Скачать или смотреть USA: LAS VEGAS: COMPUTER FAIR FOR INTERNET USERS

(14 Nov 1995) English/Nat

Computer users the world over can now talk to each other on the phone for the price of a local call.

At a fair for Internet users in Las Vegas, Nevada, a US based company called Quarterdeck says it has the answer.

A U-S based company Quarterdeck has unveiled what it calls the answer to the long distance phone bill, WEBTALK. Webtalk allows the user to talk to another person on the other end of an Internet connection for the price of the local hookup.

WEBTALK was launched at this year's COMDEX computer and technology conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, and is expected to be available for sale in the next few weeks.

To use the WEBTALK the consumer needs an account with an Internet access service and a multi media computer. The user also needs the WEBTALK components.

SOUNDBITE:
You also get a microphone in the box and a second copy. For instance, if you have a friend in New Zealand you can give indication to a web site so that person can down load a copy of it for free. And you can start talking through your computer long distance.
SUPER CAPTION: Gaston Bastiaans, Quarterdeck President and CEO

The WEBTALK components retail for roughly 40 dollars (U-S) for a single unit and about 60 dollars (U-S) for a pair.

The system is also designed to allow users to talk to a person on the other end and send E-mail and documents. The user is only charged a local hookup which Quaterdeck says costs about 3 dollars (U-S) as compared with roughly 60 dollars (U-S) for an international phone call.

However Industry analysts warn the sound quality may not be as good as a regular call due to band widths and the number of people on the Internet. But they also point out there are international ramifications of such freedom of information.

SOUNDBITE:
Well, if you're a kind of closed walled country like China or some of the countries that are still communist countries the Internet is not good news at all. Just like fax machines, just like any form of communications here's something that blows your borders wide open and it's radio free world. An Internet free world and all this information comes in and it's available to anybody who can get onto a phone line.
SUPER CAPTION: Bill Machrone, Internet Life Magazine

Analysts also caution that there are hackers on the Internet. So users of WEBTALK should keep in mind that their private conversations may not be all that private.

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