"The smoke of today's AOL/Microsoft war obscures a secret agenda the two companies will never admit to publicly: They don't like the Internet -- and never have."

"Both companies, you can bet, would be far more comfortable in a world without the Internet -- a world in which they governed who could post content on their networks and taxed anyone who made money from it. Seven years ago, only one thing made them accept and embrace the strange new notion of a network that nobody owned or controlled: the overwhelming enthusiasm for the Net on the part of masses of users and developers.

A kind of online "people power" forced open Microsoft's and AOL's doors seven years ago. Today both companies are itching to turn back the clock. Can they do it? They'll certainly try. But if these companies push too hard, those who care about the survival of an independent Web may simply vote with their feet and wallets, as they did once before. If they don't -- and only if they don't -- it will be time to sing a requiem for the Net."

BusinessWeek A Cold War in Cyberspace?

"Do consumers stand a chance in a market carved up by two corporate superpowers? Surprisingly, the answer may be yes. For the first time in a decade, AOL and Microsoft each face an adversary with real clout."

"Clearly, a digital world dominated by these titans is a long way from the wide-open markets that many analysts were predicting only 18 months ago. The not-so-bad news is that the new battle for the Net is between two well-oiled machines, with lots of cash and plenty of incentive to innovate and keep their competitive edges sharp."

Fortune The Beast Is Back

"All that said, even the cleverest copycatting won't make those shares redouble again. For sustained fast growth, Microsoft will have to pioneer new markets, as well as compete and win in sectors where its desktop dominance does not guarantee a free ride: in videogame consoles, with its multibillion-dollar Xbox machine bet; in PDAs, with its PocketPC architecture; and in cell phones and Internet appliances."

"The inventiveness blossoming on the company's rambling, coniferous campus in Redmond, Wash., is truly something new. "We're doing some of our best work ever," declares Gates. "In the last couple of years, a lot of our work hasn't been that visible. The lawsuit dominated the news. Then there was the whole thing about dot-com companies knowing it all. Not that we planned it this way, but there's actually a wave of products coming that will show we are at the beginning of a new era distinct from the Internet era." Or as Microsoft strategist David Vaskevitch puts it, "We are about to hit the golden age of software. The company is reinventing itself--let's call it Microsoft 3.0--so we'll be ready.""

Dan Gillmor Big business, big government face "the power of everyone"

"Not everyone likes the idea that we all have power. The people and institutions holding it today want to maintain their authority. That's one reason that Hollywood and the record companies have gone so far overboard in their crusade against unauthorized use -- as they define it -- of copyrighted material. It's gotten to the point where they're killing technologies that have other valuable uses."

"Big business and big government have every intention of dominating tomorrow's computing and communications. They will use divide-and-conquer tactics, or outright warfare, to hold on."

"But they're facing something different this time. The power of everyone may be their ultimate challenge, and our liberator."