On Tue, 27 Jun 1995 06:00:57 -0500 Natalie Maynor <[log in to unmask]>
said:
 
>From what I've  heard of commercial service providers, Netcom  is by far
>the best. Not perfect but still best. It was offering full net access at
>reasonable costs  back when the  biggies like Compuserve and  AOL didn't
>even know what telnet and ftp were.
 
I can't really comment on Netcom's shell account service since I've never
used it,  but I'd  like to  point out that  this is  an apple  and orange
comparison. AOL  and CompuServe  never claimed  to provide  full Internet
access, although they do provide  access to certain Internet services and
in  particular e-mail.  The  philosophy  is just  not  the  same. AOL  is
starting up its  own Internet service now but they  don't expect anywhere
near as many  users as for their  main online service. It's  just not the
same market. Things  like FTP or telnet  are of little or  no interest to
people like,  say, my grandmother,  which is  the public the  biggies are
targeting.
 
  Eric