Note: Many of the URL's provided in this and other columns have changed or disappeared in the decade since this column was written. They are left intact in these columns to preserve the original content.

In the past six months, the World Wide Web has exploded. Virtually every on-line provider offers their own Web browsers or support for industry standards, such as the hot new NetScape.

I believe we are experiencing the Digital Renaissance. The Web is a new marketing paradigm, and I feel that businesses will include it as part of their marketing strategy as it becomes increasingly reachable by the general public.

As our part of this effort, we would like to announce that we have begun publishing books from the Pick Educational Series on the Web, beginning with "Pick/BASIC: A Programmer's Guide". We planned to republish this book in the traditional paper form, but then decided to make it available - for free - through the Web. To get your own copy of this book, all you need is a Web browser, pointed to JES & Associates' our URL (Universal Resource Locator): http://www.jes.com/. When you get to our Home Page, simply click on the "On-Line Books" button. When you arrive on that page, click on the publication you want and it will download to your system. Remember, anything that you have downloaded onto your machine can be printed locally at your location, including these books.

Several "Pick-related" businesses have put up Web Sites and are agressively pursuing the Web and the Internet as an extentsion to their marketing, sales and support efforts:

Pick Systems (http://www.picksys.com). Most of the editorial copy of PickWorld Magazine and the on-line AP Reference Manual (Encyclopedia Pick, sorted by category), is now on the Web. They also have software available from their FTP site. And now, you can even get your activation number from their Web Page. This is great! I've already used it successfully.

News & Review: (http://www.deltanet.com/compnews/). The paper (in which this column was printed) is put together by foreward-thinking people who recognize an opportunity when they see it. In addition to current news and events, they are putting their software and hardware and vendor catalog on-line and are building up Web sites for their vendors.

Unidata (http://www.unidata.com). Their Web page is impressive and includes a Solutions Directory containing information on vertical markets, vendors and products. They have a nice interface to their on-line help, and optionally provide all of the text for their Web pages in Spanish.

Both Sequioia and Vmark are among the growing number of Pick-related sites joining the Web on a daily basis. Even some of the Pick gurus are building their presence with a personal Home page. These and other links are available through the "Pick-Related Home Pages", linked from JES & Associates Home Page.

The Web is is the ultimate application for catalog and direct marketing applications. By connecting a Web server as a front-end to a Pick System, shoppers and information searchers can always get the most up to the minute information that you want to provide to them. And we have only begun to skim the surface of the possibilities the Net offers.

There are more links (again, growing by the day) to Pick-related sites at the Pick-related Links.

See you next issue

Jon Sisk
www.jes.com

Original article for Computing News & Review, May 1995

Copyright © 1995 Jonathan E. Sisk.