Taking in the Sites

I've been scanning the Net for interesting freebies. Here's a couple you might be interested in downloading.

Let's start with Frontier Technologies. It offers a free trial version of its SuperWeb Server client that includes WebDesigner. You can "easily" (nothing is easy!) create World Wide Web home pages without using HTML. Go to Frontier Technologies' site to download the software and tutorial.

The SuperWeb Server runs on Windows NT. The demo will expire 30 days after installation. After that, the guys at Frontier hope you'll pay them $795 for the real version.

Then there's Micrografx, which offers QuickSilver, a Netscape plug-in that allows users to interact with graphics on a Web page. Expected to be fully functional by June, the software will run on Netscape 2.0 and Explorer 3.0 when it ships. Get the beta at the QuickSilver site.

As many CompuServe users know, I'm associated with a small group of developers specializing in off-line reader technology. Anyone addicted to newsgroups may want to see what we're doing to make life easier. The product is called OUI and you can beta-test it soon.

Yahoo! Goes for the Gold Dept.: The site is called Yahooligans!, which Yahoo! says is the first guide to the World Wide Web designed specifically for kids. The guide keeps kids on an appropriate track and is unlikely to get them lost or in trouble. Look for similar services from CompuServe and Disney in the months to come. And look for sweepstakes and a slew of promotions for the Yahooligans! site.

Everyone is Trying to Get into the Act Dept.: General Magic wants to be associated with the Net in any way it can. It recently demonstrated new applications for Internet access (including access to the World Wide Web), corporate LAN connectivity, and specific vertical markets. This included Web and Internet e-mail applications from Active Paper that give users of Magic Cap communicators compact, mobile Internet and intranet access. Also, General Magic is promoting corporate connectivity software for high-speed wireless access to corporate LANs using a Magic Cap communicator and a Xircom wireless Ethernet PC card. Then there's the Mobile MLS (multiple listings service) from Mobile Products, which provides intelligent, portable access to property listings from the MLS for real-estate agents. And, finally, Magic Broker lets users perform stock trades, get execution reports, obtain real-time stock quotations, and receive automatic updates on portfolios from the PC Financial Network. For more information look at General Magic's World Wide Web site.

Weird Survey Surfaces. Dataquest released a survey saying consumer interest in PCs is waning, and the much ballyhooed home PC market is about to drop dead. I was never convinced that there was a discrete home PC market. I suspect this particular study was designed as a way to weasel out of any previous assertions concerning this nonmarket.

Listen to these numbers that make no sense. Dataquest surveyed 10,000 households and concluded the following: Growth of PC sales in the U.S. consumer market was 42 percent in 1994 and 22 percent in 1995. Growth will ease up-to an estimated 7.6 percent-this year and fall to less than 1 percent in 1997.

Considering that everyone I knew jumped on the bandwagon in late 1994 regarding this "hot new emerging market!," I think it's time they all dug up those older reports--which obviously didn't show 1 percent growth in 1997--and sued someone. The fact is, the home PC market doesn't exist except as an extension of the business market (although the machines at home do get used by the family). These are multipurpose machines-a notion that seems to be ignored all too often.

Dataquest also concluded that though 29 percent of the surveyed homes had at least one PC at the end of 1995, this number will reach only 38 percent by the year 2000. Sheesh, now they are underpredicting. The World Wide Web alone will force this number much higher. You watch.

One interesting assumption is made in the report. In households with $60,000 incomes, computers have a 65-percent penetration rate. The authors believe this is the saturation point. The true saturation point is at 100 percent. It will be impossible to maintain a reasonable income in the next few years unless you have a PC. If you examine a recent survey of more than 3,200 visitors to the travelling Smithsonian exhibition in Los Angeles, you'll find that more than 60 percent of the people under 25 believe that the computer will be the most important device in their lives by the year 2000--far ahead of other technologies such as the automobile, television and telephone. These are strong convictions, they tell me that the trend of penetration of PCs into the home will continue toward 100 percent.

Copyright (c) 1996 Ziff-Davis Publishing Company