If you're not interested in yet another e-commerce vendor, delete away. My POP newsgroup just put this up. Looks like CommerceNet has some competition. These folks claim that they're doing something different from secure mosaic. I'm going web diving in DA now, and I'll tell you what I find out. Cheers
Path: sundog.tiac.net!max.tiac.net!cjwoods From: cjwoods@max.tiac.net (Chris Woods) Newsgroups: tiac Subject: Downtown Anywhere Date: 24 Jul 1994 20:27:59 GMT Organization: The Internet Access Company Lines: 139 Message-ID: <30uisf$bir@sundog.tiac.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: max.tiac.net X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2]
This is an interesting tidbit you can check out using your WWW browser (Mosaic, Chimera, Cello, Lynx, etc.). IMHO, this is laid out MUCH better than many of the "popular" Web servers, such as NCSA and GNN. Check it out!
Here's a "Press Release" type of document:
Date: Fri, 22 Jul 1994 00:23:31 -0400 (EDT) From: Sandy Bendremer <sandy@awa.COM> To: cjwoods@tiac.net
Contact: Jonathan Schull For Immediate Release (716) 242-0348
Sanford Bendremer (617) 522-8102
DOWNTOWN ANYWHERE BRINGS ONLINE COMMERCE TO THE INTERNET
Downtown Anywhere Inc. announced its World Wide Web-based online environment known as "Downtown Anywhere(sm)." Laid out like a thriving metropolis, Downtown Anywhere's Museums, Libraries, and Newsstands provide free and friendly access to global Internet resources, while its Main Street allows visitors to browse goods and innovative services that can be purchased with a few keystrokes. Downtown Anywhere boasts the first real-time consumer-oriented credit card processing on the Internet, and its innovative Personal Payment system eliminates the need for transmitting sensitive credit card numbers over the Internet.
The Downtown Anywhere economy integrates the technologies of its parent companies. AnyWare Associates' telecommunications technologies, coupled with SoftLock Services' proprietary telephone-based purchasing systems and patent-pending password technologies, provide the unique capability to offer true electronic commerce on the Internet. In minutes, anyone with a credit card and a touch-tone telephone can acquire a Personal Payment Password(sm) that can be used easily for online purchases in Downtown Anywhere, and at other participating sites. In seconds, information about online purchases of physical goods or services is transmitted automatically by electronic mail or fax to the merchants offering those products. And, if the product is a SoftLock-secured document or program, the purchase can be fulfilled instantly with the online delivery of a SoftLock Password, which unlocks the product on the user's system.
According to company co-founder Jonathan Schull, "We have tried to eliminate the technical and financial barriers that have tended to leave would-be merchants and consumers hitch-hiking beside the information superhighway. Visitors will find themselves in a comfortingly familiar environment that is interesting and diverse."
Sanford Bendremer, co-founder of Downtown Anywhere, said, "We've already seen tremendous interest from small and large organizations, that will be joining us in Downtown Anywhere. Advertisers and merchants are looking at the dramatic size and growth of the Internet, and they are seeing this media as a powerful tool to reach customers."
Bendremer added that setting up shop in Downtown Anywhere can be inexpensive because the company has a stake in the success of its clients. "We will certainly rent advertising space and prime virtual real estate to those who want to pay for it, but since we provide the transaction processing and communication services that can make virtual businesses succeed, we will accept commissions in lieu of up-front payments. We are also committed to offering inexpensive accommodations to people and organizations that can help us increase the richness and value of our environment."
The following are among the early attractions in Downtown Anywhere:
o Digital Data Express: Complete Internet Training Kit o Environmentally Sound Products Inc. o The National Association for the Self-Employed o The Convention Center: Site of the ComOnLine consumer trade shows o W.W. Norton & Company Inc.: Sponsors of the Psychology Lab at Anywhere University o Kroch's and Brentano's Bookstore, with over 80,000 books o Reiter's Scientific and Professional Books o Waypoint Technologies Inc.: Astrophysics and education o Chapter One Books: A truly virtual bookstore o Digital Print Services o The Virtual Newsroom: A special exhibit by the San Francisco Examiner and Radius Inc. o Webster's Weekly: The web's first weekly magazine of news and views o John Zakour's The Doomsday Brunette o Stories of the Virtual City: A collaborative hypertext novel, set in Downtown Anywhere o Tom Jackson's Pro Football Update o Corinth Video o Jacobs Publishing Limited o Education Research Laboratories Inc.: Knowledge-engineered electronic references o Lighthouse Press and the Interactive Yellow Pages o Nomad Press and Colin Haynes, author of McGraw-Hill's forthcoming Paperless Publishing o The Electronic Publishing Association o Technical Learning Resources o Association for Library Information Management o ElectricSpace Co.: Sound for cyberspace o Marrakesh Express: Moroccan rugs, pillows, and edification o The Downtown Anywhere Souvenir Shop
SoftLock Services Inc. and AnyWare Associates Inc. are the parent companies of Downtown Anywhere Inc.
SoftLock Services provides Tools and Services for electronic publishing, software marketing, and digital commerce. AnyWare Associates provides telecommunications services, including FAXiNET(sm), a service that enables Internet electronic mail users to send and receive fax messages.
Downtown Anywhere can be accessed at http://www.awa.com/ on the World Wide Web using a browser such as Mosaic, Lynx, or Cello. The World Wide Web is an Internet-based global hypertext network that is being widely acclaimed for its versatility and ease of use.
For more information about Downtown Anywhere and how to access the service, send E-mail to Downtown@awa.com, or contact Downtown Anywhere Inc. at 32 Woodland Road, Boston, MA 02130-3018, TEL: 716-242-0348, FAX: 617-522-5734.
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HAVE FUN ON THE WEB!
-- Chris Woods TIAC Support cjwoods@tiac.net support@tiac.net The Internet Access Company 7 Railroad Ave. Bedford, MA 01730 USA Affordable Unix Shell, SLIP, PPP, Dedicated, Leased 56 kbps for Metro Boston email info@tiac.net for details!
-- Robert Hettinga (rah@shipwright.com) "There is no difference between Shipwright Development Corporation someone who eats too little 44 Farquhar Street and sees Heaven and someone Boston, MA 02331 USA who drinks too much and sees (617) 323-7923 snakes." -- Bertrand Russell