Draft notes, e-mail, plans, source code, to-do lists, what have you – all can be hyperdocument pieces, instantly and intrinsically linkable, and with work processes involving fewer and fewer hard-copy printouts.
There is every reason to think that virtual-reality technologies will develop rapidly and will eventually enable participation through the Internet. Connected to one’s home computer one will experience an audiovisual “world” generated from a node somewhere in the Internet, and this will include other participants in the same way that today one can communicate with others on bulletin boards in videotext.
Remember AOL’s erstwhile partner Commodore? Ten years ago, it was the largest home PC company in the United States; today, it’s the answer to a trivia question. Will AOL be able to avoid a similar fate? Can it withstand the Microsoft juggernaut? Will its strategy of co-opting the Internet work?
When you look ahead 10 years from now, probably most of our subscribers will be connecting to us several times a day, from several different locations, with several different access devices, on several different communications devices. It will become part of their life.
AOL is working to incorporate CD-ROM technology into the online experience. The idea is that bandwidth-clogging graphics and other basic components will be contained on discs at home, with users getting updated information when they sign on.
We think we can build a big franchise and get into tens of millions of homes as an interactive service company, as opposed to an online service provider. Content is no longer king. Rather, building communities around that content is the key.
Whether AOL’s attempt to co-opt the Internet will pay off remains to be seen. In the meantime, the company is determined to make hay while its new competitors find their footing. The plan: diversify the revenue stream by bringing more commerce and advertising to the AOL community while luring millions of new users through investments in multimedia technology and innovative content.
The dark horse looming over everything is the Internet itself, which some say has the potential to doom not just AOL, but all the proprietary services, to the ash heap of online history.
Case sees online services evolving over the next decade into a mass medium engaging tens of millions of people, for whom logging on will become as much a part of everyday life as making a phone call. And he’s determined to transform AOL into flashy, interactive multimedia that will lead the way.
This summer, more than 3 million Americans were sending e-mail, arguing in forums, flirting in chat rooms, and wandering the Net on AOL, with thousands more signing up every day. The service expects to have more than 5 million subscribers online next year.