Re: Free Britannica bites the dust

[John Webb <jwebb@wsu.edu>]

It's consistently misspelled except for in the 7th paragraph.  Taking the
5th, as it were, (paragraph) the author spelled "Encyclopaedia" correctly
followed by "Brittanica."

John Webb
Assistant Director for Collections and Systems
Washington State University Libraries
Pullman, WA 99164-5610
jwebb@wsu.edu
509-335-9133    FAX 509-335-6721
 
__________________

At 09:16 PM 3/14/01 -0500, you wrote:
>See today's announcement in ComputerWorld and observe the misspelling of
>the name of the company, not a good harbinger!
>
>(http://www.computerworld.com/cwi/story/0,1199,NAV47_NLTam_STO58603,00.html)
>
>
>Brittanica.com to cut free service, reduce staff
>
>BY JENNIFER DISABATINO 
>                    
>(March 14, 2001) Brittanica.com Inc. will no longer provide information at
>its Web site for free and instead will begin a subscription service for
>its online content as part of a restructuring announced yesterday.
>
>As part of the reorganization, the company will lay off 68 of its 220
>employees, most of whom work in Chicago. The cuts begin this week and will
>continue through June, according to a company statement. This is the
>second round of layoffs at the Chicago-based company. In November, 75
>employees lost their jobs.
>
>In addition, the company will heavily market other pay services, such as
>BrittanicaSchool.com, for students in kindergarten through high school.
>
>The news comes less than 18 months after Brittanica.com launched its free
>service to an information-hungry online public (see story).
>
>A crushing surge of 10 million visitors forced the site to temporarily
>shut down when it first went online in October 1999 (see story), but that
>success apparently hasn't translated into monetary success for the
>subsidiary of Luxembourg-based Encyclopaedia Brittanica Holding SA.
>
>Like many Internet pure-plays, Brittanica.com planned to raise revenue
>through advertising. With the Internet advertising business in a decline,
>however, the company had to look for new revenue sources.
>
>"There was a time not along ago when most observers believed that Internet
>services had to be supported mainly through advertising," said Don
>Yannias, Britannica.com's CEO. "We are out there in the marketplace,
>however, and we're convinced that a diversified business model combining
>free and subscription-supported products is the road to success."
>
>Brittanica was the first encyclopedia on the Internet when it launched
>with a paid, subscription service in 1994.