The success of AOL in using simple software and expensive marketing, treating users as customers rather than partners, and making that strategy work, will drive many strategies by companies that, like Amazon, believe they have the critical mass today that AOL had then. Time will tell whether they succeed, and the jury is never out on AOL or anyone else. Hopefully the story will start a process leading to a full discussion of this new money-making market, especially in light of a report by ZDNet saying the bandwidth crunch will continue into next year. And it's stories like this that should drive traffic, not advertising or prominent TV mentions. Clueless is Event Horizon , a literary sci-fi site that's paying good money to top writers with no idea how it will get its money out.
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