Here are comments from Yogen Dalal, Dave Carlick, Gary Pearce, Jim Louderback, Tom Mandel, Marc Canter, Amy Wohl and Roger McNamee. I am delighted the Internet has taken off and I agree there is a rebellious spirit that is wonderful, refreshing and healthy. I've known the internauts for many years and they are doing what they love. On the Internet people speak in the same way they would in a bar. On other online services they seem to adopt the language of business, which in general tends to be insincere.
Sincerity is most people's natural state, the one in which they feel comfortable.
Ergo they will choose to surf with their peers rather than their business associates. Since I'm at the second annual WWW conference in Chicago, I'm afraid that I can't disagree with you. New services must offer community, some way for their users to identify with each other as more than just an Internet floater. Pipeline understands this very well, and AOL is trying to make a community out of 1mm teenagers. Unfortunately for Bill Gates, users of Microsoft products will probably not be a good enough community for Marvel to be successful.