Before the Internet became widespread, AOL made money by charging ridiculously high rates to access the content on their network. Afterwards, their content was worth less every day as web sites sprang up everywhere, so they reinvented themselves as an Internet Service Provider (a pretty slick move, in my opinion, not that they had a lot of choice). They got away with charging a premium because they made it easy to get online (a daunting technical task at first), and because they had local telephone numbers (for modems, remember those?) nationwide.

Well, cheaper local ISPs started popping up like mushrooms after a hard rain, and telephone modems became the exception rather than the norm, both of which served to make their local numbers irrelevant. And operating systems simplified the process of getting online to the point that any technophobic grandma could do it, even without their floppy disks and CD-ROMs. Even following Microsoft’s example by forcing themselves onto just about every new PC only slowed their decline.

Now the buzzards are circling, and it looks like they won’t have to wait too much longer. And their CEO says that the company is “getting healthier every day.” After the company folds, maybe he can make it as a stand-up comedian. Or a Hollywood writer, his obvious lack of a strong connection to reality might be an asset there.