CompuServe Messages

Dean, Who says the data has to be 'dry'? A tour of the Louvre could have raw data for some purposes, digitized pictures of the art for other purposes, even voice, telling something about the artist, moving video segments showing restoration work, and so on. Any of the stuff you normally thing of as being in a reference book can be enhanced in ways that make it entertaining and enlightening. I don't know what all aplications CBM is planning on, but they say they will be there, hopefully in large enough numbers, and of enough interest to the public to overcome the chicken-and-egg thing. When you figure that the price of en encyclopedia, for example, is probably in a league with the CDTV unit itself, and then stop to think that it would be possible to have a whole lot of other reference works at low cost to 'add on' to the basic unit, the whole thing looks pretty attractive. Add to that, the livening up of raw data with video, sound, etc., and it's a sure thing that it will eventually take off. -larry