IT Professionals

AOL – How Focus Has Changed

Posted by on Jul 24, 2007 | 2 Comments

Seems like only yesterday AOL was a successful ISP to just about everyone. Today, AOL is a shell of what it once was. Going through changes in much the same way as Netscape has, it’s become more content-driven than ISP-driven in my opinion.

What I’d like to hear from each of you is whether or not you believe that this is the end of nationally run ISP? Could MSN finally decide that working as an ISP is just not worth it? I am seeing signs that is very probable. But again, do you see this happening? Will the ISPs out there only serve as reseller? You make the call, I have my thoughts, now let’s hear yours.

[tags]AOL,MSN,ISP[/tags]

  • Tony Rich

    Well, for me AOL was a HUGE pain, I got rid of AOL nearly 10 years ago.
    My problem with them is that AOL just took over a machine.
    They were constantly downloading all sorts of stuff and updates.
    I found an ISP such as EarthLink much more friendly. I don’t know
    about others, but for me I just want a simple link to the internet.
    I’ll pay extra if it’s free of advertisment.

  • Richard

    AOL’s switch to content provier actually began several years ago. They saw that there was no future in dial up internet subscriptions and instead focused on their portal, AOL.com. They made all their services free and started letting people keep their screennames after they cancel their dial up. That way, once people got broadband, they would continue to go to AOL.com and they would keep the all important ad revinue. Tech writers seem to focus on how many people are cancelling their AOL dial up accounts, but the fact is that AOL doesn’t care about that anymore. I’m not sure what affect this will have on MSN’s dial up service. But I do know that AOL is more interested in competing with Yahoo and Google than Earthlink and whoever else is left.