RE >Forrester estimates, but, within five years, it projects that umber to approach 1993 levels, with about 100 companies providing<< --------------- This Forrester is just shooting from the hip..he has not done his homework at all..nor has most of the so called press gurus.. It's like they have not even looked out the window, they read one anothers stuff and put a twist on it.. Lets get this stright..his 4,400 is so far off base it's pathetic.. there are allmost if not more just in the State of Texas. I live in a small City..AOL does not even have a local number none of the so called big boys do..yet we have 5 providers.. in this little hick town..and what abourt the collages.. you think they are going away and few so called giant cos will dictate the internet..that's insane !...It's the little ISPs that are dictating it..the sooner you AOL people learn that you can not and will not ever rule the internet..the better off most of you will be..the little ISP will drive you right to the poor house. Understand AOL was nothing but a glorified Bullinten Board..but never had even 1% of the BBSers we were here on Fido..and such and the AOLers never knew about us, untill AOL started trying to do something with it's ill concived centralized BBS system, we are not commies..who will go for a centralized system..forget it..and you can take that Forrester inbread stuff he got from reading someone elses garbage..who got it from some other isolated guru..and feed it to thoes people who just fell of a cabbage truck..it wont wash.. in fact most of the stuff you post as comming from knowledgable people don't wash..over half the junk I read about the internet don't wash..do you ever see the usenet..have you ever tried to download the entire thing..where in heavens name to all these gurus get their ideas..the most used one is that there are only about 20 million people in the US on the internet..heavens do they mean at any given time..? I might not can spell worth a flip, but heaven help me if I ever get as feable minded as these press people, or them that take it, and put it out as gosple. If AOL is around when ever; she will not be into the dial in like she is now, not enough to feed profits margin wise, and never will be ! She really needs comercial accounts.. and let the small guys do the dial in..franchise it out or she will die trying to centralize it. THATS A FACT, as good as any you'l find. 4,400 ISPs he is nuts..or did he leave out a zero ? Tell the jerk to call internick..and check the .net addresses before he spews out any more garbage. BTW do you know why AOL..is aol.com...and not aol.net ? might ask internik, is it because they don't qualify as a real .net ? I don't know, and it don't concern me..but it is stange, as for AOL going into Japan..and thinking she will make money, is she ever in for a suprise. They will pluck her like they were plucking a chicken. I can hear them now "come here chicky chicky..come here, we have something nice for you. <G> So what will happen..soon they will own her..and all you AOLers will have to learn how to read Japanese...( said with tounge in cheek ) have to make a wise crack to offset that 4,400 number...and BTW even in this hick town I live in with 6 ISPs, they are all struggling with getting enough modems on line. If any big changes come it will be the result of the xDLS technoligy..that could clip a lot of wings..AOL among the first to go to..WHY ? AOL went to the bigger cities.. the telcos and cables will put in xDLS in the "big cities" frist..it will later filter down to all the hick towns, that were not good enough for AOL. You know our PC club tried to get AOL to connect..back in the BBS days..she said not enough people.. ha..if she could see now what she missed. Something else, we offered to do the dial in and furnish the modems for them FREE..they turned their nose up at the offer.. big mistake, they won't get it again. You could not give AOL away free.. in this county, to be caught on it is to be stigmatized, or looked at like someone who belives in incestuous relationhips, I try to not judge the indivdual by the system they get caught up in..but you can take a good person, put them in a bad or inbred system long enough and mess them up. O- I just hooked up an new box from gate a nubie..guess what..the AOL program was sitting there..ready to eat his 32 bit winsock if only he would click on it..I hid the winsock..and did a test run..yes behold I was lead down the blissfull path to a 1-800 number, ---there was no upfront warning or even an indication..that the user would be tapped for any sur charge. Do you really think new users read the manualls ? mostly they look at them and give up.. it might be in english but it may as well be in Japanese..however that's not just AOL. <G> Jim |