aol.com.

• Author: Hern
• Position: Libro - TT: BOOK REVIEW: aol.com. - TA: book - Rese

With more than 15 million members who log on every month for at least six hours apiece, America Online (AOL), the world's largest provider of online services, is about to get bigger. In the near future, AOL will enter the Latin American market with a Spanish-language version. Now, AOL has its very own saga.

Written by Wall Street Journal reporter Kara Swisher, aol.com recounts America On-line's odyssey through the years, from its modest beginnings to its current spot as number one among online service providers. And while it is ostensibly a work of non-fiction, it has all the trappings of an adventure novel: heroes, villains, reversals of fortune, challenges and conflicts. As for the conclusion, it's an open-ended one--no company has yet emerged victorious from the cyberspace wars.

As told by Swisher, the history of America Online ultimately has one protagonist: Steve Case, AOL's chief executive. Throughout the book, the story reveals Cases unshakable faith in his business and its future. Case, himself, resembles a character from a novel. Born in Hawaii, he never displays the traits one expects from a dynamic entrepreneur. On the contrary, he is a quiet, pensive individual, at times timid, and an avowed enemy of the coat-and-tie crowd who prefers going to the office in khaki pants, a pullover and tennis shoes.

According to Swisher, the results of a personality test reveal Case to be introverted, intuitive, perceptive and considerate. Indeed, one of his many nicknames at AOL was "the sponge." He would attend lengthy meetings, for example, and listen in silence. He would also spend hours reading his e-mail, absorb all of the information and then make a decision based on what he believed was best for the company.

Nevertheless, despite his inscrutable character, Case has given AOL a human face. In a virtual world where long-standing rivals like CompuServe and Prodigy distinctly lack a personal approach, AOL's folksy manner has made all the difference.

Like the mayor of his own digital city, Case surfs the countless pages in AOL's own slice of cyberspace. He reads letters from AOL members, reviews content, offers advice and distributes company news and reports. He even explains the various problems he encountered in creating his own personal Web page. And that is the very root of AOL's astonishing strength and its capacity for survival amid an ever-growing storm of competition: the personal approach, the mission to make the Internet accessible...