Timothy C. May writes:
And support your local ISPs!
(Or, even better, direct connection to the Net, though this is harder for most of us to arrange.)
For how long is this really going to be the case? As the whole world of HTTP and related things (like Java & VRML) advances in capability and sophistication, how long will the Compuserve/AOL/Genie "Big Online Service" model continue to make sense? Seems to me at as soon as things like a general-purpose browser (and associated TCP/IP stack & PPP or SLIP) becomes as easy to load up as an AOL demo disk, and local ISP's are listed in the yellow pages, the advantage of being able to pay a provider for nothing more than the routing of IP packets so that the net as a whole can be explored (and, perhaps, more services purchased) will FAR outweigh any of the goodies the current big providers offer. The flip side of that, of course, is that big service providers can offer access to their goodies to anybody with net access. That sort of setup would make the whole concept of Internet regulation even more bizarre; we'd really have something more directly parallel to the phone system. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | Nobody's going to listen to you if you just | Mike McNally (m5@tivoli.com) | | stand there and flap your arms like a fish. | Tivoli Systems, Austin TX | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~