Overhyping Yahoo’s Latest Money Making Plans. Reuters is all excited about a story concerning Terry Semel’s latest plan to offer Yahoo’s “premium services” for people who have access via another ISP. Just like AOL and MSN. Except… Yahoo really never has been an ISP. Sure, they have their deal now with SBC, but you’ve always been able to access their premium services without having your internet connection through them. The only thing that’s “different” in this announcement is that they’re bundling all the various services into a single package – which is something they should have done ages ago anyway. Either way, it’s yet another step towards the “walled garden” approach to online content. Certainly, some people will pay, but as long as free alternatives remain, it’s going to be difficult to really sign up a critical mass of people for such things. [Techdirt]
