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AT&T possibly to purchase MSN-No Deal
vab writes "Perhaps looking to further weaken the U.S. Gov't
anti-trust case with another MegaMerger/Deal Microsoft is
in talks with AT&T to sell AT&T MSN and other Microsoft media properties, possibly in exchange
for cash and Windows NT promotion. If the
deal goes though it would make AT&T's WorldNet the second
largest ISP, second only to AOL, and allow Microsoft to dump some yet-to-be-profitable projects. " Apparently, the deal is not going through. Funny thing-AT&T considers the talks to be done, while MS considers the talks to be "on-going".
They've realized that 'net access has become a commodity. Microsoft doesn't want to be in the commodity business (that's why they create non-standard OS's).
MS knows that they have no experience competing on price and service, so the ISP business isn't for them.
It is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail. - Abraham Maslow
M$ Lackey: "AT&T doesn't want to buy MSN."
Cap'n Bill: "They're buying it."
Lackey: "Uh.. they said they don't want it."
Bill: "And I said they're buying it. Now go reboot the 500 box NT cluster, I want to play solitaire."
The only way MSN is ever going to increase membership is if they give the service away FREE. I'll bet Microsoft would be toying with the idea if it weren't for the antitrust trial. Wouldn't want to let the rest of the industry believe it's OK to think for yourself; Netscpe MUST be crushed for trying.. :-/
Of course, AOL is a much bigger fish. I'm waiting to see when Microsoft buys an actual vendor like Micron...
microsoft isn't doing well with msn. aol now has a possible avenue to the desktop (netscape + sun|linux + corel|applix partnership) and a successful cash flow to fund it (isp business). at&t is a huge communication company that could hammer isp sompetition if they had a larger customer base. microsoft now wants to sell msn to at&t *and* get some free promotion. if it goes through, aol and at&t can beat each other up and microsoft ends up with one or two softer semi-competitors - one of which will be quite grateful.
pretty damn smart actually. if the people who wrote code at microsoft were half as smart as the marketting/business folks nt would have multi-year uptimes...
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I thought pretty much all of MSN's services are now availible to every web user, and MSN itself was now a standard PPP dial-in ISP. (No more funky client.) Furthermore, they've got no 'network' of their own, but lease bandwidth on UUnet.
If so, ATT is really not buying a online service, but just buying customers. Who cares.
Business. Numbers. Money. People. Computer World.
I never thought I would be saying this. But AOL and MSN are good for one reason IMHO. They keep the newbies in one arena for the most part.
The ads say, "I'ts fast and easy". Well it is. Log on and everything is spoon-fed to you. And with all the marketing crammed down everyone's throat, people who are not computer enthusiasts, who just wanna surf and email, AOL and MSN are perfect.
My mother has used MSN for three years or so. She has always been happy with it. She isn't a computer power user or anything. SHe surfs a little and does email. Blam, simple and easy.
I could sit here and ramble for days why i hate MSN and AOL. But I challneged myself to find something positive. This is what I came up with. And I do feel better about it becuase AOL and MSN won't go away anytime soon. And quite frankly all this bitching gets on your nerves after awhile.
So look at it as a place for newbies to stay and gather and leave well alone. Let them hang out in the safe walls of MSN and AOL. SUre, some of them creep out and explore the real Internet world, but soon they go back to thier playpen.
All this post is for is just to make someone laugh or make them "Think Different" about something.
If not, flame me all you want, I could care less.
may have been a bit off the subject.
Call it a vent triggered by the mere mention of MSN and AOL...heh, brainfart mayhap.
Frankly, I'm not suprised at any deal/merger/buyout anymore.