Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!uwm.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!uxh.cso.uiuc.edu!johnsone From: johnsone@uxh.cso.uiuc.edu (Erik A. Johnson) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.comm Subject: Re: WANTED: America Online OPINIONS Message-ID: <1991May24.070946.27644@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> Date: 24 May 91 07:09:46 GMT References: <1991May22.065212.29985@agate.berkeley.edu>> <1991May23.024406.3740@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> <1991May23.125934.10345@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> Sender: usenet@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (News) Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana Lines: 48 dorner@pequod.cso.uiuc.edu (Steve Dorner) writes: >>My only other gripe is that AOL has no gateway to the rest of the world. >>I would love to have some sort of way to e-mail to and from Internet. >>Erik A. Johnson, Graduate Student \Internet: johnsone@uxh.cso.uiuc.edu > >One thing I don't hear people saying is why they bother to pay >for these services when they have the Internet. What do you get >from AOL that you don't from the Internet? > >I have had a GEnie account for years, but I almost never use it, since >almost everything it offered was duplicated on the Internet, only faster >and better (ever try GEnie's mail?). I don't cancel it only because >a) it doesn't cost anything if I don't use it and b) I'm too lazy to figure >out how. One reason I have both AOL and Internet access is that I do not necessarily expect to have Internet access forever. Second, reasons similar to those of awessels@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Allen Wessels) for CI$: >I don't use AOL, but I do use CI$ in spite of what is offered on the Internet. >More companies make official announcements and press releases on CI$ than on >the Internet. More reps post more frequently on CI$. Bug fixes are availabe >in dedicated vendor forums. > >In my experience, there are more high-end users who respond to posts on CI$. >Most of the major Mac mags have an editor or writer that read and respond >regularly. I've seen more niche products discussed on CI$, and new products >are also usually discussed before I see similar topics on the Internet. > >CI$ also has online conferencing, and the Mac forums sponsor a monthly guest >poster. John Sculley was the listed guest a few months ago. (I hedge because >not much beyond standard press release stuff was posted.) This friday (if my >memory serves), a special conference (basically like IRC) about 7.0 with >Apple reps will be run. Furthermore, some "official" Mac software is not (legally) available simply through ftp/Internet/comp.sys.mac.* but AOL is licensed to distribute said software. Case in point: ResEdit 2.1. Yes, much of what is available through Internet (ftp,usenet newsgroups,etc.) is an overlap of AOL, but they do have distinct differences that have caused me to use both. Erik A. Johnson, Graduate Student \ Internet: johnsone@uxh.cso.uiuc.edu Aeronautical & Astronautical Engineering \ University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign \ AmericaOnline: ErikAJ