Month: October 1998

“When you are surrounded you have the advantage of being able to attack in any direction.”

Scion of a failed Confederate general and CEO of Netscape Communications Jim Barksdale, on his tactical plan to build browser market share, create a compelling consumer site, and grow his enterprise software business all at once, News.com, 8 October 1998

“It is known that the two top activities on the Internet are sex and finance, [but] we’re not looking for a way to combine the two.”

Gideon Sasson, president of Charles Schwab’s online brokerage, on opportunities his unit has passed up, San Jose Mercury News, 4 October 1998

“No one really believed, when we kicked this off, that there was a way to preserve the original spirit of the Web.”

Lycos CEO Bob Davis, in a conference call on his company’s $83 million-and-change acquisition of Wired Digital, ZDNN, 6 October 1998

“Netly has to make more money. For a long time it’s been playing to a niche-y, insider-y new media audience that we desperately love, and demographically belong to ourselves.”

Lev Grossman, erstwhile producer of the now-defunct Netly News, an ill-fated attempt at originality by Time Warner, Salon Magazine, 29 September 1998

“Changing a legacy system is like changing a tire on a car that is moving 60 miles an hour.”

Edward Horowitz, head of Citicorp’s online banking efforts, offering a rationale for ripping out decades of investment in older technology to offer pure Internet banking to consumers, The New York Times, 5 October 1998