AOL buying Mirabilis, what does it mean?
Shelton Garner
Well, here's what *I* think it means -- AOL is about to jettison the
AOL we know in favor of the ICQ model of online service...Ie, one that
runs the in background and acts more like an information manager than
anything else.
I see AOL selling the old closed, proprietary version of itself to a
company like Qwest or Sprint, while keeping the aol.com name...this
would cause aol.com to enter the "net portal" game easier.
lee
L. Shelton Bumgarner -- Keeper of the Great Renaming FAQ
Nattering Nabob of Narcissism * http://www.nottowayez.net/~leebum/
ICQ#: 9393354
Shelton Garner
On 21 May 1998 13:45:30 -0400, Jim Kingdon <kin...@panix3.panix.com>
wrote:
>> AOL is about to jettison the AOL we know in favor of the ICQ model of
>> online service...Ie, one that runs the in background and acts more
>> like an information manager than anything else.
>
>AOL has already announced "Open ISP" or whatever they call it where
>you dial in to the ISP-of-your-choice but you still download the AOL
>software on to your machine. So AOL software, ICQ software, I'm not
>at all sure I see a big conceptual difference.
>
>Now, if they go to a model where someone besides AOL/ICQ run the
>servers which make this thing work, or in which the only client
>software needed comes from Netscape/Microsoft/Sun/&c, _then_ that's a
>big shift. But, unless I was misreading the ICQ web site, ICQ both
>runs their own servers and supplies their own proprietary software.
You're right on that last point, but AOL is supporting the open
standards for "instant messaging" software so that might change.
The big difference between using AOL via TCP/IP and ICQ is, ICQ is
much MUCH less intrusive. You hardly know it's there unless you want
to talk to someone you know online. I see HUGE e-commerce potential..
YoYo
Shelton Garner <lee_s_b...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>Well, here's what *I* think it means -- AOL is about to jettison the
>AOL we know in favor of the ICQ model of online service...Ie, one that
>runs the in background and acts more like an information manager than
>anything else.
AOL isn't going to "jettison" anything. They're doing the standard
deep-pocket move of entering a new market by buying a company that's
already in it rather than by entering *de novo*. That has the effect of
saving them money and getting rid of a competitor in one fell swoop.
--
----YoYo------...@tezcat.com------------and stuff------
"We don't want to be associated with a randy penguin.
Well, we do, but it's not politic." -Linus Torvalds
Jim Kingdon
> AOL is about to jettison the AOL we know in favor of the ICQ model of
> online service...Ie, one that runs the in background and acts more
> like an information manager than anything else.
AOL has already announced "Open ISP" or whatever they call it where