[JDEV] Thoughts on AOL

[James Widman]

Thomas Muldowney wrote:

>  It is their network, and their resources, and I feel we need to respect
>that.  
>
I tend to agree, *but*.... anyone who has an internet connection can 
send email to AOL users; anyone can browse through web pages hosted by 
AOL; further, AOL/TW would certainly *like* everyone on the internet to 
chose the AIM client for their instant messaging needs.  It's not like 
they're not prepared for a large number connections to Oscar (and 
correct me if I'm wrong, but connecting with "unauthorized software" has 
never even been a legal issue -- i.e., jabber people didn't get cease & 
desist orders, they just got met with unfriendly engineering and IP 
blocking, right?).

It's just that they have this crappy double standard about how people 
are allowed to use the resources that they already offer up to the 
non-paying public, and it seems that a lot of people here (myself 
included) are wondering if we should respect *that* at all.