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Subject: IP: Final word VB:Analysis - AT&T-TCI Merger Powered by the Net
From: jspira@basex.com
X-Lotus-FromDomain: THE BASEX GROUP
To: "Robert Raisch" <raisch@internautics.com>
cc: "Saul Hansell" <Hansell@NYTimes.Com>, farber@cis.upenn.edu
Date: Thu, 25 Jun 1998 16:58:42 -0400
Subject: Re: FW: VB:Analysis - AT&T-TCI Merger Powered by the Net
No one here read the Times article when we wrote that. I haven't yet read
it, but just clicked on it now from your URL.
It has a familiar ring to it. I agree re your statements re plagirism. I
am not a plagiarist and had I done so would apologize to the author of the
Times piece (publicly).
Our goal was to set up the merger and compare it to previous events and
then study its impacts in our areas of interest (virtual communities,
e-commerce). The beginning follows a very similar refrain (although Mr
Hansell and I seem to disagree whether the Internet should be one word or
two).
It was my first impression when the announcement came over the business
wire that it was deja vue all over again (I get the biz wires as a direct
feed). So that was the note I made and how I started my analysis.
I would even apologize for sounding similar, but the truth is, I didn't
know it until it was pointed out to me by Dave Farber's e-mail to me.
Humblest.
/s/ Jonathan Spira
"Robert Raisch" <raisch@internautics.com> on 25-06-98 16:47:16
To: Jonathan B Spira/The Basex Group
cc: "Saul Hansell" <Hansell@NYTimes.Com>
Subject: FW: VB:Analysis - AT&T-TCI Merger Powered by the
Net
Jonathan,
If I might have had an interest in your service, it was rudely dashed as I
read your "article." Plagiarism is never pretty and a truly awful way of
starting a business.
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/06/biztech/articles/25merger-assess.
h
tml
--
Rob Raisch, Online Technology Evangelist <http://www.raisch.com/>
"He who is unable to live in society, or who has no need because
he is sufficient for himself, must be either a beast or a god."
(Aristotle, 'Politics')
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-ip-sub-1@majordomo.pobox.com
[mailto:owner-ip-sub-1@majordomo.pobox.com] On Behalf Of Dave Farber
Sent: Thursday, June 25, 1998 3:38 PM
To: ip-sub-1@majordomo.pobox.com
Subject: IP: VB:Analysis - AT&T-TCI Merger Powered by the Net
From: jspira@basex.com
[Part of our soon-to-be launched virtual.basex technology advisory service
includes VB:Analyses. We wanted to share one with you now. If you want to
learn more about virtual.basex, please take the Tour at
http://virtual.basex.com]
__________
As Yogi Berra said, "it's deja vu all over again." A
telecommunications giant agrees to acquire the cable company
Tele-Communications Inc. in a bold move that both promises and threatens to
redefine the communications industry. Familiar refrain?
Indeed. It was ca. five years ago that another telecomms company,
Bell Atlantic, announced a merger with the same cable company. At the
time, the merged company promised a concatenation of cable and telephone
that would give the public hundreds of interactive television channels via
a new "information highway". As a wary industry voiced concerns that the
consumer might not even want this type of service, the deal fell through.
So, in one word or less, what's the difference between yesterday's
announcement and the earlier merger? The "Internet."
In today's high-tech climate, the demand for high-speed Internet
access has been proven - and the global reach of the Internet is no longer
speculative. It's no longer a question of a 500-channel vision of the
future, but of the ubiquitous influence of the Net and its impact on
society to date.
Curiously enough, the route that led to the vaunted Information
Superhighway was not the traditional telecomms network, nor was it the
cable network. It was something that, at the time of the 1993
announcement, was in its infancy: the World Wide Web. Instead of a
television set as the driving force, it is an increasingly TV-like PC.
It is possible to obtain information on just about anything on the
Internet today. Search engines are becoming increasingly refined,
especially with the capabilities of XML. Imagine being able to simply type
in the name of a product, and immediately seeing a list of companies and
web sites where it is available. Improved search capabilities mean no more
400 site lists that somehow match your query.
Then imagine Internet access so cheap you can leave your computer
connected 24 hours a day.
Some households already are able to do this: they have cable-enabled
Internet access. Imagine homes equipped with cables that provide telephone,
cable TV, and Internet access. This efficiency could be exactly what is
needed to solve the problem of "the last mile," increasing the bandwidth
available to American homes quickly and at reasonable cost.
The computer would turn into an easy-access research and shopping
device-- a metamorphosis many electronic commerce and web services are
looking for. It would mean close to ubiquitous access for the American
population. The simplicity of having such an enormous information resource
directly at hand would be a boon for over-worked, busy professionals. Not
to mention students, children, and the elderly.
On-line virtual communities, a popular source of information and
entertainment, would gain enormously from the influx of new thoughts and
opinions brought on by increased connectivity. The ability to quickly sit
down to make a comment or ask a question to an on-line group could be
invaluable.
Also, the very convenience of being able to order merchandise on the
Internet would necessarily make on-line shopping popular. Immense levels of
interactivity are possible at this scale: ubiquitous accessibility would
spell more customers and merchants for electronic commerce, and better,
quicker word-of-mouth information sharing in virtual community. The
Interactive Community would truly be born.
With the Information superhighway came the paradoxical result that
people spent more time obtaining information than was necessarily useful to
them. This acquisition of TCI by AT&T could spell a simplified, more
efficient means of culling information than has before been seen, and could
spell much change for the American public.
__________
Jonathan B Spira E-mail jspira@basex.com
The Basex Group, Inc URL http://www.basex.com
15 E 26th Street Tel +1 (212) 725-2600 x113
New York, NY 10010 USA Facsimile +1 (212) 532-5406
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