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Technology Stocks : America On-Line: will it survive ...?
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To: Brian K Crawford who wrote (1816)2/23/1997 12:30:00 PM
From: Kashish King   of 13594
 
All of the benefits and features you are talking about point to use of AOL as an information service. What the vast majority of people do not realize is that AOL is pouring resources into several areas which don't have anything to do with their business. This is why they loose money hand-over-fist and will continue to do so into the forseeable future. They just don't get it and, apparently, they never will.

1. Why does AOL develop and maintain its own proprietary browser software and.why can't third party developers extend that software? They are competing against Sun Microsystems, Microsoft, Netscape and others in doing so. They will not be able to deliver a tiny fraction of what these companies have right now, never mind what's coming down the pike.

2. Why does AOL develop and maintain its own proprietary server software and why can't third party developers extend that software? Again, the software industry giants are developing tools which sites can use to create and maintain their own content, without having to go through a single, proprietary service provider.

3. Why is AOL in the business of delivering bandwidth to their own telecommunications equipment which in turn is hard-wired into their own centralized computer systems? This centralized approach isn't practical, businesses are staying away from AOL in droves because of that. There are perhaps millions of businesses that will go online and they will each install a low-cost server with standard software. Anybody can then access them over the Internet. They don't need AOL or anybody else getting involved with issues related to content, access, communications technology they choose to use, et cetera.

If AOL wants to be a premium information service then they should stick to that plan and do it on the world's standard infrastructure. If they stay on the path they are on they are doomed and it looks like they are doomed given the utter and mind-boggling ignorance of the current leadership.

We need super-sites to organize the wide expanse of the Internet. There will be hundreds of such companies and thousands more who specialize in particular content.
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