THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, august 28, 1995 TAG: 9508250142
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: The Gateway
SOURCE: BY JAMES SCHULTZ, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines
TIM OREN PICKED sides long before last Thursday, when Windows '95 stormed onto American software shelves. In the struggle between, as Oren puts it, the ``Wizard of Redmond'' - a k a Microsoft chairman Bill Gates - and the ``Forces of Chaos'' - the rest of us - the choice is easy.
Lose the wizard.
``One wants my lunch,'' Oren said. ``The other I can make money on. I know whose side I'm on. It's not Bill's.''
Vice president of future technology for CompuServe, Inc., one of the country's biggest online services, Oren has a vested interest in whether Microsoft will be able to dominate the Internet in the same way the Gates-led firm dominates the software market for computer operating systems.
One of Windows '95 built-in features, the Microsoft Network, is a fledgling gateway to the Net - a near-monopolistic one, assert other commercial Net providers, that will be literally built into about 80 percent of personal computers sold in the near future.
Oren, in Norfolk recently to attend a technology seminar, is betting that chaos, in the form of millions of Net subscribers, will eventually deflect billionaire Gates from imposing Microsoft's version of order on the helter-skelter of the virtual world.
``Microsoft is very stubborn. They won't give up,'' Oren said. ``But the Internet at large is not effectively, in quotes, `packaged.' The pace of Internet evolution will probably exceed the ability of commercial interests to establish standards.''
That includes CompuServe, Oren acknowledges. So he and his colleagues are doing some near-term prognostication about how to make the most of their cyber dollars. Their prescription for success reads more like a life guide handed out by a hometown minister than it does a home page sculpted by plugged-in wireheads.
Trust, friendship, community, enjoyment, self-realization. According to Oren, these are not some mushy, feel-good slogans, but genuine values that providers must somehow incorporate into on-line services.
``The customer wants sustainable value,'' Oren said. ``Why will people do this day after day? You've got to have a unique value to present.''
It's a mistake to believe, Oren asserted, that anyone with Internet access will inevitably make money. First, vast reaches of the Net will remain hostile to would-be profit-takers. Secondly, riding to prosperity on the back of chaos is dangerous.
Build your virtual mall if you must, Oren said, but be sure to know exactly who your customers are and why they're shopping with you.
``Somebody will put up their store and hit a vein,'' he said. ``Many more will get lost in the noise.'' MEMO: More computer columns and stories are available on the Extra page of
Pilot Online; see Page A2 for details. If you have ideas or comments for
The Gateway, contact Tom Boyer at boyer(AT)infi.net or 446-2362.
by CNB