Month: August 1998

“One of the terrible and great things about SonicNet is we have no walls. What happens if we put up walls?”

SonicNet founder Nicholas Butterworth, expressing his trepidations about moving into honest-to-God real offices, funded by corporate sugar daddy TCI, The New York Times, 17 August 1998

“It’s all about now. Other people say the message is about tomorrow, but the technology is here today. There always is going to be a tomorrow.”

John Slitz Jr., Novell’s senior vice president of corporate marketing, on his company’s plans to roll out products pronto, Marketing Computers, August 1998

“From the standpoint of CitySearch’s IPO, the strategic benefits of the merger are even more compelling than the prospect of pursuing an independent path as a public company.”

CitySearch CEO Charles Conn, on the merger of his company with USA Networks’ interactive division, which spared him an embarrassing Wall Street debut, News.com, 13 August 1998

“Each site is trying to establish a value add, but when they all offer the same feature, it’s no longer a value add.”

Zona Research analyst Ron Rappaport, displaying insight on the Web portals’ mindless race for features — with some value-added new math of his own, ZDNN, 12 August 1998

“It’s not like we’re in an industry where there’s an accepted business model.”

Mary Furlong, CEO of online seniors community Third Age, defending her company’s refusal to follow such tired notions as earning more money than you spend, Fast Company, 11 August 1998