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April 1997 |
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Hello Club WebTV members! First, if you haven't done so already, you might want to go check out this month's Founders' Forum for a special message from Steve Perlman, President, CEO, and co-founder of WebTV Networks! That said, we are proud to present Club WebTV much earlier this month! Many customers asked for the newsletter to be available on the first of each month, and we are making great efforts to accommodate. We do appreciate your enthusiasm, but please understand that WebTV Networks is a small company. Most of us who write and edit Club WebTV are Customer Care Specialists. We spend the majority of our time taking calls and email from members -- answering questions, solving problems, and helping our customers to make the most of the Internet. You can expect the next issue to be available to you within a few days of May 1!And while we're speaking of timing, many of you call or email asking when you are going to get updates and what they will be. We can tell you what we are working on, but we can't tell you when it will be released to you. This is not a matter of secrecy, but of practicality. Engineering and Quality Assurance work hard to bring you a superior user interface and better software, and we simply won't release new features until we know they're perfect. We'd rather provide you with the best, even if it takes a little longer to get it right. Because we have no way of knowing the precise date when a feature will be ready, we cannot give exact release dates of upgrades. Have you heard about the Reno vs. ACLU Supreme Court hearing? As of the writing of this column, the fate of adult entertainment on the Internet is being decided. This debate brings up many questions: Is it parents' responsibility to keep this material out the hands of children with access restrictive software such as Surfwatch? If so, is there any reason to remove adult material from the Internet? If the Supreme Court does rule to ban adult content, how will such material be defined? Would discussions about how to protect oneself from the AIDS virus count as adult material? Will this be banned as well? And, if the Supreme Court does decide on a definition, how will the law be enforced? Many people believe that anything legal off the Internet should be legal on the Internet, and that parents should make use of content filters if they are concerned about what their children search for. Even so, there are some behaviors that are simply not acceptable on the Internet or off it. These include things like harassment, sending unwanted images or threatening email, and otherwise abusing the Internet and the other users on it. As it stands now, WebTV Networks itself bans nothing, makes Surfwatch and Kid-Friendly content filters available free of charge, and will terminate service for users who abuse their Internet privileges. We hope that Club WebTV helps you navigate your way through cyberspace so you can encounter more of what you're looking for and less of what you aren't! This month's Serendipity might cause you to pull your socks up, and The Playground may cause you to pull your socks back down again. The WebTV Tips section includes a glossary, and Speakeasy helps you navigate through newsgroups. This month, both Founders' Forum and The Inside Scoop will give you insight into the future of WebTV Networks! Customer Corner features the WebTV Internet terminal as a crime fighter, and we've added a new column called In the Family! As our guest writer this month, Leanne Pressman, head of our Human Resources department, will explain a bit about her responsibilities in HR, including teaching employees how to properly equip and attire themselves while surfing the Net! Enjoy! The Editors | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
