Re: Apple II Forum on AOL closing

[icssofty@aol.com (ICS Softy)]

>>Loyalty.  Gratitude.  I was a charter subscriber to AppleLink-Personal
Edition, and continued with AOL until that Fall of 94 (or whenever they
made me an outcast).  That would be 8-10 years of continuous patronage
at $5-10 a month or more.  I don't why it would have cost them much to
debug the current apple2 software and continue to provide the same
service.
Graphics isn't the only available user interface.  The earlier text
interface would still work just fine for aII users.<<

The problem isn't debugging the client software, as it is supporting it at
the host end.  In addition to supporting different platforms, you have to
support the different versions of your client software for each platform
as well.  This is not as easy as it looks. 

As much as I hate to admit it.... AOL supported the Apple II platform far
longer than it should have from a business standpoint.  It wasn't lack of
loyalty the pushed the Apple II off the system, it was the communications
market.  AOL had to go where the market was, and supporting older systems
like the Apple II (or IIgs) would have made it impossible.  Take a look at
GEnie's growth over the past two years, then take a look at AOL's and tell
me who built the better mousetrap?

>> Soon I suspect AOL will be ONLY Windows95+ service anyway.  Mac/PowerPC
users will be looking somewhere else for service too.<<<

Unless Apple Computer goes belly up in the near future, not a chance. 
Macs compose roughly 30% of AOL's membership base.  That's over three
times the rate of Macs to PCs in use.

Larry :)