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*                                                            *
*                         CYBERSPACE                         *
*         A biweekly column on net culture appearing         *
*                in the Toronto Sunday Sun                   *
*                                                            *
* Copyright 1999 Karl Mamer                                  *
* Free for online distribution                               *
* All Rights Reserved                                        *
* Direct comments and questions to:                          *
*   <kamamer@yahoo.com>                                      *
*                                                            *
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"@#$% Hotmail!"

That curse has been uttered hundreds of thousands of times by 
net users over the last few weeks. In some ways Microsoft's 
Hotmail (www.hotmail.com), the most popular free web-based 
email service on the net, is a victim of its own popularity. 

For months Hotmail had been brutally slow, although the banner 
ads always loaded quickly and reliably. Whatever technology 
Microsoft uses to push through ads seems not to be used for the 
rest of the system. The conspiracy minded, of which I'm not due 
to super-human mental effort, might argue this lag is 
intentional. What else is there to do but look at the pretty 
blinking ads while the rest of the page takes four minutes to 
load?

One of Hotmail's changes was a requirement that users accept 
what is known as a cookie. A cookie is a small line of code a 
website can write to and read from your harddrive. 

Cookies were introduced by Netscape in version 3.0 and 
subsequently by Microsoft in version 2.0. As the writing of 
cookies was done automatically in the background and Netscape 
didn't actually document this "feature", many users were 
unaware of the existence of cookies until revealed by some of 
the more inquisitive and privacy-retentive types online. 

Giving a remote site the ability to read and write information 
to your harddrive scares a lot of people. Public out cry forced 
Netscape and Microsoft to add an option in later editions of 
their browsers allowing users to turn off the automatic setting 
of cookies.

Browsers today give one the option of accepting or declining a 
cookie. This option can be more trouble than it's worth. Some 
sites are cookie monsters, prompting you to accept or decline a 
dozen or so cookies. That kind of paranoia I can only muster 
when I'm suffering the web at work.

Hotmail, before the revamp, allowed one to decline a cookie and 
still access your email. Hotmail, post-revamp, denied access to 
users if they refused to accept a cookie.

Okay, the service is free. If you don't like it, collect your 
email and find another free email service that allows you to 
surf without accepting a cookie.

Those willing to stick with Hotmail found themselves blocked 
from their mail accounts anyway. Thousands of users of older 
browsers, including Microsoft's own IE 4.0 browser, though 
configured to accept cookies, were getting an error message 
claiming their browser was incapable of setting a cookie.

In what seemed a coincidental move, Microsoft revamped its 
Hotmail site with the nifty bug that blocked access with I.E., 
4.0 in time for the release of its Internet Explorer 5.0 
browser. IE 5.0 seemed to work fine with Hotmail.

Those conspiracy minded users I keep at arms length accused 
Microsoft of implementing the bug intentionally to force users 
to download IE 5.0. If it was intentional, it was a stupid 
idea. Hotmail isn't the only free service in cybertown. The 
double whammy of a bug and the fear of giving Microsoft yet 
another peak into your life is a good way to start an exodus 
from the service.

I encountered the cookie bug and after a few frustrating days I 
switched to Yahoo's free email service at my.yahoo.com. The 
service is quicker and offers features like personalized 
headline news. I figure Microsoft has enough money and Yahoo 
can benefit from whatever revenues it accrues from my ignoring 
its banner ads.

        Stress Reducer

The Hamster Dance page (www.hamsterdance.com) has been making 
the rounds, passed on by word of email and chat rooms. The 
concept is both simple and really stupid. Some cheesy music is 
played while row upon row of animated GIF files of too-cute 
rodents strut their stuff. Despite its cheesy nature, the page 
has a strangely hypnotic effect. I find myself revisiting time 
and time again when the stress in my online life over comes me.

The page's success has spawned imitators like Boogie Blocks 
(www.boogieblocks.com) and Fishy Dance (www.fishydance.com). 
Neither effectively manage to reset your mental palate like 
Hamster Dance, however.