with time to kill to really enjoy this place. But at the same time, if you're a big fan of chat rooms, you might love it. Because that's what it is - a glorified chat room with the potential for a lot more. While I was there I made it a point to try and find an Amazon rep, but there was none to be found. But I did speak with a fellow who claimed to be the owner of Mule Dog records - he was standing outside his shop. I asked him how he got the store and if he saw significant sales from the online mall, and what he thought of the place. He said he had no complaints with the place and was a citizen of AW for 2 years. Since the mall has only been open for a week or so he really doesn't know if he's seen a sales increase because of it. His answers to my questions were reasonable enough for me to conclude that he was truly who he said he was. I didn't see anything or anyone suspicious while I was there. I checked out the other "worlds" too - they were new to me, but nothing I personally would subscribe to. Even so, they have their appeal. I intend to go back and pursue the Amazon issue, because it still raises questions in my mind. The program itself can definitely use a LOT of tweaking. The programmers could use to research UIs for vast multi-user environments and learn lessons from such games as Ultima Online. It would be nice to be able to change the view, to bookmark places to teleport, etc. Maybe all this is possible with the commercial version, I don't know. More to come on this sage, but for now AW looks genuine. Even so, I'd encourage you all to do more research in this vein as I have, because it can only help us to become wiser investors with regards to this company (and future companies along these lines, of which we are likely to see many down the road!) -G

To: Reverseman who wrote (137)	2/8/1999 2:21:00 PM
From: newtrade_dev	Respond to of 228

why this one is not moving at all? Is any real news coming? Like signing some contract with the big stores? What's their direction of next step? I am sure the software is good and has great potential, but how many online stores see this or are going to see this? Thanks for any info. Wei

To: Reverseman who wrote (137)	2/9/1999 10:04:00 PM
From: Cy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 228

E-Commerce Times backs off its article on AWLD: Today the E-Commerce Times published a revised version of its article featuring Activeworlds.com entitled "A Glimpse into the Future of E-Commerce" By James Hollander. ecommercetimes.com The revised article contains a note pointing out the discrepancy between the 300,000 registered users claimed by Activeworlds and the 14,000 - 16,000 actual paid users. It also completely eliminates any mention of major companies such as Amazon.com and CDNow as either cooperating or having adopted the Activeworlds technology. The article also contains a note referring readers to its corrections page for information received after publishing of the article. This page states: Begin Quote ----------------------------------------------- Feb-4-99 In our story titled "A Glimpse Into the Future of E-Commerce," we erroneously reported that large online retailers like Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com and Beyond.com had opened shop on ActiveWorlds. In fact, the stores were built by ActiveWorlds.com as "affiliate" sites of the mentioned online retailers (although the stores appear to be owned and operated by whichever name appears on their marquee). The E-Commerce Times contacted Rick Noll, ActiveWorld's CEO before publishing the article and asked for his review and input regarding any possible inaccuracies that may have crept in inadvertently. Mr. Noll declined to point out any inaccuracies, while another spokesman for the company, who was cc'd on our request, pointed out a slight typo of @Mall instead of @Mart, and indicated that the rest was, indeed, accurate. There also seems to be a major discrepancy between the number of registered users reported by ActiveWorlds in their original press release, and the feedback we have received from our readership. The company claims 300,000, while others point to a figure of 14,000-16,000 active users. The discrepancy is currently noted in the story. End Quote ----------------------------------------------