Juno Trainwreck

In 1996, I vividly remember receiving a 3.5 inch diskette containing a beta version of JUNO – free e-mail software. It occurred at a board of directors meeting of the Trumbull, Conn., PC Users Group. I have been using it ever since. In fact, over the years, I have encouraged many readers to use JUNO free e-mail as well. This will probably change.

The recently released version 5.0 shows how far Juno has progressed over the years. This latest update has ballooned in size to 7 MB, distributed either on CD ROM or downloaded from the Internet at the JUNO Web site. The concept of advertising supported “free” Internet services (e-mail, Web access, etc.) hit the wall with the DOT COM implosion witnessed in spring 2000. Juno, Netzero, and BlueLight.com remain the only significant players after the violent shake out. The demand for profitability by the Wall Street investment community ratchets the pressure another notch. Juno has not made one dime’s worth of profit in five years of operation. It is caught in the bind between its investors who seek profits and Juno e-mail users wanting low cost (free). Top management, under the leadership of President Charles Ardai, now embarks on a new, dangerous strategy – Distributed Computing.

In Search Of Extraterrestrial Life

Distributed computing is already somewhat famous in the Internet community. Many Internetters, including this writer, support a project called SETI where radio signals are analyzed for signs of extraterrestrial life. When PC computers become idle, the SETI screen saver kicks in and the PC’s processor analyzes data supplied from the Internet. Juno wants to employ this same technique. Essentially, they are asking JUNO users, who enjoy free e-mail service, to turnover the idle computer time in their machines. Juno would then find customers, like biotech concerns who need massive computer power to decipher genetic codes, and profit from the sale of this collective resource. This aggregation of idle computer power has the catchy handle “JUNO Virtual Supercomputer Network.”

As reported on Juno’s Web site, with a total active user base of over 3 million participants, 842,000 are paid subscribers. Potentially, the pool of computers for the Virtual Supercomputer Network looms large. However, how many are willing to keep their PC’s online 24 hours per day, seven days per week with strangers accessing hard drives and fast processors? In my view, not many. Currently, I am in the process of upgrading my computer to a 600MHz Pentium III processor with 416 MB RAM and 55 GB high-speed disk space. In all honesty, I am not about to turn this number crunching powerhouse over to strangers. I feel other serious computer owners feel as I do.

The JUNO Community

Juno management counts on the goodwill of JUNO users to participate in the venture on a volunteer basis bound together with a community spirit of cooperation. Frankly, I do not feel a sense of JUNO family where mutual cooperation benefits a greater good as in the SETI project. Rarely have I received any personalized e-mail from Mr Ardai, making me feel “at home” in the JUNO community. In fact, should a casual visitor drop by the Web site, there is no mention at all of the Juno Virtual Supercomputer Network Project. Certainly, the media has jumped on this announcement by broadcasting Juno’s concept, but the company appears reluctant to mention it to its membership. I personally feel that I will be forced to make the decision to either enter into the project or pay for the privilege of keeping my e-mail address. The third choice is to drop my Juno account completely.

A Difficult Decision

Currently, I have five or six e-mail addresses. However, because I receive about 80 percent of my mail via the JUNO network, switching to an alternate e-mail address becomes a non-trivial task. Switching e-mail addresses is an issue faced by thousands of Internet users daily. Until now, Juno has been remarkably stable. Complaints about JUNO’s service are reported to me from my readership. Some JUNO POPs (points of presence) suffer from overload as they now must service former Freewwweb, AltaVista, and Worldspy users as their e-mail providers dropped the service while filing for bankruptcy. On balance, however, my experience with JUNO has been positive.

The Juno Virtual Supercomputer Network, however, must be viewed as an act of desperation in an attempt to staunch the flow of red ink running out of the company. To me, it is a high risk gamble and could easily result in a tailspin plummeting ad revenue as the user base of free e-mail users opt to drop the service. Once the company loses critical mass, collapse becomes inevitable. It is still a bit early to accurately predict the eventual outcome. My best guess is that we will witness a train wreck as users abandon JUNO. The chase for profitability becomes ever more elusive and eventually impossible to attain. I hope I am wrong.

URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) of interest:

http://www.JUNO.com

http://www.seti-inst.edu/

(This is the 245th of a series of elementary articles designed for surfing the Internet. Next, “Hardware Upgrade” is the subject on tap. Stay Tuned. Until next week, happy travels through cyberspace. Previous issues of Internet Info for Real People can be found: http://www.thebee.com. Please e-mail comments and suggestions: rbrand@JUNO.com or editor@thebee.com.)