-- Rex Ballard Tux, the Happy Linux Penguin The BSD Daemon

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E-mails from 1994

How the Web Was Won


How did this mess get Started anyway?

In 1992, as part of a course I was taking at Landmark Education Corporation I took on a project to make the Internet available to the general public. After spending 6 months on this project, I realized that I needed to contact major publishers. A short contract with IBM funded my relocation, and then I joined:

Dow Jones

and made the Proposal that Started On-line Publishing on the Internet I started working with over 25 alliance developers to achieve this aim. The most promising was WAIS Inc, Maker of what became the first Web Portal Much of what was required was to overcome the traditional thinking of the publishing community using techniques I'd learned in the Landmark Forum/ Eventually I joined a small mailing list exclusively for publishers which quickly grew from about 40 people to HREF="hist/013.html">1600 brand new Internet Publishers Eventually, it grew to over 8000 subscribers. I still contribute occaisionally. Within 18 months, Dow Jones became one of the premier publishers on the Interne. Soon, 5 senior directors were using my research to create their own Internet projects.

McGraw-Hill

I was eventually approached by a very persistant recruiter who absolutely insisted that I needed to speak to Thom Gerhard of McGraw-Hill's Standard & Poor's unit. Within a few weeks after joining, I proposed The McGraw-Hill Web Strategy. Within a month, Joe Deon, the CEO of McGraw-Hill ordered that all 167 McGraw-Hill companies "get on the internet". Several technology managers for the various business units consulted with me via telephone and e-mail. In addition, nearly all of the managers joined the mailing list to which I had been consistently contributing as a The Phantom of the Internet. I kept a very low profile to avoid adverse publicity for my employer (at the request of my supervisor). Many of the musings of the "Phantom of the Internet" were still contriversial, especially my endorsements of Linux. But I did get some Messages Sent in 1994/
Messages Sent in 1994 - This is a partial collection, starting from when I established my Digex account.
[DIR] Messages Sent in 1995/
Messages Sent in 1995
[DIR] 1996/
Messages Sent in 1996
[DIR] thanks/
Fan Mail for the Phantom

Early Pioneers

  • [DIR] Parent Directory
  • Rex's Home Page
    [TXT]Epubs - Publishing Turned Inside Out
    Some of the earliest online Publications.
    [DIR] urls/
    URLs from the earliest commercial Publishers
    [DIR] web/
    Early notes about Web Browsers
    [DIR] webster/
    Another pioneer web publisher
    [DIR] clips/
    Clippings of Early Internet Coverage
    [DIR] census/
    Tracking the net's early growth

    But is there any PROFIT in the Internet?

    [DIR] economics/
    Economic models for turning the Internet into a business.
    [DIR] ascap/
    An A.S.C.A.P. or B.M.I. model for sharing royalties.
    [DIR] ads/
    Strategies for Advertizing on the Web.
    [DIR] agencies/
    Use of agencies.
    [DIR] New Century Network/
    New Century Network, the first Internet Publisher's Syndicate
    [DIR] newshare/
    Newsshare - another attempt at an ASCAP Royalty sharing model
    [DIR] clickshare/
    A Company that used the ASCAP model
    [DIR] digests/
    Digest of the Online-News mailing list
    [DIR] digicash/
    Early Pioneers of Internet Commerce
    [DIR] ecash/
    Another Pioneer of Internet Commerce

    Who will actually USE the Internet?

    How to reach 1 billion people

    [DIR] formats/
    Why we use public formats instead of proprietary formats.
    [DIR] gender/
    How to make the Internet appealing to Women. How will women use it?
    [DIR] handbook/
    The Internet Handbook
    [DIR] hotflash/
    One of the earliest versions of "PUSH" (via E-Mail), contains earliest press coverage of "The Web"
    [DIR] isdn/
    High Speed access to the internet. Barriers, Costs, Solutions
    [DIR] isps/
    Early independent Internet Services Providers - a startup guide
    [DIR] java/
    A new language for the Internet
    [DIR] kismet/
    Why be content with an olive, when you could have a whole olive grove
    [DIR] lists/
    Some early internet mailing lists
    [DIR] locals/
    Strategies for bringing local newspapers onto the internet
    [DIR] News Room 2000/
    News Room 2000 - What would "News" look like in the 21st century predictions of 1994-5
    [DIR] others/
    Other publishers on the internet
    [DIR] profilers/
    Publish and Subscribe techniques

    Rules of the Road - Internet Standards

    [DIR] publishers/
    Some of the early publishers
    [DIR] servers/
    Strategies for early entry Web Publishers
    [DIR] shareware/
    The role of Public License Software on the Internet
    [DIR] standard/
    Use of Standards on the Internet
    [DIR] stats/
    Early Internet Statistics
    [DIR] subscribers/
    How many people are there on the Internet anyway?
    [DIR] webtv/
    Low Cost Web browsers - what is required?

    The Opposition

    [DIR] Censorship of the Internet/
    This chronicles how congress tried to "shut down" the Internet through censorship laws
    [DIR] msn/
    There's a new kid in town (Microsoft) and he doesn't play by the rules
    [DIR] Microsoft 1/
    Microsoft and the Internet
    [DIR] Microsoft 2/
    More about Microsoft and the Internet

    Archives of the Online-News Publishers Mailing List

    [DIR] oln/
    Verious Online News postings worth noting
    [DIR] oln265/
    A digest of the Online-news group day 265.
    [DIR] oln363/
    A digest of the Online-news group day 363.
    [DIR] oln95/
    Highlights of Online-news for 1995
    [DIR] oln96/
    Highlights of Onlien-news for 1996
    [DIR] olnd/
    Highlights of the Online-news digests
    [DIR] olnews/
    Other highlights of the Online-news mailing list.

    Old Boxes of Unsorted Mail

    [DIR] rballard/
    Rex Ballard's notes
    [DIR] saved/
    Another unsorted junk box
    [DIR] Rex's old mailbox 1/
    This is old clippings from various players
    [DIR] Rex's Old Mailbox 2/
    Another old mailbox
    [   ] tmp1
    Unsorted Junkmail
    [   ] tmp2
    More Junkmail