Walt Mossberg

Walt Mossberg @waltmossberg

@BobBrentTO @AOL Yes, CompuServe, which I used, predated AOL. But it was much nerdier in terms of its audience and its interface. AOL opened up the online world for average, mainstream people using an easy interface. And it eventually bought CompuServe. — PolitiTweet.org

Walt Mossberg @waltmossberg

@norm_ray @AOL When I reviewed it in the @WSJ in 1992, Prodigy was roughly 10X the size of @AOL. But, IMO, AOL was a million times better. Prodigy was already the past, AOL the future. — PolitiTweet.org

Walt Mossberg @waltmossberg

@CopleyScott17 @AOL Oh, yes. — PolitiTweet.org

Walt Mossberg @waltmossberg

@Mike_Rado @AOL @SteveCase Wonderful! I’m so glad for you! But, as a product, I thought Prodigy was a mess. As they used to joke about its owners, it was everything Sears knew about technology and everything IBM knew about consumers. — PolitiTweet.org

Walt Mossberg @waltmossberg

@Del_Vallo @AOL @SteveCase Financial maneuvers, like M&A deals or achieving high stock prices & market caps, are never the greatest achievements of the best tech companies. Innovative products, services and platforms are always their greatest achievements, even if they fall short financially. — PolitiTweet.org

Walt Mossberg @waltmossberg

@eddietorial @SteveCase @AOL Happy Memorial Day to you too. 🇺🇸 — PolitiTweet.org

Walt Mossberg @waltmossberg

@dccampfin @AOL @SteveCase Yep. — PolitiTweet.org

Walt Mossberg @waltmossberg

@CJayakrishnancp @AOL Absolutely. A hugely important product. — PolitiTweet.org

Walt Mossberg @waltmossberg

@trentlmoore If you want know the whole story of the rise of @AOL, get @karaswisher’s 1999 book on the topic. (She also wrote a sequel years later on AOL’s demise.) https://t.co/wrXMvahibP — PolitiTweet.org

Walt Mossberg @waltmossberg

@AOL popularized email, instant messaging and group chat for mainstream, non-techie consumers. I endorsed it over much bigger rivals - CompuServe and Prodigy - in a column in October, 1992. (Can’t find free link, sorry.) Congrats to @SteveCase and his team for a huge achievement. https://t.co/WohpQQ8ivx — PolitiTweet.org

Walt Mossberg @waltmossberg

Some people laugh at @AOL today, and others are too young to remember it. But, although it wasn’t the first pre-Web “online service”, it was the first to use a standardized graphical user interface. And it got mainstream America online before there were even web browsers. — PolitiTweet.org

Walt Mossberg @waltmossberg

@dccampfin @christse @mims @josephflaherty @netflix @Apple @Google @Microsoft His graphic could grow and grow. For instance, every single one of Apple’s few lines of business, even the smallest by revenue, would be a Fortune 500 company, usually a Fortune 200 company. — PolitiTweet.org

Walt Mossberg @waltmossberg

@christse @dccampfin @mims @josephflaherty @netflix @Apple @Google @Microsoft Ha! — PolitiTweet.org

Walt Mossberg @waltmossberg

@hadip Oh, I remember. I called him on it onstage. — PolitiTweet.org

Walt Mossberg @waltmossberg

We know there’s a Big Tech oligopoly. It operates in many lanes and multiple business models. It’s deeply wealthy and highly valued and runs the platforms on which millions depend. But Wall Street has been confused about its composition and name. Below is the right one: FAAAM. — PolitiTweet.org

Walt Mossberg @waltmossberg

@anshublog @mims @christse @josephflaherty @netflix @Apple @Google @Microsoft @amazon @Facebook And yet still not the same type of company, or in the same league, as FAAAM. This is not an insult. They do what they do very well. They do all the things you said and dominate their lane. But the others operate in multiple big lanes each. — PolitiTweet.org

Walt Mossberg @waltmossberg

@karaswisher No worries. Enjoy the weekend. — PolitiTweet.org

Walt Mossberg @waltmossberg

@profgalloway @andersoncooper @drsanjaygupta @AC360 https://t.co/r1zq1xfdA5 — PolitiTweet.org

Walt Mossberg @waltmossberg

@Lalvahoo @HellgrenWJZ @wjz The other key metrics are obvious and clear. They include hospitalizations, ICU admissions, deaths. — PolitiTweet.org

Walt Mossberg @waltmossberg

@anshublog @mims @christse @josephflaherty @netflix @Apple @Google @Microsoft That’s not the criterion for concentrated economic power. — PolitiTweet.org

Walt Mossberg @waltmossberg

@anshublog @mims @christse @josephflaherty @netflix @Apple @Google @Microsoft I disagree strongly. I’m a @Netflix fan, but unlike Disney, it doesn’t have theme parks or cruise ships or live sports rights. And neither is remotely comparable to platform companies like @Apple or @Google or @Microsoft or @amazon or @Facebook in scale or range of products. — PolitiTweet.org

Walt Mossberg @waltmossberg

@profgalloway @andersoncooper @drsanjaygupta @AC360 I totally agree with you on colleges. Back in 2012, I opened an onstage interview w/ the president of Stanford by asking if elite college tuition rates were sustainable. After talking about financial aid, he said it wasn’t sustainable except for elite schools with big endowments. — PolitiTweet.org

Walt Mossberg @waltmossberg

@HellgrenWJZ @wjz This is happening at the same moment the biggest county in Maryland is struggling with high positive tests and has been unable to achieve a straight 14 days of falling new cases, hospitalizations, and the other key metrics. — PolitiTweet.org

Walt Mossberg @waltmossberg

@mims @christse @josephflaherty I always thought it nuts that many Wall Street analysts placed @Netflix, a very successful video streaming service, in the same basket as much larger, multi-faceted platform companies like @Apple, @Google etc. And yet often left out @Microsoft, which is squarely in their lane. — PolitiTweet.org

Walt Mossberg @waltmossberg

@karaswisher Beautiful family. Beautiful column. Thanks. — PolitiTweet.org

Walt Mossberg @waltmossberg

@EvanSpielberg @BillGates @karaswisher It was their only joint public appearance for an unrehearsed interview. They did some briefer, scripted things earlier. — PolitiTweet.org

Walt Mossberg @waltmossberg

@karaswisher @kentf DM me. — PolitiTweet.org

Walt Mossberg @waltmossberg

@katzish If you had predicted this headline just a few months ago, when we met for lunch, I wouldn’t have believed you. It’s astonishing. — PolitiTweet.org

Walt Mossberg @waltmossberg

@webeneer @karaswisher @BillGates @karaswisher is a superb talent. And she only gets better. — PolitiTweet.org

Walt Mossberg @waltmossberg

@AndreasMoltke @karaswisher @BillGates Our staff plus @Steelcase. — PolitiTweet.org