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Technology Stocks : InfoSpace (INSP): Where GNET went! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: BillCh who wrote (3811)	4/18/1999 7:11:00 PM
From: Josef Svejk	Respond to of 28311

Humbly disagree, Bill, and instead believe that the distinction between "traditional" techs and "net" techs is already starting to take place. Just my humble opinion, of course! Cheers, Svejk proofsheet.com

To: BillCh who wrote (3811)	4/18/1999 11:15:00 PM
From: RTev	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 28311

Eventually investors will see portals as a distinct category of high-tech. I don't really buy the notion that portals are going to be a vital part of the future of the internet. They'll be important, but I suspect they will remain as fragmented as they are today. Certain companies like AOL, the ATHM partners, and TWX and maybe Paul Allen's cable companies might be able to force their users onto a certain opening page, but the technology of the internet will continue to give users options so that they can avoid those pages and look at others. I don't see the value of GNET in its portal -- which looks pretty much like everyone else's and doesn't offer nearly the sophistication of some -- but rather in its value-added content that could exist just as well without the portal page. These pages right here along with the quite different gaming pages and even the shopping stuff (which I'll admit to barely even skimming) seem to be where the value lies. By focusing on these stock-related discussions, GNET has managed to collect something rare on the web -- a huge group of users who are willing to pay for the privilege of using a web resource. Since games can be addictive, PlaySite can attract an equally loyal group of users. I'm not sure what to make of the long-term future of HyperMart, but it at least seems like a better way to build a web community instead of just giving away pages for the "Here is everything you never wanted to know about me..." sites found on GeoCities, AngelFire, and the rest. HyperMart strikes me as a web version of a strip mall, but those things are dreadfully popular in the real world and I suspect they'll remain just as popular (and just as dreadful) on the web. And then there's MetaCrawler. It's a very useful search tool -- one that I've long had bookmarked in my browsers. I'll go to the portal page just to get to the search dialog. So that's part of the genius of Go2Net's management: They find something like MetaCrawler to give great value to something (the portal) that doesn't have much inherent value.