A dot.com story, Part IV: I have seen the future

Posted on May 28, 2003 01:57 PM by Joel Comm

Just picking up on this story? You may wish to click here to read so far

So Ken and I created The National Software Review (not very pretentious, huh?). Ken did a great job on the design and interface, but I have to laugh in retrospect. We coded a password scheme into the interface so that you would have to email us wih a randomly generated code in order to access the magazine. It was cumbersome and dumb. The funniest part is that I still have a floppy disk of the magazine, but I am unable to access the contents because I know longer have the password protection key! hehe...

Nevertheless, we uploaded the magazine to AOL and many BBSes, hoping people would download, read, and then spread the word.

It was January of 1995 when Ken and I ventured forth to the Consumer Electronics Show (C.E.S.) in Las Vegas. In those days (when dirt was new in Internet years), the CES was THE show to attend for all things computers and computer gaming. It has since been replaced by the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), but more about that later. The CES was a 4-day conference and expo displaying the latest in computers, software, home audio, TVs, videos, camcorders, car audio, and more. If you could plug it in, turn it on, crank it up or put batteries in it, you would find it at CES. It was a gadget and gizmo freak paradise!

Anyway, it was there that Ken and I were introduced to the power and potential of the World Wide Web. We were literally blown away as our eyes were opened to the possibilities that lay before us. I can't remember any specifics about that trip, but I do recall being very excited about our new direction. Yes, we knew that we must (insert swooping orchestra music and crash of cymbals here) BUILD A WEB SITE!

to be continued...

1 Comments For This Post

  1. Thomas J. Stensås Says:

    You gotta write more Joel.. im loving this :)

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INFORMATION

Joel Comm is an Internet entrepreneur who has been online for over 20 years. In 1995, Joel launched WorldVillage.com, a family-friendly portal to the web which enjoys thousands of visitors each day. Joel is the co-creator of ClassicGames.com, which was acquired by Yahoo! in 1997, and now goes by the name Yahoo! Games. Since then, Joel's company, InfoMedia, Inc., has launched dozens of web sites which offer online shopping, free stuff, website reviews and more. Joel is the author of many popular books, including the NY Times Best-Seller, The AdSense Code. He regularly makes appearances at Internet marketing conferences and seminars.