WTF? (Score 1)

After actually reading the article, it seems to me that this is not a big deal. It seems to boil down to this: If you want, you can pay more for AOL-style cable modem service, and have access to AOL-only content. Or you can pay less, and receive the same AT&T standard cable modem service we all know and loathe. If you don't want AOL, or aren't an AT&T customer, it's completely irrelevant. Hence I think the real problem is this: The perception that this will change the face of the internet hinges on the assumption that AOL is a major content provider. It's not. It's a service provider -- the real "content" of the internet comes from hundreds of different companies -- Amazon, eBay, online magazine sites, etc, and that's only taking a commercial view of content. The only way this agreement could possibly change the face of the internet is if AOL somehow comes up with content that is so compelling that NOT having AOL is a clearly inferior option. AOL is in the same situation they were in regarding dial-up service: millions of people paid AOL for their content+internet, millions of others decided that the internet alone was more than enough content. There are plenty of very important issues on regarding the future of the internet (access for all-broadband availbility-myriad technical issues on and on and on), and this simply is not one of them. AOL is not the internet, and this does nothing to change that.