“You’ve got mail!” That’s one of the most recognizable phrases of the 1990’s, and it harkens back to a time when e-mail, instant messaging, and message boards/chat rooms were the focus—even the whole—of what the Internet offered. In this world of limited offerings, one company emerged with a plan to offer its customers—it’s “subscribers”—a safe, monitored slice of the Internet. Rather than face the World Wide Web unfiltered, subscribers would be able to access as much of the Internet they could ever want through the provider’s software/browser, sidestepping the risks that existed out in the wild. Picture a wildlife safari tour. The subscribers sat comfortably on leather upholstery in climate-controlled armored jeeps while the provider drove them through the “wild.” At any point, the subscribers would roll a window down and interact with the “wild,” though the door handles had been removed.
This approach to Internet Service Providing has clearly shown itself to be a failure. At some point, the subscriber will want to leave the jeep to encounter the Internet on their own terms, but the provider’s policy of removing door handles makes this impossible. Factor in the increasing unreliability of the provider’s jeeps—“Will it start today? How long before it cuts out?”—and it’s no wonder that this once powerful provider is no more. (Well, at least, not for much longer.)
[Read more…] about AOL’s Walled Garden Approach to Church Programming