I also emphasized the difference between the dialing function that was provided by software their ISP provides, and the browser function, and that it was generally best to use the dialer their ISP provided, since it was configured to work with the ISP's system, but that if the user prefers a different browser, it was possible to download one, either from the browser company's site (www.netscape.com, www.microsoft.com, etc) or from one of the sources of winsock software (www.tucows.com, www.stroud.com).

One of the attendees came up to me after the meeting and ask if I really meant that one could get a browser for free, contrasted with the $19.95 a month she was paying for the browser her ISP gave her. This made me realise there was confusion regarding what people are paying for when they select an Internet Service Provider, and the tools they use to use it. The monthly fee you are paying to your ISP is for the connection to the net, not what ever program(s) you run to use it.

Consider what it was like to get a telephone installed 20 years ago. You called Southwestern Bell and agreed to pay them a certain fee a month, and they activated your line and provided you a "free phone". It actually remained their property, but they did not charge you for the phone, and you could get any color you wanted, as long as it was black. Later you paid a one time color charge to any local phone company, and even if you moved, you got the option of really choosing the color of your "free" phone. Still later, you could use SWB's phone, or you could go to Radio Shack and buy your own phone (and now of course you have to buy your own phone), but regardless of where you got your phone, and whether you paid for it or whether it was provided by the local phone company, what you were paying your monthly charge for was to have that phone connected to a dial tone, such that when you dialed a number, you were connected.

The dial tone is analogous to the $19.95 you pay your ISP for unlimited service, and the phone SWB used to give you is analogous to your ISP providing you a copy of Netscape or Internet Explorer. Having a web browser, without an internet connection to use it on, is useless, and if you choose an ISP that gives you a certain browser, and you really prefer another one, you don't have to change ISPs -- you just install his browser, and use it to pull down the software you want to use on the internet connection you are paying him a monthly fee to provide you.

For more information on the Tulsa Computer Society click here