--- begin forwarded text Date: Mon, 8 Mar 1999 07:32:26 -0500 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: Robert Hettinga <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: DCSB: Fred Hapgood; Product/Price Comparison in Digital Commerce Cc: Chris Wysopal <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Ron Rivest <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: Robert Hettinga <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- The Digital Commerce Society of Boston Presents Fred Hapgood Author, Analyst The Race to Get In-Between: The Struggle over Control of Product Comparison Presentation Information Tuesday, April 6th, 1999 12 - 2 PM The Downtown Harvard Club of Boston One Federal Street, Boston, MA Arguments can -- and will -- be made that, by the nature of the internet, ecommerce is likely to aggregate around vendors providing the most comprehensive and flexible tools for comparing the largest number of products. If this is right, several questions arise: Who is in the best competitive position: Distributors, who can use their market role to compel participation by vendors; portals, who start with traffic but who need the tools; or specialty catalogers, which have the tools but need the traffic? What is the most plausible business model for such a service? What sort of business, if any, might continue to be handled directly from the sites of individual manufacturers and merchants? Will the advantages accruing to the control of product comparison presentations endure or is this a passing phase? Might the vendors seize control back with a system of distributed agents? Among others. Fred Hapgood is a freelance writer, i.e., intellectual property provider and buzz vector, with a special interest in ecommerce. He has written for almost everyone at least once. http://www.pobox.com/~hapgood This meeting of the Digital Commerce Society of Boston will be held on Tuesday, April 6, 1999, from 12pm - 2pm at the Downtown Branch of the Harvard Club of Boston, on One Federal Street. The price for lunch is $32.50. This price includes lunch, room rental, various A/V hardware, and the speakers' lunch. The Harvard Club *does* have dress code: jackets and ties for men (and no sneakers or jeans), and "appropriate business attire" (whatever that means), for women. Fair warning: since we purchase these luncheons in advance, we will be unable to refund the price of your lunch if the Club finds you in violation of the dress code. We need to receive a company check, or money order, (or, if we *really* know you, a personal check) payable to "The Harvard Club of Boston", by Saturday, April 3rd, or you won't be on the list for lunch. Checks payable to anyone else but The Harvard Club of Boston will have to be sent back. Checks should be sent to Robert Hettinga, 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, Massachusetts, 02131. Again, they *must* be made payable to "The Harvard Club of Boston", in the amount of $32.50. Please include your e-mail address, so that we can send you a confirmation If anyone has questions, or has a problem with these arrangements (We've had to work with glacial A/P departments more than once, for instance), please let us know via e-mail, and we'll see if we can work something out. Upcoming speakers for DCSB are: May Chris Wysopal L0pht Client Security June Ron Rivest MIT Deep Crack = MicroMint? July TBA We are actively searching for future speakers. If you are in Boston on the first Tuesday of the month, and you are a principal in digital commerce, and would like to make a presentation to the Society, please send e-mail to the DCSB Program Commmittee, care of Robert Hettinga, <mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED]>. For more information about the Digital Commerce Society of Boston, send "info dcsb" in the body of a message to <mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED]> . If you want to subscribe to the DCSB e-mail list, send "subscribe dcsb" in the body of a message to <mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED]> . We look forward to seeing you there! Cheers, Robert Hettinga Moderator, The Digital Commerce Society of Boston -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: PGP for Personal Privacy 5.5.3 iQEVAwUBNuPDF8UCGwxmWcHhAQHWQAgAkarr+q1RZr6WXiStDlPQlp4WSCbPTFIk mlcb/hg4baCsx4O0VLGi5u2p84iSE8yQYY7jmMQsrXEujhA7JKbFyFCu7HwdJd/q RrBKcTC35iajkyMG1xCwLSfGskLyzy9dvs7FbzEl1h3jXHCbdZdhmIObQCzeQuNm Z0BetkmMw/lDTWExjJse7Jku49FCq7y4jh6ED3woxAvI+auaA8oDUHhBGPgnYGsy bcCj/igElr78l7J3zi19zUgtUmr00mBjVUi3W8bmM9NOC1LnRWHv8nOwL9sRN4qO oC8H3ZJ1BNh+Bx1GWNMGpCOHQbz+fXy77Ob+/H4WZWwT5iiYHOfnUQ== =Jnfz -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- ----------------- Robert A. Hettinga <mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED]> Philodox Financial Technology Evangelism <http://www.philodox.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To unsubscribe from this list, send a letter to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] In the body of the message, write: unsubscribe dcsb-announce Or, to subscribe, write: subscribe dcsb-announce If you have questions, write to me at [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- end forwarded text ----------------- Robert A. Hettinga <mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED]> Philodox Financial Technology Evangelism <http://www.philodox.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'