What are they?
On-line services provide an infrastructure in which subscribers can communicate with one another. They can do this either by exchanging e-mail messages or by participating in on-line forums. In addition, the service can connect users with an unlimited source of information.
Subscribers can get up-to-date stock quotes, news stories hot off the wire, articles from many magazines and journals, in fact, almost any information that has been put in electronic form.
The difference between an on-line service and a bulletin board service is one of scale and profits. Online services provide a variety of information and services, whereas BBS's normally concentrate on a single theme.
- Three of the largest on-line services are America Online, Compuserve and MSN.
One on-line service that defies classification is the Internet. In terms of users, it is the largest service, but it is not centrally controlled by any one organization, nor is it operated for profit.
Stefan Meyer
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