In computer news this week:

There's no free lunch in the pc industry and free internet services are going the way of the dinosaur too ...

Last week I talked about how one of the two major free internet services providers - spinway.com - has ceased operations. Spinway provided services for Costco, K-Mart, and several other major retailers. The other provider - 1stup.com - which was the free service Alta Vista and many other companies offered - also ceased operations as of December 1st, and the impact of the failure of these dotcoms is now really beginning to be felt.

There's blood in the water, and the industry sharks know that's there's money to be made.

I had been sometimes using Altavista's free internet service, which actually was 1stup.com, and now that's gone. I also had also sometimes used Costco's free service, which actually was Spinway, and now that's gone. I've had several calls from people looking for another free internet service, and I had recommended that they try Juno, at Juno.com. But - try and find the offer of free services on the Juno website now - you can't. Juno knows that Spinway and 1stup are out of business, and now it looks like Juno is only offering their services for a fee, starting at around 10 bucks a month.

If you're a current member of Juno's free service, you will receive an online message reminding you that you are using it for free, and that there are some people who are overusing the service, and so Juno might have to start charging for the service. This is known as reading the handwriting on the wall. Now that these companies know there's no more competition, they can start charging for their service.

The only other major service I know of that is still actually free - for now - is netzero at netzero.com. And knowing the pc industry, all this is going to change. There's even talk now of internet credit cards, just like long distance phone calls - where you can call in from anywhere using a major internet service and a credit card, and pay as you go.

Such is the nature of the pc industry; give something away for free, get millions of people hooked on it, and then start charging for it. Sound familiar?

Look at the anti-virus software companies, like Mcafee. They started distributing their product for free, kept fanning the flames of virus paranoia, got a user base of millions, and then started charging for it. Now even if you have a free version, you have to register and pay to download the new virus updates.

Look at the internet several years ago; hard to use and with little activity. Then a company named Mosaic started giving their browser away for free and got millions of users and actually got the internet up and going, and then they became Netscape and started asking for payment on it. That was ok to Netscape. But when Microsoft came up with their own browser and gave it away for free, Netscape said that was not ok.

Look at author Steven King who's made millions from his paper books. He tried distributing a novel on the internet on the honor or shareware system, and then found out people weren't paying for it. So now that several million people have read the first few chapters and are hooked, he's stopped distributing it. They'll have to buy the paper version now.

With the free internet services, you still pay a price. You have to watch an animated banner of advertisements that takes up a considerable portion of your screen while you surf the internet, and you also have to give up your privacy as your surfing and shopping habits are tracked, recorded, and sold to potential advertisers. You also have no guarantee that the service will always be available to you. Is this really free, and is it worth it?

It sure doesn't look like a free lunch to me.

For Raw Bytes, this is Frank Delaney

POB 222 Spangle, Wa 99031 (509)245-3736 Email: fdspokane@aol.com