George Mindling Column 7-23-2000 - Dot.coms suffer downturns

Dot.coms suffer downturns

In the realm of Internet business processes, there are two basic styles of companies using the Internet. The standard, established business that earns its income traditionally through direct or representative sales is called a "Brick and Mortar" type firm, while the new firms relying on electronic media for customer transactions are called E-com­merce firms.

The e-commerce firms, or “dot.coms," may sell services or goods, but they do it all electronically, from the marketing to the collection of funds.

While the brick and mortar companies have found it is a business necessity to be on the Web for advertising, sales and communications, it is estimated that 80% of the "dot.coms" will suffer financial downturns, according to Tony Tamer, H.I.G. Capital in Miami. That is a phenomenal failure prediction, especially considering the capital and marketing resources poured into the e-commerce startup businesses.

My wife tracked our daughter's recent airline trip to Hawaii on the Internet. The miles remaining and the flight time were updated every few minutes. An amazing feature simply not possible with any other medium. So why then are so many of the "dot.coms" floundering? There are many schools of thought, and if you find the one to save the high dollar investments in the startup companies, you will be a millionaire, without Regis. The reasons are complicated and as varied as the “dot.com” businesses themselves.

Multi-millions of dollars are spent on TV commercials showing products or services that must be accessed through Web site addresses that no one remembers two hours later, much less the next day. Not many people keep a note pad taped to the TV remote to jot down Web addresses, although that may be a good use for those obsolete suction cup windshield and dashboard note pads that were the fad several years back. These are sites marketed to the average television viewer, who hopefully has access to the Internet, in the hopes that they will remember where to look on the Internet when they decide to buy.

We recently tried "on-line-grocery-shopping. com." No, that's not the real name, but I'm sure you've heard of them after the radio and television ad blitz. After first ordering their card, which came through the mail, we sat at our PC accessing their Web site for over an hour. It was not an easy process and we soon got frustrated after realizing we weren't getting anywhere and we certainly were not buying what we wanted. We have been back to the site several times, but still haven't purchased anything. Perhaps others have had better success. We'll see this time next year.

I now have my own theory. Any company that relies on local telephone access with people like me at the keyboard and service to create enough cash flow to insure commercial success, is on the wrong planet. Unless, of course, it is the phone company itself. I often wonder as I watch the squirrels hopping along my telephone line if they are going faster than my data.

Marshall McLuhan said "The Medium is the Message." The dot.com people don't understand the medium.

George Mindling © 2000

George Mindling Column 6-16-2000 - On Line All the Time

On Line All the Time

While not everyone in Charlotte County is waiting for the new, high speed Internet access methods to arrive, many small businesses and offices are. One reason the new digital subscriber lines (DSLs) and cable modems are in high regard with small businesses beside speed is they are "always on." A business, a home office, or even your kids can have a 2417 Web site without the expense of dedicated, leased high-speed trunk access. It won't be a "dot.com" type of operation, but it will be online all the time.

Any personal computer running Windows 98 can be a server by using the Personal Web Server program which is included, but not automati­cally instal1ed, on every Windows 98 CD/ROM. There are even free server programs, such as Apache, and the Back Office or other NT packages from Microsoft, for a fee.

There are pitfalls, such as the lack of "firewalls," which must be addressed if a PC is to be used in this manner. If you don't take security precautions, your PC will be guaranteed a visit from the dark side of the Web. You will be the target of someone you don't want on your hard drives if you don't take precautions. That is a given.

While being "on the air" with your Web site is a new realm for most small businesses, it can be a valuable sales or operating tool. One 24/7 method is called DSL. Digital Subscriber Lines, DSL, is a whole family of digital access methods that can use your already installed telephone lines. Sprint DSL is already available in certain parts of Punta Gorda.

Sprint's FastConnect service will come in one of two offerings: first is 512Kbps/128Kbps for $52.99, or the second at 1.5Mbps/384Kbps for $109.99. The first number is the download speed and the second number is the upload speed. It is an asymmetrical service, unequal transmit and receive speeds, hence the acronym ADSL. Also available in the future in Charlotte County will be Earthlink's DSL, which is a partnership with Sprint. As with Sprint, there is a $200 dollar charge for the attaching equipment and a one-time installation fee of $130.00. Go to

http://csb.sprint.com/servet/DslRouter/dsl_launch?State=Florida to see if your telephone can handle DSL.

If it's not listed, call 1-877-6GO-DATA, press 2, then 1, ask to have your line measured for DSL (Sprint).

If you plan on using the telephone on the same number as the DSL service, a filter must also be installed for the telephone. The recent weekend business supplement in the Miami paper had no less than four competitive ads for DSL service from different vendors, an offering competitive sign up packages and rates.

However, I live in what we call ''Westport,'' between Murdock and North Port. We won't get any DSL for at least six more months. Keep the tin cans and wax strings taught, folks, they're not here yet.

George Mindling © 2000

George Mindling Column 5-19-2000 - Getting to the Internet

Getting to the Internet

There are many different access plans and methods to connect a Personal Computer to the Internet. The services are provided by Internet Service Providers, ISPs, and vary widely in price and function.

The most common service is "POTS," or plain old telephone service, although satellite and cable modems are on the horizon. The horizon is Tampa, Orlando and Miami, where services, such as the Road Runner cable modem, are in full swing.

Charlotte County may be allowed to join the high speed revolution as the trunks and backbones are extended down Florida's southwest coast. Even "POTS" may have a breath of life as Digital Subscriber Lines are to be activated in the future. One of my Bell South friends in Miami has been using DSL at his home for several months now. He has become addicted to high speed access. He is a music lover, downloading the new MP3 format quickly and without errors. To those loading big files, DSL is a major breakthrough in speed, even though the cost is over twice the rate for normal ISP service.

To the advertising and print media, the high speed transmissions mean huge, formerly cumbersome graphics files, such as photographs, now take only a matter of seconds or minutes instead of hours to send or receive.

But we are in Charlotte County, where I'm asked on a regular basis, "How can I get on AOL from Punta Gorda without paying long distance access charges?" Many AOL members in Punta Gorda complain about lack of access. There is a way to use your AOL account, and it is cheaper than long distance calling to an AOL access number. AOL calls it "bring your own access."

Even though the E-mail address I use for my column is "georgecsm@aol.com," my Internet Service Provider (ISP) is not AOL. My ISP is a service by an organization I was formerly involved with at $15.95 a month, a reduced rate from their normal $19.95 package. I piggyback my AOL service as a "bring your own access" customer at a reduced AOL price of $9.95 a month. I use TCP/IP to connect to AOL.

There are several ISPs in the Punta Gorda area where the local access call is toll-free. The soon-to-be released AOL 6.0 promises to make AOL mail look and act like everyone else. AOL, by the way, is a "proxy" server, and having your mail waiting for you, no matter how many unread messages are waiting when you log on, is kind of nice.

The Internet has come a long way in just a few short years. I was an original Prodigy subscriber in the 1980s and had to buy an Enhanced Graphics Display and adapter and a 300 baud modem for my PC/XT.

As Dean Martin used to say, "keep those cards and letters coming in, friends!"

George Mindling © 2000

George Mindling Column 4-21-2000 - Another Season

Another Season Approaches

There is another silly season on the way and I'm not talking about NASCAR or any other sports season.  The season of ''board it up" and "take it down again" will start as soon as Alberto - the first named storm of the season - appears on the evening news. Come June 1, which is only five weeks away, everyone in southwest Florida will tum their attention to the official hurricane season.

According to Dr. William M. Gray at the Department of Atmospheric Science, Colorado State University, we're set to have yet another above average activity is anticipated though less active than the recent The extended range forecast is at http://typhoon.atmos.colostate.ed/forecasts/2000/fcst2000.

The probability of a major storm (Category 3, 4 or 5) hitting the Florida peninsula in the year 2000 is 45 percent, up from the century average of 31%. Only a hard core gambler would laugh at those odds. Smart business people will hedge their bets and start making plans now.

You can start by attending the Hurricane Expo on May 6 at the Port Charlotte Town Center and the Hurricane Caravan on May 18. The expo will start at 10 am. and run until 2 pm. The caravan, presented by the Charlotte County Emergency Management and Disaster Preparedness Office, will begin at the Port Charlotte Cultural Center at 9 am., move to Lemon Bay High School and then to the Memorial Auditorium later in the day. We'll have a firm schedule soon, but contact the Emergency Management office at 743-1270 for exact details.

These planning sessions will increase everyone's education about the storms and their aftermath. Individual, family and business planning are important to do before the season is upon us.

Check your insurance policies, not only replacement and damage costs but or the loss of income while out of service. Business continuity planning is as important to the survival of a company surviving the storm itself. Make sure any reciprocal services or location usage agreements are still in place.

If your plan is in place, now is the perfect time to purchase those items on the disaster preparedness budget. Don't wait until the last minute to buy the storm shutters or the backup generator. Bottled water and other canned food may wait, but not too much longer. Decide now what is needed, not when the shelves are empty.

A friend of mine claims he will no longer secure his boat for future storm warnings because he is tired of going though all the preparations, and then nothing happens. Rather than being thankful we didn't get clobbered, he is upset with the time and effort he assumes is for nothing.

Unfortunately, many small businesses seem to have the same attitude. Businesses must contend with the summer doldrums, vacations and, of course the unwanted disruptions of the annual storms. Of all the things that need to be done, gambling on the weather is not one of them.

The work and cost involved may seem needless, but it is absolutely necessary should a storm turn our way. You can check the National Weather Service Hurricane 2000 Home Page at: (http://www.srh.noaa.gov/tlh/tropical/) for up to the minute information and maps.

George Mindling © 2000

George Mindling Column 3-17-2000 - Traffic Jam on the 'Net

Traffic Jam on the 'Net

Everyone in Port Charlotte knows when the snowbirds are in town. The number of cars and vans on Tamiami Trail skyrockets. Traffic moves slower, delays are longer, and collisions are much more frequent. However, I can tell when the season is in full swing without driving anywhere. I simply try to sign onto the Internet.

Unless I sign on my Internet Service Provider, or ISP, early in the day, I get a busy signal most of the time. I can count on slower line speeds and more "knockoffs" when I finally do access the Internet. What is happening? More traffic.

The snowbirds are bringing their PCs with them. What used to be a 10- minute long distance call to the kids is now an hour and a half of surfing the net and checking e-mail. How about the year round residents? Yes, they too have found the Internet. With the arrival in the last year or so of Office Depot and now Circuit City, to compete with the established Staples, the average walk in consumer has a myriad of selections and prices of PCs from which to choose.

There have always been many good, smaller PC computer shops and offices around, but they simply don't have the marketing clout of the big name retailers. The large retailers have been offering "almost free" (read the fine print) name brand PCs with I three-year obligations to a specific ISP. They have been selling like hot cakes.

As a result, the local concentrator sites for ISP access to the Internet are swamped. The telephone line that starts inside your house ends up in the local switching offices. When you pick up the receiver, you complete a basic circuit back to the office that says your telephone just went off hook, and you want to connect to somebody. The system connects your line to a dialing facility and gives you back a basic response that says "dial tone:' You are now ready to input the routing information by dialing the number. So far so good. If that number you dialed isn't already connected, then you get to connect to that port, and the phone you are calling rings. Of course. what really happens is far more technical than all that, and it all happens in microseconds.

Unfortunately, there are only so many lines and numbers. When there are more requests for connections than there are facilities, the infamous fast busy signal is returned to your telephone. Wait a few moments and try again. Hopefully, someone will hang up and you can get in.

The snowbirds certainly aren't going to stop corning. After all, we spend huge sums of money to make sure they return year after year. The problem seems to be the conviction that the area isn't going to grow enough to sustain the expansion of facilities during the off season. There are alternatives to the telephone access to the Internet, such as cable modems and even special satellite dishes. which unfortunately still require a telephone connection. For the average consumer, POTS (plain 1 old telephone service) is the only workable solution. If the roads aren't upgraded, the traffic jams will get worse.

The same with your telephone. Our area is definitely growing and expanding. More and more of our seasonal visitors are here year-round. They are harder to spot because they just change license plates.

George Mindling © 2000

George Mindling Column 2-17-2000 - Web sites for Small Businesses

Web sites for Small Businesses

The recent Super Bowl commercials hammered home the importance of Internet home pages and online enterprise services. Even those who don't own PCs commented on the overwhelming "dot com" commercials, especially the E- Trade commercial that said "We just spent two million dollars, how do you want to spend your money?"

So, you don't have two million dollars to spend on TV commercials to get someone to look at your Web Site? You don't even have a Web Site? No problem. Having your own Web Site is easier today than ever. And cheaper, too.

First, decide why you want a Web site. Is it just to have a place for Web advertising, or are you looking to connect online ordering and inventory to your back office functions? If your Web site is just advertising, there is free Web site space available from many Internet Service Providers (ISP). You don't get to use your own name, however, as you co-reside on someone else's address. You get to add your identifying "address" as a series of slashes (/) behind an existing address.

Beyond the free Web sites, there are basically two charges for a small Internet Web site. One is for the rental space on a hard drive on a PC server directly connected to the Internet. If you want your own server to be connected, prepare to pay for a high speed, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (24/7) data link. The service is not cheap. That disk you rent is usually 20 or 30 Megabytes in size and comes with basic services, such as e-mail links and basic file maintenance. This site has nothing to do with your ISP link to the Internet.

The second charge is paid by everyone who has a presence on the Internet: $70 for the first two years, then $35.00 annually thereafter. That charge is for the name of your site, called the domain name, and it is paid to Network Solutions, Inc. To find out if the name you want to use is available for registration, check their site at: http://www.networksolutions.com

The ". com" sites are the most sought after, but anyone can have an ".org" or even a ".net" type page. The ".gov" and ".edu" sites -are obviously reserved for those types of organizations. When you reserve a domain name, you must tell Network Solutions where to assign it. Every server has an Internet address all its own, adding your domain name is like adding the name on a building directory. The service you rented the PC space from will be more than happy to assist you in getting on their server.

Now you have to decide what to put out there and how much to spend. Site design can be a simple, self-written page, or a complicated, multi-layered, multimedia extravaganza.

If you start now, you might be ready for next year's Super Bowl.

George Mindling © 2000

George Mindling Column 1-21-2000 - Networking For Small Businesses

Networking For Small Businesses

With the advent of Windows 95, networking for five or fewer computers became inexpensive and relatively simple. Sharing printers and files without expensive network operating software or a dedicated server PC became a favorite among many small businesses and home offices. With the release of Windows 98, Second Edition. networked PCs may also access the Internet through a single modem using a single ISP log on.

What is all this talk about networking? There are basically two types of networks systems that allow computers to talk to each other. The first is called a "Client/Server" system, which is the evolution of mainframe, real-time communications. This network requires a dedicated computer to be a "server," which can be a PC or a mainframe. The end users, usually desktop PCs, are the "clients." The clients usually have minimal software installed, as all the data collection and processing takes place at the server level of the network. If the server is down, so is the network.

Some client/server networks are small, such as the Novell networks found in most law offices. In the corporate world, the network is often huge, requiring a full-time staff to implement and maintain. 
 

The other type of network is the one included in Windows 95 and 98. It is called "Peer to Peer" networking, in which no dedicated server is needed. Lantastic, created by Artisoft, pioneered the Peer to Peer implementation of networking, but Windows 95/98 eliminated the need for a separate network operating system.  Each computer can be authorized to "share" certain resources, such as the hard drive or any attached printer. This is a really efficient way for several PCs to access a color printer or a data file.

Networking for small businesses is flourishing as new technologies allow PCs to be networked with a minimum of training and effort. New USB (Universal Serial Bus) interfaces allow .you to attach a PC to an Ethernet network without the hassle of removing the computer's plastic cover. With just two PCs, a "crossover" cable is used to connect the machines instead of a hub. The USB connectors are found on most new PCs. but if you have older units with the USB ports, networking is still fairly easy and inexpensive.

There are "starter" kits available at most office supply and computer stores that supply the traditional Network Interface Cards (NICs) and a small Ethernet hub, along with attaching cables. These kits usually are priced under $90.00 and include any software drivers that may not be included in the Windows operating system. The cards are available in both PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) and ISA (Industry Standard Architecture) format. Just make sure your PCs have the required open slots to add the cards.

While the equipment is locally available and reasonably priced. the set up can be beyond the scope of the casual PC user. If you don't know how to modify your Windows settings or how to download drivers, you should leave the installation and setup to someone who does.

If you are comfortable with configuring and modifying your PCs, then happy networking.

George Mindling © 2000