4 ms·

There were some good and bad reasons for this. Remember that when the web launched the idea of encryption, PCI compliance, input sanitization, etc. was all pret

There were some good and bad reasons for this. Remember that when the web launched the idea of encryption, PCI compliance, input sanitization, etc. was all pretty foreign. Your typical web store was vulnerable to a remote execution vulnerability, probably stored all its data (including passwords and credit card numbers) in flat files (unencrypted plain-text) without even using a database (which at least meant it wasn't vulnerable to SQL injection), and didn't use ssl. It took a few years for things to improve to a basic level of security but even then the widespread public perception was that giving your credit card to "the internet" was about one million times worse than walking through a dark alley in the worst part of town while carrying a basket full of all your life savings in cash. Bit by bit things started to change, but it took years.

fjsolwmv 8y ago
The general public had no conception of any of these things.
- apatters 8y ago
  Maybe not, but there was certainly a trust issue. At the dawn of ecommerce many people were afraid of using their credit card online -- they didn't know the technical details but it just seemed new and scary.
  - bluGill 8y ago
    Which should have given sears extra help: they were a known and trusted entity that you could give your credit card to unlike that tiny fly-by-night startup bookstore Amazon. They had everything needed to take advantage of the internet just a few years before: a trusted name, a large catalog, experience in online sales (progigy might have failed, but the experience would have been a big help), and a large distribution network.
    - apatters 8y ago
      I agree. After observing a few generations of these businesses you realize that their shareholders prioritize large, gradually declining revenue streams over new opportunities. That's totally fine and that's why the system needs to be very friendly to new business creation. We don't need Sears to innovate at a time when its shareholders want to retire. We need to give new innovators the space to do their thing.
wahern 8y ago
SSL 3.0 came out in 1996. The entire reason for SSL was to pave the way for online retail and credit card purchases. Everybody understood that no later than 1996. (But earlier considering SSL 2.0 was published 1995.) Gates famously underestimated the web, but Windows 95[1] came with a TCP/IP stack out-of-the-box. That was a rapid and significant about face. While much was unknown in 1993 (Netscape wasn't until 1994), nobody should get a pass for shutting down the Sears Catalog with such potential possibly on the horizon. Especially executives making many millions of dollars for their business acumen. Sears decided to jettison their initiatives at the very moment Wal-Mart overtook them, beating them at their own game. I realize they felt burned by Prodigy, but committing to their existing model was the one and only thing that could ensure their ultimate demise, and that's the path they deliberately took. They stupidly decided to try to regain leadership by racing Wal-Mart to the bottom. [1] Or perhaps an immediate succeeding bug fix release? I can't remember as I had gone from Windows 3.11 to Linux but I feel like the original Windows 95 lacked a stack.
- colordrops 8y ago
  If Bill gates didn't get it, how would an executive from a brick and mortar get it. Unlike today, the types that created SSL had little to no overlap with traditional MBA types.
  - wahern 8y ago
    Sears had Prodigy, so they had the resources to understand the technology and potential going forward. Here's an interesting Wire article from 1993: https://www.wired.com/1993/06/prodigy/ https://www.wired.com/1993/06/prodigy/ Long story short, their attempt to push online shopping on Prodigy was proving a failure. That kind of cuts both ways because that shows they did understand the technological potential. Also, by 1993 it was becoming clear to many people that web advertising was going to be huge. (I remember wanting to get into BBS advertising at that time, before I realized the Internet existed, coincidentally about a year or two before Link Exchange was invented.) The Sears Catalog was first and foremost an advertising platform. Like AOL, Prodigy failed because it was a walled garden. But I don't think walled gardens were ever considered greats platforms for advertising to the exclusion of wider potential markets. So Sears could have realized the fatal flaw in Prodigy and the future potential on the web for advertising, if not for shopping.
paulie_a 8y ago
>Your typical web store was vulnerable to a remote execution vulnerability Not much has changed honestly.

fjsolwmv 8y ago

The general public had no conception of any of these things.

apatters 8y ago
Maybe not, but there was certainly a trust issue. At the dawn of ecommerce many people were afraid of using their credit card online -- they didn't know the technical details but it just seemed new and scary.
- bluGill 8y ago
  Which should have given sears extra help: they were a known and trusted entity that you could give your credit card to unlike that tiny fly-by-night startup bookstore Amazon. They had everything needed to take advantage of the internet just a few years before: a trusted name, a large catalog, experience in online sales (progigy might have failed, but the experience would have been a big help), and a large distribution network.
  - apatters 8y ago
    I agree. After observing a few generations of these businesses you realize that their shareholders prioritize large, gradually declining revenue streams over new opportunities. That's totally fine and that's why the system needs to be very friendly to new business creation. We don't need Sears to innovate at a time when its shareholders want to retire. We need to give new innovators the space to do their thing.

wahern 8y ago

SSL 3.0 came out in 1996. The entire reason for SSL was to pave the way for online retail and credit card purchases. Everybody understood that no later than 1996. (But earlier considering SSL 2.0 was published 1995.) Gates famously underestimated the web, but Windows 95[1] came with a TCP/IP stack out-of-the-box. That was a rapid and significant about face. While much was unknown in 1993 (Netscape wasn't until 1994), nobody should get a pass for shutting down the Sears Catalog with such potential possibly on the horizon. Especially executives making many millions of dollars for their business acumen. Sears decided to jettison their initiatives at the very moment Wal-Mart overtook them, beating them at their own game. I realize they felt burned by Prodigy, but committing to their existing model was the one and only thing that could ensure their ultimate demise, and that's the path they deliberately took. They stupidly decided to try to regain leadership by racing Wal-Mart to the bottom. [1] Or perhaps an immediate succeeding bug fix release? I can't remember as I had gone from Windows 3.11 to Linux but I feel like the original Windows 95 lacked a stack.

colordrops 8y ago
If Bill gates didn't get it, how would an executive from a brick and mortar get it. Unlike today, the types that created SSL had little to no overlap with traditional MBA types.
- wahern 8y ago
  Sears had Prodigy, so they had the resources to understand the technology and potential going forward. Here's an interesting Wire article from 1993: https://www.wired.com/1993/06/prodigy/ https://www.wired.com/1993/06/prodigy/ Long story short, their attempt to push online shopping on Prodigy was proving a failure. That kind of cuts both ways because that shows they did understand the technological potential. Also, by 1993 it was becoming clear to many people that web advertising was going to be huge. (I remember wanting to get into BBS advertising at that time, before I realized the Internet existed, coincidentally about a year or two before Link Exchange was invented.) The Sears Catalog was first and foremost an advertising platform. Like AOL, Prodigy failed because it was a walled garden. But I don't think walled gardens were ever considered greats platforms for advertising to the exclusion of wider potential markets. So Sears could have realized the fatal flaw in Prodigy and the future potential on the web for advertising, if not for shopping.

paulie_a 8y ago

>Your typical web store was vulnerable to a remote execution vulnerability Not much has changed honestly.