AOL is depending on its massive media and content cross-promotions to drive its success -- a result of its US$106.2 billion merger in January -- which is a concern to a number of groups who favor open access to the Web.

"AOL and other large companies could well pose a threat to the freedom of information on the Internet," Cheryl Leanza, deputy director of the Washington, D.C.-based Media Access Project, told NewsFactor Network.

Web Following TV

Leanza said the Internet is going the way of commercial television, with a small number of owners and a concentration of content coming from only a few places.

"There are a large number of Web sites out there, but if you look carefully they are all getting the same content from the familiar organizations," Leanza said.

Local elections and information leading up to them are chief concerns. Leanza said a survey of a large number of small-town online guides revealed that virtually all the information was coming not from the local news outlets, but from a few national companies.

At Odds With FCC

The Media Access Project and other groups have been at odds with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission ever since Michael Powell took over the regulatory agency. Powell sees no problem in a smaller number of firms controlling the media.

Powell has said he believes more efficiencies can be achieved by consolidation , which helps the bottom line. Slower economic times have helped increase the rush to consolidation.

This comes as no surprise to Faye Landes, an analyst at Sanford Bernstein, who told NewsFactor that the slower economic times have favored a few of the large, well-funded companies that have been gobbling up cash-starved high-tech firms in the past few months.

"Many of the smaller companies have been ready to close their doors and were available to be bought cheaply," Landes said. "It makes perfect sense for these companies as they position themselves for an economic rebound."

Microsoft's March

Microsoft, meanwhile, has been following the time-honored path of its software success as its seeks control of the Internet with the same fierce combativeness.

The Redmond, Washington-based company is launching its Windows XP operating system on October 25th, and it will force earlier Windows users to either upgrade to the new system or pay for previously free tech support.

The Windows XP desktop system is the precursor of its .Net strategy, which the firm hopes will allow it to become the dominant player through its MSN online portal.

Another Antitrust Suit?

Already the strategy is making state attorneys general consider filing a second antitrust lawsuit. The first suit was successful, but it would appear that under the administration of President George W. Bush, the company could get off with a slap on the wrist as the decision is being reviewed by a federal court.

One of the two anti-Microsoft groups that lobbied the state attorneys general last week for another suit is called ProComp. It includes Microsoft rivals Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL), Sun Microsystems (Nasdaq: SUNW) and Netscape, a unit of AOL Time Warner.

ProComp director Mike Pettit wrote a 59-page paper criticizing Microsoft's business practices.

'Eight-Headed Beast'

"They [Microsoft] are an eight-headed beast that wants to control each and every aspect of software and the Internet," Pettit told NewsFactor.

Besides dropping a number of free software services, Microsoft is also closing down the free e-mail newsletter service ListBot, which is favored by smaller community organizations, as it continues to push users to its paid service. The firm's List Builder will be offered to those users for $149 annually.