At least they hope it does, because they've invested millions of dollars based on the theory that we Net users are too lazy to actually find what we want to see online. If it catches on, the Net as we know it would never be the same. But because the Net is as we know it, it's far more likely that portals will become the latest in a line of Next Big Things that never were. Portals are giant web sites that provide one-stop shopping for news, entertainment, Net searches, chat rooms and other content. They offer free e-mail accounts, customizable news feeds and local weather forecasts.
Net users visit after logging on.
Yahoo and Excite, which began as Internet directories, expanded into full blown portals last year in hopes of convincing the millions who breezed through their sites to stick around a little longer. Other search engines have followed suit, as have large sites like CNET and Time Warner's Pathfinder. The following week, both Netscape and Microsoft unveiled beta versions of their own portal sites. Microsoft and Netscape are basing their business plans almost entirely on the fact that most people who download their free browsers don't bother to change the default start page. That means every time these people launch their browsers, they're sucked directly to the companies' sites.