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Technology Stocks : How high will Microsoft fly? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: blankmind who wrote (22408)	5/9/1999 9:41:00 PM
From: jhg_in_kc	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74651

blank re: <ISP is a differentiated commodity. AOL's long term survival better not be based on monthly subscribers. If so, they're doomed.> Could you elaborate? Why are they Necessarily doomed? What is a differentiated commodity? thanks

To: blankmind who wrote (22408)	5/9/1999 10:06:00 PM
From: ed	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74651

Well, based on your theory, anything can be give away free, example, what if SUNW gave away its Java free, as you know SUNW did not depend on Java as a major source of revenue , while other companies do , you know what I mean. With AOL 's long term survival, well, If it can globalize its business with its worldwide subscribers continue to increase, even $5 /month of subscription fee will be very juicy.

To: blankmind who wrote (22408)	5/10/1999 12:51:00 AM
From: John F. Dowd	Respond to of 74651

AOL is like a magazine. The subscription pays for distribution while the ads and in the case of AOL fees for presence and performamnce provide the real bottom line. If they are in front of that many eyeballs and they have them by the access numbers then they have a great deal of strength in the ad market. The debate is how much and what is it worth? I am long AOL but I am not sure which way this thing is going to go as it is quite mercurial as well as volatile to say the least. JFD