Sunday, November 16, 1997
Web traffic booming;
so is Apple Store

BY CHARLES BREWER
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Here are some dispatches from the digital frontier, which you probably didn't hear on the evening news:

  • Anyone who's surfed the Net lately won't be surprised by this bit of news. According to a recent survey by Internet Profiles Corp., visitors to Web sites have more than doubled since the beginning of the year.

    The first Nielsen I/PRO Web Index, which measures traffic on ad-supported Web sites, indicates that the sites' traffic grew 100.2 percent from Jan. 1 to Oct. 1, of this year. The company's data also shows that the largest growth is in sites that offer ''general news and information.'' You can read more at the I/PRO site - http://www.ipro.com/news.html

  • Another bit of not-surprising online information: America Online maintains a commanding lead over the competition in the online services business.

    According to marketing analyst Computer Intelligence - http://www.ci.zd.com - AOL has almost 65 percent of the business, while CompuServe (which recently agreed to merge with AOL) and Prodigy each have a little more than 12 percent. Microsoft Network brings up the rear with 10 percent of online subscribers.

    Apple price war brews

    Fans of Apple Computer should be happy that the Apple Store - http://store.Apple.com - is open and reportedly doing a booming business. Apple's latest strategy is to model itself after PC makers Dell Computers and Gateway 2000 and sell computers through the Internet. It appears to be working. Apple is crowing about this bit of success: The company says that in the first 12 hours of operation, the Apple Store had 4.4 million hits and took in $500,000 worth of orders - http://www.apple.com/hotnews

    These computers aren't cheap - a new G3 system ranges in cost from $2,400 to almost $4,000 - and other online retailers such as ClubMac www.club-mac.com are engaging in a price war. ClubMac sells a G3 system for $1,900.

  • Anyone who's had a tussle with a Microsoft Word macro virus will find this interesting: Internet Week quotes a virus expert as saying that macro viruses will continue to increase.

    A macro virus uses the macro functions of Microsoft Office documents to do malicious things to your Office programs. One variation of the Word macro virus puts a phony password on all your Word documents, so you can't open anything you save.

    Rodger Thompson, director of antivirus research at the National Computer Security Association, said there are currently 2,000 different macro viruses ''in the wild.''

    Vegas Geek-a-Thon

  • This is the week of Comdex/Fall, the annual computer trade show that turns Las Vegas into geek heaven. This huge event is when all the latest gadgets are introduced to the media and public - and retailers hungry for gimmicky holiday merchandise.

    According to all the pre-show buzz on the Internet http://www.comdex.com here are some of the new products to be unveiled:

    1. Television sets with built-in Web capability. Sanyo Electric's Internet Television puts the Web browser inside, although you must subscribe to the NetChannel Internet service to surf. And you can't watch TV and surf at the same time.

    2. Real, usable PCs for under $1,000. Several companies will unveil $1,000 PCs that will let you do everything the expensive computers do. And chip maker Cyrix is reportedly readying a PC, based on its new MediaGX chip, that will sell for as little as $500.

    3. New versions of hand-held computers, faster modems and network computer (NC) prototypes.

  • And finally, here's a story that's so funny that you might have read it elsewhere:

    Last week, Microsoft posted its legal response to allegations of monopolistic practices by the U.S. Justice Department. However, only users of Microsoft Explorer could read it!

    Microsoft said that because of a coding error, the posting couldn't be read by users of Microsoft rival Netscape's browser software. Microsoft fixed the error when it learned of the problem. The legal document in question refers to Microsoft's alleged efforts to kill off Netscape's browser software. Oops.

    E-mail Charles Brewer with questions, comments and suggestions at CBrewer@enquirer.com

    BREWER ARCHIVE