>Netscape and Internet Explorer are free.  That means substantially all
>persons with the desire can obtain a state-of-the-art email client without
>charge.

Free?  I'd like to see you 'run' Netscape 4.x or IE 4.0 on a 486
with 8 MB of RAM.  The world 'crawl' would be more appropriate.
Yet this level (or less) of computer is all that can be afforded by many
people, especially so in third world countries.  Shall we restrict email
and Usenet communications to be a playtoy of the rich and well-to-do?
I think not.