:: Douglas Rushkoff - Weblog ::

What they don't get, and what real Internet enthusiasts have been saying since AOL took off in the early 90's, is that a company like AOL never had a future. AOL was a training ground. An introduction to the Internet for people who didn't know how to deal with ftp protocols. None of us thought it could last, because once the technological barriers to entry for the Internet had been lowered, no one would need AOL's simplistic interface or it's child-safe, digital content wading pools. People would want to get on the *real* Internet, using real browsers and email programs.