OFF Re: Where on AOL?

[Eddie W. Presley Jr.]

 HWillman at AOL.COM wrote:
>>To a lot of people who have been closely following the growth and
>>development of the Internet, AOL is the Great Net Satan.
>
>I kind of agree with the guy who thought the post as "snotty."  I use AOL
>at home, Netscape/Eudora at work.  I use both a lot.  I can't see how
>anyone could rate one better than the other.  They both do the same >thing!

        Well, they don't do the same thing. AOL is an online service that is
routinely known for charging above and beyond the call of duty for access to
(poor) internet tools, where as, ISP's are generally much more generous in
the amount of time they allow online per dollar paid. AOL is also known for
its FBI stings and for its privacy violations. ISP's don't have quite the
same ongoing obsession to make sure that the only things you see and do
online are 'G'-rated. While not ever 'provable', I've had discussions with
people relating ancedotes of AOL peering at people's internal e-mail as well
as having the ability to go through customer's downloads. So between the
cost, the potential lack of privacy and e-mail security, plus the crappy net
tools (3 million people paying $9 a month, and that's the best browser they
could come up with? And where is the WIN '95 version of AOL?) they are seen
as quite the bad guy. I think AOL is great for first timers and those
wishing to see if the 'net is 'for them', and there are those who can get
access no other way, but for the majority of people I would definately
recommend an ISP before AOL or any online service. Sorry if this repetitious
with other posts.