Business World

Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City), Jul 21, 1999

Primitive moon flight

WASHINGTON (AP) -- On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Edwin A. "Buzz" Aldrin landed the Apollo 11 lunar module they called Eagle on the moon's Sea of Tranquillity. Hours later, Armstrong descended a ladder and became the first to walk the lunar surface, even as Michael Collins remained in lunar orbit aboard the command ship, Columbia.

Speaking at ceremonies staged to honor the 30th anniversary of the first landing on the moon, with the men of Apollo 11 beside the Apollo 11 command ship, Vice President Al Gore noted the astronauts accomplished their mission with what would now be regarded as primitive equipment. The Apollo 11 onboard computer, he said, had less than one-thousandth the memory storage of a modern handheld electronic organizer and could hold data equal to only about one- twentieth of a typical floppy disk in modern computers.

"It is even more astonishing that their mission was pulled off with the technology that was available then," said Gore.

Profiting on others

AUSTIN (Cox) -- Dell Computer already is the world's most profitable computer company. Now Dell has found a way to make money off its competitors' computers, too.

Dell has launched dellauctions.com, a computer auction site where users can sell their own used goods alongside Dell's products. Round Rock, Texas-based Dell will make $2 every time someone lists an item on the site -- even a computer made by its chief competitor, Houston- based Compaq. Riding the crest of high-flying consumer auction Web sites such as Ebay and Ubid, dellauctions.com had several hundred thousand hits in its first eight hours and more than1,000 items up for sale, the company said. On the auction site, Dell is allowing, even encouraging, users to hawk used wares ranging from computers to Palm Pilots to keyboards.

While the site allows users to buy and sell their own goods, dellauctions.com is also a clearinghouse for the company's products - - many of which are refurbished or older computers that have been returned after a leasing period. Dell is hoping visitors to the site will unload their old computers and peripherals and then click over and shop at dell.com, the company's flagship sales site, with their newfound cash.

"We're positioning ourselves as the first major computer company to offer auction services," said Robert Langer, director of dell.com. "It gives our customers another outlet to dispose of older machinery and take advantage of purchasing new products from Dell."

How lucrative can catering to the highest online bidder be? Forrester Research estimates consumer auctions will grow from a sales volume of $1.4 billion in 1998 to $19 billion in 2003. And the makeup of auction sites will shift from predominantly person-to-person to business-to-consumer auctions.

To whom it may concern....

LOS ANGELES (NYT) -- When the restaurant serves you soup with a six-legged surprise, when the mint-condition car you bought turns out to be a lemon, when the insurance company gives you the run-around, rather than fume in private, let them have it... in a professionally composed letter.

To be heard and to expect results is a fundamental consumer right, say John and Mariah Bear, father-daughter co-authors of Complaint Letters for Busy People (Career Press; $16.99). Their new book will teach you the fine art of complaining -- both on the spot and in ink. Be direct, ask for a resolution and you'll get what you want, whether it's a fresh bowl of soup or dinner on the house.

Not your style? Don't want to cause trouble? Don't have time to write letters?

Quit complaining. The Bears have devoted an entire chapter to 62 sample letters addressing all kinds of situations, designed solely for your adaptation.

Give constructive complaining a chance. You may end up swearing by it.

True heart of the Net

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- The chief executive of computer chip maker Intel expects the number of Internet users will increase sixfold to 1 billion within five years, but Craig Barrett said the most important part of that growth will be business-to-business transactions. "Business-to-consumer gets all the press because people like to read about it. Business-to-business is really the backbone of the U.S. and the world economy and that's where probably 80 percent of this business is coming from," Barrett said.

The fast-growing needs of Internet commerce will provide Intel with a number of opportunities to boost chip sales, said Barrett. One is supplying the chips for computer workstations, powerful machines with the ability to create sophisticated digital products such movie special effects. Intel also makes chips for computer servers, which are the traffic cops and information storers of the Internet.

Barrett estimated there are only about 5 percent of the servers needed to serve projected Internet needs five years from now. Intel plans to introduce its 64-bit Merced microprocessor next year for workstations and servers, which will eventually reduce the cost of both, Barrett said. "That should go nicely with the growth of the Internet and e-commerce. There will be a demand for that to be less expensive," he said.