New computer users who don't understand their choices may be drawn in by the manufactured buzz -- as AOL brags about distributing their software in frozen steaks and at gas station kiosks. But if those users go on-line, they may find less exclusive content. Newsweek -- an AOL partner -- will now be homesteading on the web.
As they become more experienced, new users may learn the lesson learned by millions who left AOL. Marketing can make an under featured, unreliable service appear attractive -- but only for so long.