Until people figure this ‘Net thing out, there are going to be a lot of weird business paradigms out there. For example, there currently exist such beasts as “shareware” (software that is distributed for free, with the understanding that a small fee will later be paid, on an “honor system,” if [...]

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A common — though not entirely valid–complaint against the Net is that it’s nothing more than a conduit for marketing materials. If that’s so, why not take advantage of the marketers’ predilection toward the freebie promotion?

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Laptop Computers: The Zauction Promotion is a contest that this renowned computer auction has set up to give away a cool, fully loaded Pentium laptop.
Color Printers: TechWeba’s Small Biz, NetGuide’s sister site, is giving away a Hewlett-Packard OfficeJet 630 — a color printer, color copier, color scanner [...]

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In an issue of The New Yorker earlier in the year, Kurt Andersen discussed companies’ predilection to use the Web to give away stuff that they sell — as in, charge money for — in the “real world.” “They justify the practice as … R.&D., but the reasons look more like … [...]

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Until people figure this ‘Net thing out, there are going to be a lot of weird business paradigms out there. For example, there currently exist such beasts as “shareware” (software that is distributed for free, with the understanding that a small fee will later be paid, on an “honor system,” if you like the program) [...]

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A common — though not entirely valid–complaint against the Net is that it’s nothing more than a conduit for marketing materials. If that’s so, why not take advantage of the marketers’ predilection toward the freebie promotion? This is a perfect example both of what makes the Net useful and what we [...]

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