Just as the PC fundamentally changed the way we work, Web-based technologies are defining the era of Internet computing and revolutionizing the way we live. However, unlike the wholesale change envisioned three years ago by the Net PC and Java, the process is highly incremental and full of unforeseen twists. Where AOL has attempted to fashion its service around the demands of its community, Microsoft has pushed the use of its products through business channels and alliances, giving software developers as much incentive as possible to write their applications to work with Windows. These are markets that Microsoft has targeted with its scaled-down Windows CE operating system, but with limited success. AOL, with its purported 17 million members and 78 million registrations for instant messaging, could spark an Internet wildfire.
Instant messaging is an alternative to a browser, in a sense.
You have this application open all of the time. It has a search feature in it if you need to do a quick Net search. All of the sudden you have this competition with the browser. It's become a really potent way to deliver content to the desktop. The fact that both companies are meeting on unfamiliar terrain could help AOL, for Microsoft is accustomed to engaging its enemies at the corporate level, not the newbie mass market.