Rip,
I'm not sure if the view you stated was yours or the "fancy view" you ascribed to others. Assuming the the second sentence in your message begins to explain your own view, then...
"It [AOL] is not an ISP, WCOM is the ISP and the other bell operating companies, AOL is just a reseller of those ISP's."
The comment about AOL not being the ISP is symptomatic to a great extent of the evolutionary state of the lexicon, mistaken in this case, despite whose view it was, but not necessarily uninfluential in the evolution of the lexicon (noise level) permeating society on these issues. The assertion is, rather, that it is WCOM who is the ISP. <?> Remember the legitimization of the term nulcear back in the Fifties?
Nothing personal, but I'm reminded of the foo foo artist this morning on CNBC who repeatedly stated that AOL "is a dial tone," being the nation's largest provider of "dial tone," [oi!] and that other ISPs also would be permitted to provide dial tone, too [or something along those lines... I was too dumbfounded to focus at that point], if this emboldenment by the Portland mess be permitted to escalate across the country. [oi! oi! oi!]
AOL is an ISP, albeit a sticky one, which retains its subscribers in a closed architecture kind of way, by communalizing its membership in various ingenious ways [which were no accidents of fate], at the same time alowing gateway access to the rest of the 'net. WCOM is a Tier One backbone provider. Take it from there... |
